The Wildcats were buried in their all-black uniforms on Saturday night.
Northwestern couldn’t manage to make it two conference wins on the bounce, falling to Washington 76-62.
After a 94-point outing against Penn State, the Wildcats had a gloomy offensive performance in front of the blackout crowd. NU shot 38.6% from the field and 26.3% from three-point land.
The ‘Cats were led by 19 points and nine boards from Nick Martinelli, putting an end to his streak of 12 straight 20-point outings. Jayden Reid set the table with five assists, and Arrinten Page tacked on 16 points on 6-of-10 shooting from the field.
Washington was led by 22 points from Zoom Diallo and Hannes Steinbach and 21 from Wesley Yates III. As a team, the Huskies shot 10-of-22 from deep.
Washington controlled the opening tip, but Tre Singleton opened the scoring with a layup off a feed from Jake West. A Yates midranger opened Washington’s scoring account. Washington found success in the paint early on, scoring two putbacks and recording four blocks — three from Franck Kepnang — en route to an early 8-4 lead.
Martinelli opened his account with a putback layup, but Bryson Tucker immediately answered with a left-corner three. NU’s offense continued to struggle, making only three of its first 12 shots and failing to convert any of its three turnovers into points.
Martinelli cashed in two technical foul free throws out of the first media timeout, and a Reid three knotted things up at 11. Reid’s first assist came off a lob to Arrinten Page for the dunk, but Washington wrestled momentum back with a Jacob Ognacevic and-one layup before the second media timeout.
Jordan Clayton drilled his only three-pointer after the missed Ognacevic free throw. A few plays later, Page erased a Steinbach layup attempt and hit Reid who finished the transition layup. The teams then traded three consecutive turnovers: a Husky travel, a Singleton turnover, then a Franck Kepnang offensive foul. The score stayed 18-17 in NU’s favor.
Washington continued to find success on the offensive glass. Diallo ended a nearly three-minute scoring drought with a tip-in, Washington’s 10th offensive rebound of the half. Northwestern’s own three-minute scoring drought continued as Jake West committed the team’s third turnover.
But NU wrestled back momentum. West climbed the ladder to block a Kepnang layup from behind, pushing the pace before kicking it to Singleton who finished through contact for the and-one.
But the rebounding struggles continued, and another good defensive possession was wasted as Diallo collected his own layup and hit a three as the shot clock expired to make it 24-20 Washington. A Yates three pushed the lead to seven and forced a Chris Collins timeout.
Singleton made yet another timely bucket, cutting baseline and finishing in traffic for yet another and-one, but Washington began to pull away. After a couple of Husky buckets and a Page layup, Yates would go on a personal 8-0 run to push the lead up to 39-25 for the visitors.
Martinelli ended the drought with a signature push shot in the paint. Page cut out a Washington lob attempt and started the fast break, but Reid’s transition three hit back rim.
The Wildcats went into halftime down 39-27, registering their lowest first-half point total since the 23-point effort in their late-December Butler loss. Yates led all scorers with 15 points, including three triples. Steinbach had a game-high eight rebounds to go with eight points, Diallo led all players with four assists and Kepnang had five blocks in the first half, more than the entire ‘Cats’ roster.
Singleton’s nine points was the highest mark for a Wildcat, while Martinelli led in rebounds with six. West led NU with three assists. The ’Cats shot 33% from the field in the first period.
Things picked up exactly where they left off to end the first. The two squads exchanged three missed shots and two turnovers before Yates knocked down his fourth three of the night and Kepnang recorded his sixth block. The start to the second period went from bad to worse as Steinbach powered through contact from Tyler Kropp for two and the foul.
Steinbach followed that up with another three to make it a 9-0 run out of the gates. NU recorded three turnovers before Page finally got the team’s first points. The ’Cats found themselves down 48-31 after the media timeout.
An Angelo Ciaravino and-one dunk, Martinelli bank shot and Page block managed to reinvigorate the crowd before a questionable goaltending call brought on a symphony of boos. Those boos turned into cheers after a lengthy review overturned the call. A second Page block of the half led to a Martinelli second-chance layup as the ’Cats cut into the lead.
A Steinbach three ended a 7-0 NU run, but Martinelli immediately answered from beyond the arc on the next possession. Reid pushed the pace in transition and found Ciaravino who pulled from three. His shot didn’t fall, but Page ripped down the offensive board and rocked the rim for the dunk and foul as the crowd hit a fever pitch.
Singleton returned to the court and split a pair of free throws before baskets from Diallo and Tucker pushed the Husky lead back up to 57-45. The teams fell into another scoreless run; missed jumpers from Ciaravino and Martinelli were echoed by an offensive foul by Diallo.
Reid ended the drought with a straight-on three before the teams traded twos on four straight possessions to keep the gap at 10 with just over five to go. The squads kept answering each other’s buckets until Yates side-stepped away from a Singleton contest to hit a crowd-silencing three, putting Washington ahead 67-54.
Martinelli free throws were matched by a Diallo fallaway jumper to maintain the Huskies’ lead, and a Steinbach three followed by a Diallo stepback all but buried the ‘Cats. From that point onward, Washington coasted to the 76-62 final score.
NU will be back in action on Wednesday for a rivalry rematch against Illinois in Urbana-Champaign.
Category: General Sports
