A shorthanded Northwestern team's bid for their first road win this season came up short when they ran out of steam in a 76-71 loss at Washington on Saturday night.
The Wildcats were hamstrung by season-ending injuries to two of their starting guards, Brooks Barnhizer and Jalen Leach. The Wildcats were playing their second game without Barnhizer, while Leach's torn ACL was officially announced by the Big Ten Network in the pregame show.
It didn't help matters when head coach Chris Collins was ejected after an irate interaction with veteran official Jeffrey Anderson earned him two technical fouls in quick succession late in the first half. Collins had been riding the officials for several minutes, so the first "T" wasn't a surprise; but the second one came surprisingly fast and sent him to the locker room.
Washington wound up converting all four resulting free throws. Assistant coach Chris Lowery took over for Collins and finished the game.
Northwestern trailed 39-30 at halftime, with Nick Martinelli kept firmly in check with four points on 2-for-8 shooting. Washington seemed to have the game squared away, up 14 with 16:17 remaining, but then Martinelli found his groove.
He scored 19 second-half points on 7-for-11 shooting to finish with a game-high 23. Northwestern took a 66-62 lead with 3:41 to go, but without their star guards they couldn't execute their offense down the stretch and were outscored 14-5 from there.
Veteran guard Ty Berry chipped in 14 points and newly minted starter Justin Mullins, playing in place of Angelo Ciaravino, added 13 points, his second straight game with double figures.
Tyler Harris led Washington with 18 points and Great Osobor was right behind him with 16 points and nine rebounds.
Here are our takeaways from a loss that left Northwestern with a 4-9 mark in Big Ten play and an 0-7 record away from home.
MORE ON LEACH: Starting point guard Jalen Leach is out for the season
Clayton burns his redshirt and starts: The Wildcats made a shocking move and inserted Jordan Clayton into the starting lineup in place of the injured Leach. The sophomore guard was in the midst of redshirting and hadn't played a minute all season. The wide-ranging assumption was that Clayton would sit out the year and then transfer out of the program in the spring. But with Leach suddenly out, he answered the call.
The sophomore had a slow start with no field goals and just 2 points on a pair of free throws in 15 first-half minutes. But, like Martinelli, he found his footing in the second.
Clayton finished with 7 points, five assists and no turnovers, draining a clutch 3-pointer and a heavily contested jumper to fuel Northwestern's late runs. Maybe most impressively, he ran the point and finished with a game-high five assists and no turnovers. He looked a clear step ahead of his freshman season, where he scored just nine points across 28 appearances.
The decision was an eyebrow raiser since most figured that KJ Windham would get the start. This final eight-game stretch, with next to no chance of postseason play, seemed like an ideal time to get him valuable experience. Instead, Windham and fellow freshman Angelo Ciaravino, who had started the last seven games, combined for just 25 total minutes, fewer than Clayton's 26.
Clayton's decision to burn his redshirt was also a surprise with just eight games left in the season. But his play and steady leadership were signs that he may be part of the Wildcats' plans next season. It certainly was a selfless move that put the team's needs in front of his own interests.
Passing is Martinelli's next step: Martinelli has proven with his size and skill to be a prolific scorer and rebounder. He posted 27 points and 13 rebounds against USC with Barnhizer sidelined on Tuesday, and he added 23 points and 10 boards without Barnhizer and Leach on Saturday against the Huskies.
It's a sensational progression for a player who averaged just 8.8 points and 5.8 rebounds last season. But as obvious as his star-caliber scoring is, so is the next step in his development: distributing the rock.
Collins has been clear that Martinelli is the premier scoring option on this team, and the junior has an ever-burning green light. But as teams now send cascades of double teams his way, he's managed just five assists the past two games.
Some of that is on supporting scoring, and some is also on Martinelli's ability to process and analyze at the speed of a star in this league. Barnhizer had taken that step, bumping his assists from 2.6 per game as a junior and No. 2 option, up to 4.2, tops on the team, this season, when he was a senior and primary scorer.
Martinelli is getting an early taste of what life is like at the top of the scouting report and has a golden opportunity to learn how to pass the ball out of double teams for the remainder of this season.
His numbers are undeniable and should see him earn all-conference honors no matter Northwestern's record. But elevating his passing is the key to this program's future.
A Big Ten Tournament bid is now on the line: It's hard to win in the Big Ten, but it's not particularly hard to win in Seattle. The Huskies came into the night 2-9 in league play and riding a four-game losing streak at the Alaska Airlines Center.
The Wildcats lost by five to what will almost surely be the easiest opponent left on their slate, and a Feb. 25 matchup at Minnesota could be all that stands between this team and a winless season in true road games.
Northwestern has now lost six games decided by five or fewer points away form Welsh-Ryan Arena this season. They just haven't been able to find ways to close out hard-fought performances away from Evanston.
As bitter as it is to admit in a season that once held promise of a third straight run to the NCAA Tournament, the Wildcats may not even get an invite to the 15-team field of the Big Ten Tournament. Northwestern is in 15th place after this game, and 17th-place Washington and 18th-place Penn State now hold head-to-head tiebreakers over the Wildcats.
With tough games coming up at Oregon on Tuesday and then home against Nebraska next Sunday, the Wildcats face a tough challenge to stay out of the bottom three spots.
