EVANSTON-Dylan Harper was ruled out before the game but Rutgers' other freshman phenom, Ace Bailey, was more than capable of picking up the slack.

Bailey poured in an eye-popping 37 points to power Rutgers over Northwestern, 79-72, at Welsh-Ryan Arena on Wednesday night. He hit 13-of-20 shots overall and went 5-for-8 from beyond the arc.

The Wildcats simply had no answer and dropped just their second of 12 games at home this season..

"He's an NBA player," Northwestern head coach Chris Collins said. "He's 6-foot-10 and he's got electric shooting range. He's a really tough shot maker."

Jalen Leach led the Wildcats with 23 points. Forward Nick Martinelli had 16 points and 10 boards, and forward Brooks Barnhizer chipped in 10 points, nine rebounds and six assists. Ty Berry had a bobblehead giveaway pregame for Wild West Night, but he mustered just 8 points on 3-for-9 shooting and 2-for-7 on 3s.

Collins was shocked by his team's effort, letting an early 13-4 lead slip away in a game universally regarded as a must-win to keep their postseason aspirations alive. They never led after the 11-minute mark of the first half.

"I'm at a little bit of a loss for words," Collins said. "I can live with losing but I just didn't love our energy, our fight and defensive intensity in the first half. That was really the story of the game after we got out to a good start."

Here are our takeaways from an upset loss at home that puts Northwestern's hopes for a third straight NCAA Tournament trip on life support.

Bailey was worth the price of admission: The 6-foot-10 forward looked NBA-ready on Wednesday night with a jaw-dropping performance to resurrect Rutgers' season and basically end Northwestern's.

He scored 24 points in the first half alone, making nine of his first 10 shots and his first four threes. The forward is projected to be a top-three pick in the upcoming draft, behind Duke's Cooper Flagg and maybe his teammate, Harper.

Bailey put on an unstoppable display of shooting in the first half, lofting in shot after shot past the outstretched arms of a series of Northwestern defenders, none tall, long or quick enough to threaten his airspace.

"We were really trying to get him to put the ball on the floor," Collins said. "That's where I was disappointed. He got a number in the first half where he just caught it, jabbed and shot. in the second, we did a better job. I think he was 4-for-10 but in the first half he got to his sweet spots. That was not the game plan and give him credit, he's really talented."

Although it generated a grim result, the fans in the building will always remember the dazzling array of shot taking and making that Bailey put on display.

Leach's progression a small consolation: The Wildcats' season is firmly on the brink but one silver lining has been the play of their point guard.

Leach started the season with real struggles as a ball handler, initiator and distributor. Over the course of the season, he's solidified his command and control and while Northwestern's top two players have struggled, he's been the offensive outlet.

The Fairfield transfer has scored 18.5 points per game over the past four matchups, better than Martinelli's 17.8 and Barnhizer's 13.8 in the same stretch. He hit 8-of-12 from the floor against the Scarlet Knights, including 3-of-5 from long distance.

"Those kids can score," Rutgers coach Steve Pikiell said. "Martinelli and Barnhizer are elite scorers. [Leach] has been the third guy but sometimes he's the number-one guy. He had a really good night tonight."

Northwestern still needs another shoe or two to drop offensively from Berry or Ciaravino to be where they want to be, but Leach still deserves a hat tip for the steady work he's put in to acclimate and succeed at this level in his first year after transferring from Fairfield.

Northwestern's tourney run running on fumes: With Wednesday night's loss, Northwestern has put themselves behind schedule to make the tournament. Assembling the necessary resume at this point would likely require the Wildcats to go 8-2 over the last 10 games of the season. That would be pretty close to a miracle for a team that has won just three of its first 10 conference games.

It's clear that the high workload of minutes, the physical play of the Big Ten, and night after night at the top of the scouting report has worn down Barnhizer and Martinelli.

Barnhizer, who started the season with seven straight double-doubles, has seen his scoring ground to a halt in the heart of Big Ten play under a malevolent mix of stronger defenses, increased scouting and lingering injuries.

"Brooks has given everything he can but he's battered," Collins said. "I have so much respect for everything he does just to get out on the floor with his teammates...

"But he just battles and he doesn't make excuses. You can see with the lift on his shot, the quick twitch to get by guys, it's not quite there. But he's still trying to find a way and he has found a way in some of our games."

Barnhizer has scored 15 or more points in nine of his first 10 games this season, but has reached that same mark just three times in the last seven games. His 3-point touch has become a necessity as teams have walled off the paint, but he's struggled there, too, shooting 6-for-31 since the calendar turned over to 2025.

His running mate, Martinelli, has also fallen on hard times. He's still scoring at a solid clip, coming into the game tied for the Big Ten lead at 19.8 points per game, but his efficiency has declined and he's shooting 38% from the floor over the past four games.

"Shots haven't been falling as of late," a somber Martinelli intoned. "Northwestern is my family and I've gotten to grow up here. Every game we lose hurts so I try my hardest to do what I can to win, but it helps if I can get more shots to fall."

The Wildcats will have to be nearly perfect the rest of the way with 10 games left, and a trip back to a third straight tournament would require them to drop just two or three more to finish the year.

"We've always taken it one game at a time," Martinelli said. "It hurts to drop this one tonight and nobody is happy about it. We're on to Wisconsin [on Saturday in Evanston], we have to win that."