EVANSTON-Northwestern fell behind by 19 points by half and never recovered in a 78-68 loss to No. 16 Michigan State on Sunday at Welsh-Ryan Arena.
Head coach Chris Collins thought the turning point came early in the first half.
"It was 17-16 and we took some bad shots, couple turnovers, they got to get out and run and we melted down...," Collins said. "If you do that against a really good team, you're going to pay for it, and we were down 23."
Junior forward Nick Martinelli lit it up with a game-high 27 points, but the Spartans did the best job on Brooks Barnhizer by anyone in a long time, holding the preseason all-conference guard to just four points, eight rebounds and three assists. It was his lowest point total since he scored four points against UCLA in the 2023 NCAA Tournament.
Michigan State laid siege to the Wildcats with overwhelming depth. Jaden Akins led the Spartans with 14 points, but two other players scored 10+ and seven players made multiple field goals. Jeremy Fears Jr. was masterful at the helm, with 12 points and eight assists, and the Spartans showcased the elite form they have recaptured so far this season.
Here are our takeaways from Northwestern's third straight loss of 2025, that dropped their season record to 10-6 overall and 1-4 in Big Ten play.
Barnhizer is great, but mortal: There was buzz for a first-team All-Big Ten nod for Barnhizer, or even All-America consideration. That level of hype has cooled as the calendar has flipped to 2025.
The senior guard scored just 15 points combined in his last two games, shooting 6-for-28 (21.4%) across in performances that evoke his anemic freshman season.
"We have incredible respect for Brooks," Michigan State coach Tom Izzo said. "We talked about putting a smaller guy on him, that's quicker. He's one of the better players in our league... I'm a big fan... Trust me, we did a good job but he missed some shots he normally makes."
The Boilers and Spartans are two of the most talented and deep teams in the country, with experienced coaching staffs ready to throw the full weight of their scouting report at him.
When asked if his star's struggles can be attributed to opposing personnel, scouting or cold shooting, Collins said it was "probably a combination of everything. When you're No. 1 on the scouting report, you get a lot of attention. We're trying to move him around a little bit, get him freed up...
"He got some good looks today but when he didn't make [some] early, I thought it really weighed on him as the game went on."
One of the ways Barnhizer can get going in as at the line, but he took no free throws in this game, and has taken just five in his last three. Collins continued to bang the drum postgame for Barnhizer to get more calls from officials.
"We have to find a way to get Brooks to the free-throw line," he said. "I have a hard time believing that [number] when he's the most powerful driver in our conference...
"I have to do a better job of putting him in those positions, and I also feel he's got to get the respect on some of these drives that a lot of other guys are getting. Which is frustrating, because Brooks is not a three-point shooter. He's an attacker."
Despite Collins' free throw frustrations, it'd be a mistake to compare this game to the loss at Purdue or the Penn State debacle. Both NU and MSU shot 27 free throws; Martinelli had 12 attempts and Jalen Leach had nine. Meanwhile, Barnhizer hoisted six 3s, making none.
Barnhizer has an immense workload as the team's primary defender and initiator, while playing nearly the entire game without rest. The elite teams of the Big Ten have shown so far that they can counter Barnhizer's physicality by clogging passing lanes, draining his stamina and forcing him out to the perimeter.
He put together a good game defensively and on the glass against the Spartans and finished with eight rebounds, three assists and two blocks. But the Maryland game on Thursday has become an important indicator to determine how serious Barnhizer's offensive problems are.
Northwestern plunged into uncertainty by injury, shooting struggles: Back up center Luke Hunger was sidelined with a small sprain and Collins said the team expects him back soon.
"Luke got hurt in the Purdue game," Collins said. "He has a sprain in his foot, nothing crazy, we don't think it'll be long term... He wants to be available on Thursday, we'll see."
Thrust into the rotation was reserve center Keenan Fitzmorris, who had played just 20 minutes the entire season to this point. He held his own defensively, but any hopes for a spark of scoring or production in Hunger's absence were quickly dashed.
The 7-footer scored a point, snagged a rebound and blocked a shot in his 18 minutes. Collins lauded Fitzmorris for staying ready and providing some energy, but it's clear the team's struggles to find a consistent solution at center will be ongoing.
So is a conundrum at guard. Ty Berry continues to struggle shooting, and after a his breakthrough with 23 points against Northeastern, he's scored just five points across the last three Big Ten games, averaging about 14 minutes per game.
Freshman guards Angelo Ciaravino and KJ Windham have been sparks off the bench and Ciaravino hit a 3-pointer and slammed home a putback as part of Northwestern's late run to cut the deficit down to eight points.
But the Wildcats still don't know who can pick up the scoring after Barnhizer and Martinelli. They don't know which version of Nicholson will show up for any given game and his health could even be in question after he was rolled up on late going for a loose ball.
"A little bit of a knee injury, he was back on the bench," Collins said. "It wasn't like he couldn't walk or something... We'll evaluate, but hopefully [it is] nothing serious."
Their most dependable guard is the streaky Leach, who quietly scored 17 points but had early foul trouble and still struggles as an initiator of the offense. Northwestern needs dependability and execution if it wants to make a run in the second half of this season, and to do that, they can't have so many question marks in their own building.
Strength of schedule fuels slow start in conference: There are a series of games Northwestern wants back this season. At Iowa, Penn State and Dayton, plus Butler in Arizona. But they should call a spade a spade after their past two losses: defeats handed out by better teams.
Purdue and Michigan State are a combined 27-6, 10-1 in the Big Ten. Northwestern's stretch of ranked upsets at Welsh-Ryan wasn't going to last forever. A 1-4 mark in the Big Ten is a significant setback, there's no doubt. But Northwestern doesn't have to look far for an example of getting off the mat and to the tournament from such a deficit.
"We're in a bit of a hole... But our strength of schedule has probably been the hardest," Collins admitted. "When we beat Michigan State last year, they were [about to be] 1-4...they made the tournament. There are still 15 games to go and that's our focus."
Michigan State lost to Northwestern to fall to 1-3 last season, and then 1-4 after playing Illinois. They won nine of their next 15 games to finish 10-10 in league play and go dancing.
Collins and the Wildcats' brand doesn't have the same cachet as Izzo and Sparty, but their season is far from over. It stings to watch Northwestern drop three in a row for the first time since 2022-23, but two of those matchups were to the conference's elite.
If the Wildcats can keep their heads amidst the noise, they can still chart an aggressive course forward.
"We didn't get the start we wanted to and this was a disappointing result," Collins said. "But there are still 15 more games to go. It starts with finding a way to win on Thursday night, and that's what's going to be our full focus for the next couple days."
