Fight to the finish: Wide-open Big Ten heats up early with NU’s overtime win over Illinois
The Big Ten is far from the most impressive conference in men's basketball so far this season.
But it may be uniquely competitive. The upcoming campaign could resemble a giant three-legged race at a grade school field day. There is no favorite, no top-10 team, but probably 15 of the 18 squads could realistically set their sights on winning the title.
The first Chicago-based conference game was Friday's clash of Orange and Purple, Illinois vs. Northwestern before a split crowd at Welsh-Ryan Arena.
The first 32 minutes or so was holiday shopping at peak hours, not much positive production. But Northwestern pulled off a late rally to beat No. 19 Illinois 70-66 in overtime.
“Still trying to catch my breath. What a fight,” NU coach Chris Collins said. “We had to win it kind of the Northwestern way, which is grit and grind. We sort of pride ourselves with that.”
Nick Martinelli (27 points) scored 7 of NU's first 9 points in OT, including a big 3-pointer with 2:21 left to make it 65-61, and the Wildcats held on for their third straight home win over the Illini.
“We just found the matchup in overtime,” Collins said. “We kept running the same play and they guarded it the same way.”
The game got interesting around the time Northwestern center Matt Nicholson dove to the floor trying to save a loose ball and opened a cut on his elbow with just over eight minutes left. Nicholson ran back to the bench with his bleeding arm in the air while waving his healthy arm to pump up the crowd.
Once the bandaging was done, NU senior forward Brooks Barnhizer (17 points) summoned some of the Boo Buie star power his team had been lacking. First, Barnhizer blocked a 3-point attempt by Illini freshman center Tomislav Ivisic, came down on the break and tried to dunk on the 7-footer, missed and wanted a foul. The refs said play on, and Barnhizer got a steal at midcourt a few seconds later, tried another fastbreak dunk and was fouled.
Two missed free throws cost NU a chance to tie. The Illini hit some big 3s to hold the lead, but Barnhizer finally tied it on a jumper in the lane with 41.6 seconds left. Both teams missed 3-point shots before heading to OT.
“It's what's to be expected in the Big Ten,” Illinois coach Brad Underwood said. “This is what it's going to look like.”
Illinois' only consistent offense was long-distance deliveries from 6-foot-6 freshman Kasparas Jakucionis, who went 6-for-10 from 3-point range and led the Illini with 20 points. Four freshmen — Jakucionis, Ivisic, Will Riley and Montez Johnson — scored 53 of the 66 points.
Heading into Friday's action, the Big Ten favorites had formed a giant pack in the KenPom ratings, with six teams ranked between 13 and 19. The Illini were actually the first Big Ten team listed at No. 13.
There's a more spread-out cluster between Ohio State at 29 and Rutgers at 72, and every team in that group has reasonable hopes of moving up. Purdue was the highest-ranked Big Ten squad until losing badly at Penn State on Thursday.
“This league is loaded. Everybody can beat everybody,” Collins said. “It's going to make it really hard. But it's why you have to try to keep your composure; it's why you've got to stay in the fight.”
During the past few years, Purdue was a clear Big Ten favorite and landed in the championship game last spring. Are there any actual good teams this season, or is the conference just oozing with mediocrity?
“The league's as good as it's been this year.,” Martinelli said. “I've been watching games all year, I've probably seen every team play at least once.”
Northwestern lost its opener at Iowa on Tuesday when Josh Dix swished a long 3-pointer at the buzzer. This was Illinois' first Big Ten game.