The ‘Cats played a hard-nosed, defensive game of basketball, and that’s how it should be.
Lehigh was a mirage.
Northwestern — for the most part — will not be hanging 90 on teams or winning games by 44. The brand of high-octane, blow your top off basketball that we saw against the now 1-4 Mountain Hawks was fun while it lasted, but that is not Northwestern basketball under Chris Collins.
“It’s not a work of art right now,” Collins said postgame, “I knew that coming into the year. You have three starters who missed all summer and all fall. We’re learning and putting our team together on the fly against teams that are good and in games that you’ve got to win.”
Nobody has ever accused ‘Cats basketball of being a work of art. Even when Ty Berry was healthy last year and Northwestern was operating at the peak of its powers, the ‘Cats were still a gritty, defensive team that bordered on painful to watch if the threes weren’t falling.
“Our defense carried the day,” Collins said. “We were opportunistic with our offense when we needed it. There’s a lot we can go through with a fine tooth comb.”
The 2024-25 Northwestern Wildcats remain a work in progress for a plethora of reasons. Back-to-back single digit wins against Eastern Illinois and Montana State — KenPom’s 319th and 191st ranked teams respectively — are one. Ty Berry is clearly not back to full strength, and the three-point shooting has suffered as a result. As is expected Northwestern is still figuring out its offensive identity in the post-Boo Buie era.
But man does that defense look good. On a day where Brooks Barnhizer was 4-of-12 from the field and Northwestern shot just 2-of-11 from three, Pepperdine never really threatened to make it a game. The ‘Cats held Waves senior Stefan Todorovic, who averaged 23.5 points per game four games into the season, to just six points on 2-of-10 shooting.
“When you look at his numbers, he gets a lot of points from the free throw line…and also from three,” said Collins of Todorovic as he put on his reading glasses to look at the stat sheet. “And I know he had no threes, but what did he end up shooting, two free throws?”
The ‘Cats showed up Friday night and executed a game plan to perfection. They out-hustled and altogether smothered an overmatched Pepperdine offense, forcing 11 turnovers and limiting the Waves to a meager 28.6% from the field.
As Barnhizer and Berry work themselves back to full health, that type of performance is who Northwestern will be.
“[Brooks is] still getting his legs under him,” said Collins, “A lot of times you guys see that first night, you have so much adrenaline that you come out of the gates and it kind of carries you through. He’s working through it. To give him a lot of credit, you know, he still did his thing with defense, with rebounds, with steals.”
Barnhizer did only score 13, but he was all over the place on defense. The junior who is built like a safety had two big interceptions to start the first half that blew the game open for good. Jalen Leach, Nick Martinelli and Justin Mullins picked up the slack on offense.
Mullins especially was a revelation.
“I thought the game turned when he came in,” said Collins of the junior forward, “He had some really good drives to the basket tonight, and he’s just getting better and more confident with each game. I want him to view himself as someone that’s a starting level player.”
Mullins was a Northwestern leading plus-21 in his 29 minutes on the floor scoring an efficient six points while grabbing seven rebounds as well. Mullins also initiated the offense in some half-court sets even with Barnhizer on the floor in the second half.
Collins mentioned postgame that he wants Mullins to feature in a “sixth starter,” similar to that of Martinelli last year.
“It’s kind of what we thought we could get when we got him [from Denver],” Collins said. “I give him a lot of credit. Last year he came in, and things didn’t go so well for him, he had a hard time cracking the rotation. And in today’s day and age where a lot of people run, he said, ’No, I’m in the right spot, I’m going to get to work.’”
Mullins has been intentional in making the most of his amplified role.
“I really think that [coach Collins] has put that confidence in me,” Mullins said postgame, “I feel myself getting more confident offensively. When I get those opportunities, I just try to take them more and I’ll continue to do that more this year.”
Pepperdine is not a good basketball team. The Waves are 1-4 and were ranked dead last in the West Coast Conference by a pre-season coaches poll. Northwestern merely did what was expected.
Yet as the schedule gets a little tougher — 4-1 Butler is next Thursday, followed by Iowa on the road and a home bout against No. 25 Illinois and freshman phenom Will Riley — last night was a roadmap for success.
Barnhizer and Martinelli are elite, All-Big Ten level talents, and Northwestern will win games on their backs. But the ‘Cats under Chris Collins will always be a defense-first basketball team. Northwestern has a penchant for winning ugly, and even in an 18-point win, it was ugly for stretches last night. The ‘Cats went four minutes without a bucket late in the second half.
But at the end of the day Northwestern is 5-1. Style points be damned.