EVANSTON, Ill. (WGN) — While the final score looked like just another ho-hum, lopsided non-conference win for Northwestern Men’s Basketball Sunday, the atmosphere inside Welsh-Ryan Arena suggested anything but.
It’s a testament to what head coach Chris Collins has built along the North Shore in Chicagoland.
The Wildcats tallied an 85-60 win in a true Sickos Committee matchup (Northwestern vs. Northeastern). Their two star players lived up to their usual billing and veteran pieces supplied the outside shooting that could make them a dangerous team as conference play begins, and March Madness waits in the wings further down the line.
Brooks Barnhizer poured in 22 points, 10 rebounds, 7 assists and 5 steals, while Nick Martinelli added 16 points and 2 rebounds himself. Senior sharpshooter Ty Berry had a game-high 23 points on 5-of-7 shooting from beyond the arc, and Jalen Leach added 11 points with three made 3-pointers of his own.
Barnhizer is now averaging 20.1 points, 9.4 rebounds, 4 assists, 2.7 steals and 1.1 blocks per game. Since 1947-48, there have only been three players in CBB to average at least 19 points, 9 rebounds, 3.5 assists, 2 steals and 1 block per game in a season: Billy Owens, Ron Harper and Larry Bird.
Martinelli’s points per game averaged dipped from 20.6 to 20.2, but he’s still on pace to have one of the more prolific seasons by a Northwestern forward in program history.
The Glenbrook South High School-alum scored 25-plus points in three straight games from Nov. 4 to Nov. 12, the first for a Wildcat since John Shurna from Dec. 16-21, 2010. He has reached 20-plus points in a game seven times so far this season, the most by a Northwestern forward since Vic Law had seven such games in 2018-19.
Between Barnhizer and Martinelli, they’re both on pace to do something that hasn’t happened in over a decade. A Wildcat has not averaged 20+ points per game since Shurna (20.0) in 2011-12.
Then there’s Berry, who came into Sunday needing 20 points to top 1,000 in his Northwestern career, and did so with an efficient night from long range. After averaging 11.6 points per game and shooting 43.3% from deep in 2023-24, his 5-for-7 performance from beyond the arc pushed him up to 40.3% from three this season.
“I think being older guys and being in this program a long time, we know what it takes to win,” Berry said after the game. “With Brooks and Nick, who are both ethereal players, they’re really good so, playing off of them is definitely going to be the keys to our success in the Big Ten.”
How Berry played off Barnhizer and Martinelli contributed toward a convincing win over a team that should be competitive in the Colonial Athletic Association, but what was just as impressive — if not more — was the amount of people who turned out for a late December non-conference game when it was 40-degrees and raining in Evanston all afternoon.
According to game notes after the final buzzer, 5,944 people were in attendance to watch Northwestern take on Northeastern. At one point, Leach hit a go-ahead three to retake the lead late in the first half and the decibel meter inside Welsh-Ryan Arena rose as high as 105, 20 decibels past the threshold where hearing damage starts to take place.
It’s a drastic departure from recent times for Northwestern men’s basketball. As a handful of student journalists remarked in the media room after the game, “I remember games like this when there were 12 people in the stands.”
Standing at 10-3 with a 1-1 record in conference play and an upset victory over in-state rival Illinois already under their belt, the Wildcats have started to become a commodity in Chicago’s sports community, something that’s years in the making.
“They’re a group that you want to cheer for because of how hard they play. They’re all about the right things, how they compete. I’ve always said it,” Collins said. “When I first got here and no one came to the games, [I thought], how can you get a better environment? And I always answered the same way.
“Win. Over these past three years that’s what we’ve done. We’ve won.”
Collins’ ‘Cats have won 24 conference games and finished in the top three of the Big Ten in each of the last two seasons. Over that timeframe, only Purdue (32) and Illinois (25) have more conference wins.
“I think it’s a great testament to what our players have done to capture the North Shore in the Chicago area,” Collins said. “How could you not watch Brooks Barnhizer and Boo [Buie] last year and Chase [Audige] and Robbie [Beran] and those guys? How could you not watch Brooks and Nick [Martinelli], how hard those guys play?”
After the game, the team hosted an autograph session for fans at the front entrance of Welsh-Ryan Arena. Despite having to wait nearly an hour for postgame interviews to wrap up, the line of autograph seekers stretched three-fourths of the perimeter around the building.
Not bad for a team that was coming off five straight losing seasons before this run began in 2022. Chicagoland has taken notice and it’s started to show in more than just the box score.
