Northwestern
10-4,1-2Big Ten
Penn State
12-2,2-1Big Ten
Wildcats Fall Late in Tight Contest at Penn State, 84-80
1/2/2025 10:21:00 PM | Men's Basketball
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - Northwestern fell 84-80 in a tightly contested battle at Penn State on Thursday night in a game where the Wildcats had a chance to tie or take the lead with four seconds left. The game featured 14 lead changes and was tied 11 times.
Senior Brooks Barnhizer notched 20 points, 11 rebounds, a career-high eight assists, and three steals. He recorded his seventh consecutive double-double, continuing the country's longest active streak and tying Maxime Raynaud (Stanford) for the country's longest streak this season. He is the first Wildcat since at least 1996 to log seven consecutive double-doubles. He now leads the nation this season in 20+ point, 10+ rebound, and 5+ assist performances with four.
Junior Nick Martinelli logged 18 points and five rebounds while shooting a season-high 8-of-10 from the free throw line. He scored 15+ points for the sixth consecutive game, the longest streak of his career.
Despite falling just short, the Wildcats (10-4, 1-2 Big Ten) forced the Nittany Lions (12-2, 2-1 Big Ten) into 17 turnovers, Penn State's most in a game this season. Northwestern has forced 15+ turnovers in four consecutive games for the first time since Dec. 11-Dec. 29, 2022. The 'Cats totaled 19 assists while shooting 28-of-61 (45.9%) from the field and had 25 bench points, their second-highest mark of the season behind their matchup with Lehigh on Nov. 4 (30).
"Obviously, a disappointing loss for us, gutted by it," Sullivan-Ubben Head Men's Basketball Coach Chris Collins said. "These Big Ten games, we've played three of them, they've all come down to the last possession."
First-years K.J. Windham and Angelo Ciaravino both scored eight points, their career-highs in Big Ten competition, while knocking down two 3-pointers for Northwestern. Junior Justin Mullins scored seven points off the bench as well.
The Nittany Lions jumped out to an 8-0 lead over the Wildcats, their largest lead during the game, as the 'Cats soon cut into the lead. Northwestern held Penn State without a made field goal from 16:54 to 9:51 in the first half and went on a 14-4 run to take the lead ten minutes into the contest.
"I thought we did a good job," Collins said. "A lot of that was our young kids in the game. … We kind of just mucked our way back into the game, but that's who we are. We're kind of an old-school, physical, tough-minded team that just keeps battling, keeps playing."
Multiple Wildcats got into foul trouble quickly, as graduate students Jalen Leach and Ty Berry had two early fouls that limited their playing time.
In the game's first 13 minutes, Northwestern had forced nine turnovers. The Wildcats took their largest lead of the game with the score at 21-16 with eight minutes remaining in the first half. The Penn State offense found form as the tilt approached halftime and took a 37-34 lead into halftime.
In the game's final 18 minutes, neither team took a lead of more than five points, as Northwestern led by as many as three throughout the second half.
"We just hung in there," Collins said. "We got a tough group. We got a resilient group. Our guys hung around, hung around."
Penn State retook the lead with a shade under four minutes remaining and never gave it back.
The 'Cats nearly sent the game to overtime with a Leach layup off an offensive rebound that was ruled a goaltend, but official video review overturned the call.
Northwestern was called for 30 fouls compared to Penn State's 17, as Leach, Mullins, Berry and Matthew Nicholson finished the game with four personal fouls. Penn State attempted more free throws (36-45) than field goals (22-44).
Barnhizer and Martinelli each scored 13 points in the second half. Northwestern has scored 70+ points in six consecutive games for the first time since Nov. 12-Nov. 30, 2021, and 80+ points in three consecutive games for the first time since Jan. 24-Jan. 31, 2024.
The Wildcats will have their second consecutive Big Ten road test with a matchup in West Lafayette at Purdue on Sunday, Jan. 5 at 1 p.m. CT. The game will air on Big Ten Network and can be heard on The Varsity Network.
