Impact of key injuries on Northwestern men’s and women’s basketball

The 2025-26 season opened with both urgency and optimism for both of Northwestern’s basketball teams. For the men’s team, Chris Collins put together a completely retooled lineup following the departure of Brooks Barnhizer, welcoming eight new arrivals and bringing back seven returners. On the women’s side, the team is embracing a farewell tour for the program’s winningest coach, Joe McKeown, who will retire at season’s end after a 40-year head coaching career, 18 of which were spent in Evanston.

In late December, injuries to the teams’ leading scorers — Nick Martinelli and Grace Sullivan — and other critical role players have stalled both teams’ seasons just as conference play starts to ramp up. The defensive identity has held strong, but with the 20-plus point vacuum without their two stars, the Wildcats have struggled to put up points against their most recent non-conference opponents.

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Men’s basketball: offense is exposed without Martinelli 

With Barnhizer in the NBA, the blueprint was clear for Collins: build an offense around the scoring of Nick Martinelli. Through the first set of games, it looked like that bet had paid off for the most part. Through 11 games, the senior averaged 21.9 points and 6.6 rebounds while shooting 59.4% from the floor and an unreal 60.9% from 3-point range (albeit on just 2.1 attempts per game). Even beyond his individual success, his reliability and threat to score opened up opportunities for others.

On Dec. 20, just ahead of Northwestern’s matchup against Butler in Indianapolis, the program confirmed that the Big Ten’s leading scorer last year would be out against the Bulldogs with a concussion.

The cost offensively was evident from the tipoff. To begin the game, Northwestern managed just two points in the first seven minutes and went 0 of 9 from the field in that span. NU went with a committee approach, with Jayden Reid, Arrinten Page and freshman Tre Singleton getting a usage bump, but efficiency was hard…

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Publish date : 2025-12-24 18:42:00

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