DAYTON, Ohio - Saturday night's game between Northwestern and Dayton was just about a mirror image of last year.
In 2003, the Wildcats beat Dayton, 71-66, at Welsh-Ryan Arena. The Flyers returned the favor on their home floor and dealt Northwestern a 71-66 loss.
Northwestern was led by a monstrous performance from forward Nick Martinelli, who poured in a career-high 32 points, nearly half the team total, with 14 rebounds in 39 minutes. He also committed six of the team's 16 turnovers to the Flyers' relentless press.
Martinelli took no consolation in stuffing the stat sheet after the game.
"I don't really get any happiness out of personal success," he said. "I'm more worried about the plays where I got tired and didn't give it my all. That's on me. I'm a leader and I can't do that, no matter how long I play."
Northwestern head coach Chris Collins was a little more measured, pointing out the team was still without Brooks Barnhizer, its best player and one of its best ballhandlers and decision makers on the roster.
""I thought we got a little tired..." Collins said. "When you lose a ballhandler like Brooks and you see that show up with not having another guy who can help break the press."
Barnhizer, who was voted preseason All-Big Ten, went through warmups with the team but did not dress for the game. Collins said he hopes to have his senior captain back sometime in the team's four-game home stand from Nov. 12-22 before they head out to Tempe for the Arizona Tip-Off Tournament.
Here are our takeaways after the tight loss on the road that dropped the Wildcats' record to 1-1:
Northwestern veterans still acclimating to new season: In a game without Barnhizer, Northwestern tried to lean on their veteran depth, but their triumvirate of fifth-year players -- guard Ty Berry, center Matt Nicholson and transfer guard Jalen Leach, all starters -- fell through. They mustered just nine points combined on 2-for-12 shooting. Berry was held scoreless in just 21 minutes, while the 7-foot Nicholson grabbed just three rebounds in 20 minutes.
Collins said it's a matter of rust for his two vets, who both suffered season-ending injuries in the home stretch of last season.
"He's still getting back to 100%," Collins said about Berry. "I think anyone who has played sports, when you don't play for eight months, whether it's football, basketball, golf, baseball, there's what they call rust...
"For both him and Matt, they've been off for eight months. I knew with both of those guys the first month of the season was going to be like that. They have to get their game legs back, their timing back. Once they do, they're going to be fine. We're just going through that right now coming off major injuries."
Leach made very little headway as Dayton tightened the screws of their press. The fifth-year senior from Fairfield had a team-low plus/minus of -14. He was hamstrung early by foul trouble and ended up with just two assists in 23 minutes.
Though Leach had just one turnover, Collins ended up turning to true freshman KJ Windham as the lead ballhandler down the stretch. Windham has excelled in the Wildcats' first two game, but to give him the keys under such pressure in such a hostile environment is not a good sign in just the second game.
Collins chalked it up to Leach still learning to elevate his play.
"These are all great experiences coming in and play[ing] a team really getting after you," Colilns said. "For him, leveling up, coming from the MAAC, this is a different level of athlete and you have to adjust. We have all the faith in him. Jalen is a really talented player and he's going to learn from tonight."
It's far too early to throw in the towel on Leach but this game exposed a core weakness on the roster: the lack of a true point guard. Collins has built a legion of combo guards but with the graduation of Boo Buie, there's no one on the team that can go baseline-to-baseline through pressure defense on an island. At one point, the team's press break was getting Martinelli the ball on the inbound and watching him go back-to-the-basket from the opposite free throw line, banging his way back and forth until he made it across half court in the nick of time.
It's foolish to expect a ballhandler of Buie's caliber to be waiting in the wings, but this team will have to continue to try to break presses and physical defenses by committee. With Barnhizer back, that committee may be strong enough and spread out evenly enough to work. But you can bet that Big Ten opponents didn't miss this game and will be hungry to test Collins' plan for Barnhizer as a cure-all.
Class of 2024 passes stress test with flying colors: Windham got the freshman fireworks started with 10 points in his debut against Lehigh, then passed the baton to Angelo Ciaravino for his career-high 12 points at Dayton.
"It's super exciting and I'm super blessed," Ciaravino said about making an impact against the Flyers. "It's very surreal stepping out there and seeing all those people, but at the end of the day it's us vs. them, and it's about focusing on what's on the court and drowning everything else out."
Ciaravino and Windham were two of three players to have a positive plus-minus in the game, +5 and +4, respectively. The freshman roommates have been a sight to see through two games, providing an instant spark and impact that has considerably brightened Northwestern's future.
"It's awesome and he's becoming one of my best friends," Ciaravino said about getting off to this start alongside Windham. "It's awesome having another freshman by my side and going through this journey with me."
Collins said he wants Windham to exercise a little more discipline with his shot selection but otherwise he's been very pleased with his pair of newcomers.
"I was really proud of our young guys," Collins said. "It's kind of their first big college game. This is a tremendous place to play and that's one of the reasons we scheduled the game. I thought [KJ] and Angelo did a great job tonight...
"I really felt both could be rotation guys and with Brooks out, KJ has been a starter. And Angelo is very talented... These games are so good for those guys. Both those kids are going to be really good players here at Northwestern."
Windham took a hard fall in the final minute of the game and left clutching his lower back, but Collins said the team thinks there's no cause for further concern beyond soreness.
The third player with a positive plus-minus was Justin Mullins. The junior was held scoreless but grabbed five rebounds, dished out three assists and grabbed two steals.
"He's become our dirty work, glue guy," Collins said. "The more he plays, the more he gets acclimated, he'll put the ball in the basket but he's doing a great job...
"Those three younger kids who haven't played a lot, if we can get that production out of them and then get Ty and Matt and Luke going, then getting Brooks back, I think we have the makings of a really good team."
Wildcats' ceiling is intact: It's tough to swallow a loss anytime a team leads 51-41 with 10:50 left and ends up on the wrong end of a 30-15 run the rest of the way, and it's even tougher on the road.
But all things considered, Collins is right: his Wildcats have the makings of a really good team that can make a run at a third straight NCAA Tournament appearance.
It was a raucous crowd at UD Arena and the Wildcats took the Flyers, who plan on a tournament return themselves, down to the wire in what will almost certainly be a Quad 1 loss. The defense gave ground late, giving up 47 points in the second half, but they still have shown the capability to be the force that fans have seen the last two seasons.
And, not to belabor the point, but the Wildcats did it all without Barnhizer.
The Wildcats should take care of business in their upcoming four-game home stand -- against UIC, Eastern Illinois, Montana State and Pepperdine -- and welcome Barnhizer back at some point to a team that has Martinelli playing all-league ball, Windham and Ciaravino ascendant,and veterans that will have hopefully shaken off the requisite rust. That's a formula that should be able to compete in the Big Ten and compete for another invitation to the Big Dance.
