Three takeaways from Northwestern’s 79-68 loss against rival Illinois

In a sold-out Welsh-Ryan Arena, the stakes of a historic rivalry were familiar for Northwestern.

Unfortunately for ‘Cats fans, it was also an all-too-familiar storyline down the stretch on Wednesday night, as the Wildcats lost 79-68 to rival Illinois. With NU sitting at 0-6 to start Big Ten conference play, the frustration with Northwestern’s inability to secure a crunch-time victory has never been larger, as the ‘Cats let another close game slip away.

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Here are three takeaways from Wednesday’s defeat.

The key to stopping the ‘Cats: squeeze the paint

Brad Underwood’s game plan for Northwestern’s Nick Martinelli-led offense was simple: collapse in the paint and stop Martinelli. And, it worked.

Northwestern’s two leading scorers — Martinelli, who averages 23.8 points per game, and Arrinten Page, who averages 13.6 points per game — both fundamentally operate in the paint as post players. Though Martinelli is a versatile scorer, even his 6.2 made free throws per game come primarily from shooting fouls opposing defenders commit when he’s working inside. On top of all of this, Northwestern is shooting 31.3% from beyond the arc this season, good for 17th in the Big Ten.

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Considering Northwestern’s offensive identity, Illinois squeezed the paint, blocking almost all post entries to Martinelli and Page. At some points, the Illini even played a 2-3 zone, pretty much giving up anything from beyond the perimeter but not allowing the ‘Cats to penetrate inside. Martinelli and Page were held to 27 combined points, well below their season average of 37.4.

In addition, though they had good looks from downtown all game long, the ‘Cats shot just 36% from beyond the arc. Wednesday was certainly one of their better games of the year from deep, but it wasn’t good enough to win — especially with Illinois consistently handing out open three-point looks.

Illinois is the second Big Ten team to truly expose the ‘Cats’ weak perimeter offense….

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/three-takeaways-northwestern-79-68-222414187.html

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Publish date : 2026-01-15 22:24:00

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