Takeaways: Wildcats grind out win over PSU to stay in Big Ten race
EVANSTON-With Ty Berry on crutches on the sideline, Northwestern fought and clawed their way to a 68-63 win in a physical game against Penn State at Welsh-Ryan Arena.
Boo Buie led the Wildcats with 15 points on 4-for-14 shooting, playing 38 minutes. He was joined by Brooks Barnhizer with 14 points, nine rebounds, four steals and two blocks, and Nick Martinelli, in his first start, chipped in 11 points and eight rebounds.
"In a lot of respects, I think this was the best win of the year for us," head coach Chris Collins said. "We had the same core group for the first 23 games together and then you deal with the adversity of not having one of your key guys. It changes the rhythm of the team a little bit."
The Wildcats had all five starters crack double digits, while getting just three points from its bench.
The Nittany Lions were led by Nick Kern, who fouled out down in the game's final minute with a game-high 18 points.
Here are our takeaways from the win that improved Northwestern's record to 17-7 and 805 in the Big Ten, good for a third-place tie.
No update on Berry, no concern on Langborg: Northwestern's medical team is still evaluating Berry's injury, treatment or rehabilitation plans.
"For Ty, nothing to announce right now," Collins said. "We have such a great medical team, and we're trying to make sure we have a great idea of what he's dealing with and what the treatment is going to be."
Langborg was also a flash of concern late in the game as he grabbed his knee after being intentionally fouled. He limped down the court to hit both free throws, then was subbed out with 10 seconds left in the game.
But Collins was quick to allay any concerns.
"Ryan's okay, he just took a knee to the thigh," Collins said. "I was just subbing for the shooter so we could set our defense."
Collins pared his rotations down even further: With Berry out with a knee injury, Collins played just three players off his bench: center Luke Hunger, guard Jordan Clayton and, stunningly, walkon forward Blake Smith. The trio combined for a total of just 25 minutes, the fewest bench minutes for Northwestern this season.
"We knew Nick was going to start," Collins said. "We knew Jordan was going to come and then, with Blake Smith and Justin Mullins, both of those guys are ready.
"We just felt like today, those two minutes [Smith played], from a defensive perspective and the way he's been practicing, that Blake had earned the right to get a shot out there... It's all hands on deck. Blake Preston didn't get a chance today, Justin Mullins, but those guys have to be ready and we talked to them about that."
As if Northwestern's premier players couldn't take on a larger load, the absence of Berry has allowed defenses to key in on Buie, Barnhizer and Langborg even more. Barnhizer never left the floor and logged 40 minutes. Buie played 38 minutes and was visibly working to conserve energy early in the second half. Langborg was managed well at 32 minutes.
Collins may talk about stretching his rotation out further to Preston and Mullins, but it would be surprising to see either of them get serious minutes, especially Mullins, who was passed over in favor of Smith. Mullins may pick up the two to three minutes Smith had today in the future in short bursts, but Collins is notorious at this stage for leaning heavily on his best players and projects to continue to do so.
Barnhizer for All-Big Ten: Despite shooting 3-for-15 from the floor, Barnhizer was absolutely essential to Northwestern against the Nittany Lions. He initiated the offense as Penn State keyed on Buie, and drove the defense with four steals and two blocks.
"I think when you play with a guy like Boo Buie, I think in a lot of respects -- though Brooks gets a lot of praise -- he's undervalued," Collins said. "You don't win without guys like Brooks Barnhizer.
"He does whatever his team needs... I know I'm biased but I'd be hard pressed to think that this is not an all-league caliber player."
Barnhizer leads the Big Ten in minutes, ranks fourth in steals and is among the top 20 in scoring, rebounding, assists, field-goal percentage and free-throw percentage.
Martinelli continues to take the next steps: In the first start of his career, Martinelli delivered. His 11 points and eight rebounds, without flinching on defense, was a huge contribution from the sophomore forward stepping in for Berry.
Martinelli has scored 10 or more points in four of his last five Big Ten games, a feat he had never achieved in the previous 23. If Martinelli keeps up these performances, the Wildcats aren't nearly as out of the conference race, as some feared after Berry's injury.
After beating Penn State with their fewest points in a Big Ten win, Buie talked about how this experienced and veteran team is gearing up to finish up the season the hard way.
"Every single game feels like a [slugfest], a battle," he said. "I call them wars. They're wars. I'm with my soldiers and we're going to war."
Nicholson finding a rhythm: Big man Matt Nicholson played one of his best games of the season, scoring 11 points and hauling in eight rebounds, punctuated with a thunderous dunk with 2:58 to play that gave Northwestern a six-point lead and left the stanchion shaking.
"When he faked the handoff and dunked it, to see the thrill take over his body, that's the Matt we know and the Matt we love," Barnhizer said.
Nicholson was so stoked he emphatically slapped the floor once he got back on defense, evoking Collins' Duke roots.
"We get on Matt a lot, just to let it out, because he has that fire in him and we're better when he plays with that fire," said Collins. "I love it when he does it, I might have to pull up some old clips of myself doing it [as a player at Duke]... The problem is, I couldn't play defense."
With the fire back in Nicholson's belly, the Wildcats dominated the offensive boards, 13-3, over Penn State.
The Wildcats have also rebounded from a pair of overtime road losses with a pair of home wins. They are in a third-place tie in the conference with a spiraling Wisconsin team.
If Berry is done for the season, it will be extraordinarily difficult for this team to reach its aspirations when he was healthy. But until they get an assured diagnosis back, this team did what they needed to do not just stay to stay afloat, but to solidify its standing for the conference and NCAA tournaments.