EVANSTON-Nick Martinelli dominated USC, playing all 40 minutes and racking up 27 points and 13 rebounds to lead Northwestern to a 77-75 win at Welsh-Ryan Arena on Tuesday night.

The most impressive part of Martinelli's Herculean stat line was that 10 of his 13 rebounds came on the offensive glass, where the Wildcats finished with a 23-7 advantage. His 27 points came on 25 shots, but he was exactly the offensive engine the team needed as the Wildcats played their first game without leader Brooks Barnhizer, who is out for the season.

"Nick just won the game tonight with his will," head coach Chris Collins said. "He took [Barnhizer's injury] really hard. Nick and Brooks are best friends, they live together. Nick so badly wanted to come through with a performance to honor him and win that game [against Wisconsin], and he felt like he let us down.

"I told him he didn't, we need you to be aggressive [against USC]. It's funny, he ended up taking them but I said, 'If you take 25 shots, I'm fine with it.'"

It was a bizarre box score to parse with USC shooting 10% better from the floor and 18% better on 3s, and Northwestern winning bench points 26-11 and second-chance points 24-11.

The Trojans were without leading scorer Desmond Claude, so it was Clark Slajchert who led the way with 24 points.

The Wildcats seemed to have this one in control behind Martinelli and an orchestral point guard performance from Jalen Leach. After leading 33-31 at half, the Wildcats led by 15 with 10:01 to go.

But the Trojans were given new life when Leach left the game clutching his right knee after a USC defender landed on top of him. NU's 9-point lead with 5:26 to go quickly evaporated down the stretch and the game was tied at 75 with 12 seconds remaining.

But Martinelli had one more tough bucket in him, and the Wildcats squeaked out a win.

"I remember walking to the bench, Coach said I have to go win it," Martinelli said. "I said my foot is not feeling too good so I have to win it right now. I prayed to God as always and he gave me the strength to make that shot."

Martinelli laughed off any concerns for his foot, answering with a succinct, "No," when asked if there were any long-term issues.

Here are our takeaways from Northwestern's tight win over USC that snapped a three-game losing streak:

Leach's injury remains a question mark: Collins lauded Leach's play but was unable to provide any clarity on a potential diagnosis.

"We'll pray that it's nothing serious but I don't want to be premature with anything," he said. "We have to figure out tomorrow once we get the right testing that he'll be okay."

Leach has been putting together a very strong stretch in the heart of Big Ten play, scoring 23 points in his last two outings. While he struggled from the floor against USC, shooting 2-for-10, his effect on the game was undeniable. He had six assists to just one turnover and was expertly working through USC's defense when he was knocked out of the game.

This will go in the books as a tight win, but the version of the team with Martinelli at full bore and Leach at the point of attack had built a comfortable lead late into this game when the fifth-year guard was helped to the locker room.

It's been a star-crossed season for the Wildcats with Barnhizer's injuries, losses on late-game shots and suspect foul calls against them. Northwestern fans will have their fingers crossed that a long-term injury to Leach doesn't add to that list.

Welcome to the Martinelli Era: Martinelli might not have had the game he wanted on Barnhizer's behalf against Wisconsin, but he certainly did against USC. The Trojans wilted in the face of his one-man army-like effort.

"I'm so proud of Nick Martinelli's leadership," Collins said. "I challenged him with Brooks being out, not just with scoring but with leadership... I thought he was outstanding."

Martinelli had already flashed his ability to carry a team early in the year, with 26 points and 10 rebounds to beat Lehigh, and 32 and 14 to push Dayton on the road. But against Wisconsin, the ranked Badgers were able to harass him into just 15 points on 6-for-18 shooting, with seven rebounds. It seemed that he may have needed some more time in the basketball oven before he reached temperature as a Big Ten leading man.

That wasn't the case against the Trojans as Martinelli dominated the game and proved that Northwestern can win conference games with him as the centerpiece. A tournament run is all but off the table for this season, but these are valuable reps to prove himself as a bona fide star heading into next season, when it will be his team in earnest.

He certainly already has the nurturing mindset needed in a leader.

"This team is my family, this is my baby," he said. "I have to treat it that way. I care for each and every one of my teammates. It gives me an opportunity to get out of my own head and worry about the team."

This game proved the team is safe in his hands moving forward.

Mullins finally found his fit: Freshmen Angelo Ciaravino and KJ Windham struggled in this game, as Collins said they were 'a little overwhelmed'. Enter Justin Mullins.

The junior transfer posted career highs in minutes (37) and points (14) on Tuesday night and his seven rebounds trailed only Martinelli's 13.

Mullins has often been the odd man out, ebbing and flowing in and out of Collins' good graces throughout his two seasons since transferring in from a promising freshman campaign for Denver. This game, it all came together.

He came into the game with five made 3s on the season and poured in four from beyond the arc against USC. He maintained his physical integrity as a defender to stay out of foul trouble, and blended a soft outside touch with a quick first step to attack the USC defense.

Northwestern has quite a few rotational questions springing from this game, even if Leach is healthy. But if Mullins can maintain this level of play, then his path to starting the home stretch is clear-cut.

Going to Smith was peculiar, then problematic: Collins started Ciaravino for the seventh game this season, but he played just four minutes. Windham came off the bench, but he played just five. But down the stretch, with Leach in the locker room, Collins went to walkon Blake Smith with mixed, and almost disastrous results.

Collins made sure to highlight Smith's four made free throws, but he also fouled a 3-point shooter on three separate plays to enable USC to rally and tie the game. Granted, the situation was rare with Leach out, but Collins went to Smith for his veteran experience and got three separate inexperienced mistakes on close outs in the game's final minutes.

Ciaravino and Windham both made mistakes throughout the game, but none were so impactful. Hindsight is 20-20 and any win is a good win, but Collins should go to his freshmen in the future if his veteran reserve is going to make rookie mistakes anyway.

Center has been solidified with the Nicholson-Fitzmorris ticket: Seven-footers Matt Nicholson and Keenan Fitzmorris seem to have stabilized the once-mercurial center spot in the rotation, with Nicholson getting a 3:1 ratio of minutes in his favor.

"Keenan's emergence has really helped," Collins said. "His energy, he gives you juice and I love that."

The duo combined for 17 points and nine rebounds, with Nicholson chipping in two blocks and Fitzmorris firing up the crowd time and again. He finished with 8 points, along with three rebounds, in just nine minutes.

There's no doubt USC is a weaker team than some of the other ranked teams the Wildcats have faced this season, but the big man duo's combined success was still a good sign that Northwestern has finally stumbled across stability and reliability in the middle.