Northwestern dispatches DePaul with dominant second half

CHICAGO-If Northwestern fans were hoping for a big win to exorcise the demons of the Chicago State loss a few days ago, they weren't exactly in luck. The Wildcats got into a low-scoring slugfest early, heading into the half tied at 25, before getting into gear in the second to win 56-46.

Nick Martinelli came in as the super sixth man and finished with a game-high 16 points. He received the Fisher-McGrath MVP for the player of the game in the Northwestern-DePaul series for his efforts.

Ryan Langborg continued his absolutely scorching stretch of shooting, knocking down four of eight attempts beyond the arc on his way to 14 points. Since Purdue, he's shot 64% from three.

It was a fairly quiet night for Boo Buie, who tallied nine points on a chilly 4-of-14 from the floor.

One of the standouts beyond Martinelli and Langborg though was Brooks Barnhizer. Barnhizer had an anemic start, 0-for-7 from the floor and 0-for-5 from three, before hitting four of his last six and sparking a one-man run with a three, steal and layup to put Northwestern up eight and in the second-half driver's seat.

Then, with 6:08 to go, he plunged the dagger in the Blue Demons with a three to go up 50-38.

"I never liked coaches that put a rein on me for what was a good shot, what was a bad shot," Collins said on trusting Barnhizer to get back on track. "I wanted to feel that trust when I played.

"As I've coached, when it comes to offense, I do give guys a lot of freedom to take their shots and be confident in his shots."

With his hand wrapped, his right ring and pinky fingers locked together, it was an impressive display of faith in himself, from his teammates and from his coaches to keep trusting Barnhizer to take shots and, eventually, to execute.

"I kind of tweaked it at practice, it's a problem with the ligament but it's fine," Barnhizer said on the wrap, which he's worn the past two games. "When I put the wrap on and my adrenaline is in the game, I'm fine.

"It's good we have a day off, one more game before Christmas and then it can heal. It's not really affecting my touch, I might be thinking about it too much but I'll be fine."

Here are our takeaways:

Physicality and defense deterred DePaul: The Blue Demons took 19 free throws to Northwestern's seven but still lost by 10. They were visibly deterred around the rim where Matt Nicholson and even Blake Preston presented a serious challenge.

DePaul had a nearly 13-minute stretch from 13:12 to :22 without a field goal.

"I think we're getting back to who we were last year and relying on our defense," Barnhizer said. "There's going to be nights when our shots don't fall.

"The difference between tonight and Chicago State is we just played defense...we know as long as we play defense, we'll be fine."

DePaul's leading scorer was Jeremiah Oden with just 12 points.

Wildcats won without a ringing endorsement: It was a bounce back from Chicago State, but maybe not as emphatic as Wildcat fans would have hoped. It was a key step back towards restoring trust. Northwestern took an early punch, went into halftime tied, then walked away with it down the stretch.

It wasn't where Northwestern wants to be and they have plenty to work on but it was a step in the right direction after a shell-shocking loss to the Cougars.

"We played Wednesday night, Thursday I thought it was a very down group," Collins said. "We got together and they were angry, they were down and a little embarrassed...

"My message to them was, that's life. Everyone gets kicked to the pavement...it's how you bounce back. Are we going to lay and wallow around in it? That's what's great about basketball. Football you have to wait a week. It was Thursday when we got together and we're playing Saturday afternoon."

Collins took a step back and evaluated how his team has played through the first third of their 2023-24 campaign.

"We're a team trying to figure things out," Collins said. "We've played 10 games and you can say that a million times.

"How does the best NFL team lose to the worst NFL team? How does a 16 seed beat a one seed? These are college kids, it happens. The other team has something to say about that, too. We had a team came in, got confident, made shots and they beat us. That's what sports are all about."

Collins said the important thing is that his team bounced back and avoided a snowball situation.

"We're not a perfect team by any stretch of the imagination," he said. "We have really good leadership, we have guys who really care.

"Along the way there are going to be bumps in the road, ups and downs, it's how we manage them. Can we eliminate that extended losing streak? When you play in the Big Ten there are going to be rough patches, how do we bounce back and move forward? That's going to be the key."

They're on to Arizona State on Wednesday with an opportunity to bring their non-conference accomplishments back up towards break-even. There's a long road ahead.

All the steps on it won't be pretty, tonight versus DePaul sure wasn't, but the Wildcats put themselves back on the path to where they want to be at 8-2.