ANN ARBOR, Mich. - The Wildcats took their second-straight opponent to overtime.
On Thursday, they got a buzzer-beater to down Maryland. On Sunday afternoon, they came up short in an 80-76 loss at No. 20 Michigan.
Northwestern was in a dogfight the whole game and had a slight advantage, 54-51, with 9:33 left when Jalen Leach collided with Wolverine center Vladislav Goldin. Leach's knee hit Goldin between the legs, an automatic Flagrant 2 foul and an ejection of the guard who was the leading scorer at the time.
"Look, if it's malicious and a kid is going for that area with a knee or fist, then absolutely," head coach Chris Collins said about the foul after the game. "But I think the people that make the rules [don't realize] Vlad Goldin is 7-foot-1, 275 pounds, setting a moving screen and Jalen is trying to get over...
"I'm not blaming the officials, because I know that's the rule. We lived it last year with [NU guard Ryan] Langborg at Rutgers. I just think some common sense has to apply."
Leach had 19 points and five assists at the time he was tossed and was also the team's key ball handler to break the press.
Collins continued to make his point, saying Goldin, who was the game's leading scorer with 31 points plus eight rebounds and four blocks, may have exaggerated the force of the collision.
"I'll give him credit," Collins said. "If he doesn't make the NBA, he's going to have a hell of an acting career going forward. That's a great actor. We saw it at Florida Atlantic, two times in a row. He's really good at it, and I mean that in a complimentary way."
Northwestern faced and defeated Goldin's FAU Owls in the first round of the NCAA Tournament last March.
Brooks Barnhizer and Nick Martinelli eventually overtook Leach on the score sheet as the pair finished with 21 and 20 points, respectively, aided by an overtime period.
Here are our takeaways from Northwestern's fourth loss in their last five games that dropped the Wildcats to 2-5 in Big Ten play.
Wildcats want their respect: Collins has been banging the drum louder and louder as the season has gone on for his team to get a fairer shake from the officials.
"No," was Collins' brusque response when asked if felt his program and star have the respect they deserve.
Barnhizer finished with 13 free-throw attempts, a respectable number. However, 11 of those came in overtime as the Wolverines intentionally fouled or he was chosen to shoot technical shots. He took just two free throws in regulation time.
"I never want to shed light on [how I feel about] that," Barnhizer said. "I feel like I'm a physical player and yeah, I do feel like I should get to the line a little more, but that's the way it is right now...
"Sometimes, since fouls aren't being called, it looks like I'm kind of forcing stuff or throwing stuff up and that's the last thing I want to do for our team. I'm trying to get to the line."
Barnhizer was just 5-for-14 from the floor.
Collins was in the ear of the officials all game long. At one point, a referee held off on a technical but stopped play to tell him to cool off.
"I was fighting for my players in a tough-minded game," Collins said. "Those are veteran officials. I thought they did a good job over the course of the game... He was right to say 'Hey, I've heard your point and that's enough.'
"And then it is enough, and we're on to the next. That was just me fighting for the guys in a tough, competitive game."
Collins is a veteran coach in the Big Ten,; only Iowa's Fran McCaffery, Purdue's Matt Painter and Michigan State's Tom Izzo have been in the league longer. Northwestern is one of the most successful programs in the conference, one of four teams fighting for a third straight NCAA Tournament appearance, joining along with Purdue, Michigan State and Illinois.
Collins doesn't think his team is getting the calls they've earned.
"I don't think we're getting respect," he said, adding that he doesn't have a recourse to take anymore. "I don't know. We just have to keep playing hard and not focus on those things. We have to do what we do and try to put ourselves in a position to win."
Northwestern has no margin for error on offense: Only five players made a field goal for Northwestern in this game. With Leach out, a litany of guards got an opportunity in the final 14:33 of the game: freshmen KJ Windham and Angelo Ciaravino, and defensive specialists Justin Mullins and Blake Smith. None of them scored.
This was a narrowly impressive game offensively for Northwestern as Barnhizer's ice-cold start (he had just four points at the half) was backed up by excellent performances from Martinelli and Leach to keep the upset bid alive. The Wildcats were up by 3 when Leach got tossed.
But they have no safety net against a high-level opponent like the Wolverines. They need their top three scorers healthy, on the court for 95-100% of the game and operating at a high level to have a chance to win.
The move to bench Berry has stirred some sparks of life in the fifth-year guard, and after scoring just five points in his first three games of 2025, he's scored 27 in his last two. But, as is often the case with the mercurial scorer, it hasn't been so simple, as he struggled down the stretch. Eighteen of Berry's 27 points have come in the first half of the Wildcats' last two contests. He was 2-for-8 and 0-for-5 from beyond the arc in the second half and overtime against Michigan.
He's still a valuable defender, especially as Windham and Ciaravino are still figuring out all the intricacies of assistant coach Chris Lowery's defensive system. But he has to find consistent success in the second half or Northwestern can't win these hallmark, upper-echelon games.
Leach was nearly played off the court by Dayton's press early in the season. He steadily navigated Michigan's full-court pressure for most of the game and was the No. 1 scoring option to boot.
"I've been trying to put myself in those situations more," Leach said of playing as a true point guard under pressure. "Especially in practice. It's about being confident with the ball and getting our team into our offense."
Big game for Big Matt: Center Matt Nicholson, making a return to his home state, posted just four points but had a game-high 16 rebounds while battling Michigan's 7-foot tandem of Goldin and Danny Wolf throughout the game.
Goldin lit up the scoreboard but Nicholson doubled him up on the glass and actually helped the Wildcats win the battle on the boards overall, 41-39.
Nicholson got a little help from fellow 7-footer Keenan Fitzmorris, who put a body on the Wolverines twin towers. The grad transfer didn't score or log a rebound but he did amass four fouls and two blocks in his seven minutes.
Nicholson showed remarkable control. Even with overtime, he had just three fouls. He also went 4-for-6 from the free-throw line, including 2-for-2 to tie the game with 14 seconds left in regulation.
He's battled injury and inconsistency these past two seasons since he became the every-game starter. If he can maintain focused, physical performances like this, it will be a huge plus for Northwestern's success on defense, and overall.
Wildcats still winless on the road: After their lat road game turned out to be a rout at Purdue, it was inspiring to see the Wildcats punch No. 20 Michigan in the mouth, from the jump, on their home court.
This team took big hits of their own from the Boilers and Michigan State, and they've gotten right up off the mat by splitting a pair of hard-fought overtime games. NU hasn't won in Ann Arbor since 2010, and this Wolverine team was spurred by an overtime loss of their own to Minnesota earlier this week.
Throwing out the 18-point setback at Purdue, the Wildcats ahve lost by 1 at Iowa, 4 at Penn State, 5 at Dayton and now 4 again at Michigan. They're due to get over the hump in one of these close games away from Welsh-Ryan Arena. There are no moral victories at this level but coming into this game as a 10-point underdog, the Wildcats have to feel pretty good about where they stand, even if their latest opportunity to win on the road has eluded them.
The Wildcats' energy reserves are now drained from back-to-back overtime efforts, for sure. But they have two days off and what should be a raucous Welsh-Ryan Arena to buoy them to take on mercurial Indiana on Wednesday night. They are still hunting a road win to top their resume, but they continue to prove they can't be taken lightly by the conference's best this season.
