The meeting between Northwestern and DePaul on Friday night of course came down to a foul.
Officials had called 47 fouls at Wintrust Arena before Northwestern’s possession in a tie game with 30 seconds to play.
Wildcats guard Jayden Reid drove into the paint and missed a jumper with six seconds left, and when Nick Martinelli grabbed a rebound that had been tipped back, DePaul’s Kruz McClure was called for a foul as he also went for the ball.
Martinelli made both free throws with 3.5 seconds to play. But Northwestern didn’t stave off the upset until Layden Blocker’s long 3-point attempt clanged off the rim for an 81-79 Wildcats win.
Northwestern (4-0) won for the eighth time in its last nine meetings with DePaul, but NU coach Chris Collins said he thought the Blue Demons (2-2) were the tougher team in stretches as they dominated the offensive glass and got Northwestern into foul trouble with their aggressive drives.
He said DePaul coach Chris Holtmann’s quest to turn around the DePaul program — now in his second season — reminds him of his early days at Northwestern.
“We knew this was going to be a really tough game,” Collins said. “This is a proud coaching staff. This is an improving program. I get it. I feel I was in Chris’ shoes 10 years ago, 11 years ago, and trying to fight, scrap and claw and bring this great program back to relevance. And I knew we were going to get their best shot in every way we did, and fortunately we were able to make enough plays at the end there to win.”
Holtmann said he was disappointed with the result but not with how his team played just three days after losing to Buffalo 66-53. He thought his Blue Demons played with good pace, aggressiveness and physicality. And he wasn’t sure about the final foul.
“Honestly, you hate to see a game decided off free throws,” Holtmann said. “I had a chance to look at it. I’m going to bite my tongue a little bit. I don’t want to take anything away from Northwestern’s win. You just would hate to see a game decided like that. Having said that, I thought it was a physical battle. You knew that with Northwestern and Chris’ teams.”
Martinelli led all scorers with 24 points on 8-for-11 shooting and also had five rebounds and two assists. Northwestern 6-foot-11 forward Arrinten Page added 22 points on 10-for-11 shooting from the field and had five rebounds and two assists.
McClure had 15 points and Blocker added 14 to lead DePaul.
Northwestern forward Arrinten Page (22) puts up a shot in the first half against DePaul on Nov. 14, 2025, at Wintrust Arena. (John J. Kim/Chicago Tribune)
Page, a transfer from Cincinnati, made his first nine field goals before his only miss with 11 minutes, 41 seconds to play. His presence gives Northwestern a strong 1-2 punch with Martinelli, last season’s Big Ten scoring leader.
“Arrinten’s emergence has been huge,” Collins said. “His efficiency down low, his ability to score the ball, it takes pressure off Nick. A lot of his baskets were at the rim. Our offensive numbers were very efficient. … On the road, against a physical, tough defensive team, that’s a really good offensive game in my opinion.”
Northwestern looked to be in control early in the second half when Martinelli and Page took over, scoring the Wildcats’ first 14 points for a 56-50 lead.
But both Page and Martinelli went to the bench for periods because of foul trouble. Page sat for a stretch midway through the second half after getting his third foul. Martinelli went to the bench with his fourth with 5:02 to play.
DePaul guard Layden Blocker (2) attempts at 3-pointer at the second-half buzzer against Northwestern forward Tre Singleton on Nov. 14, 2025, at Wintrust Arena. The shot didn’t fall, giving the Wildcats an 81-79 win. (John J. Kim/Chicago Tribune)
That helped DePaul keep it a back-and-forth affair.
“They were driving us with force,” Collins said. “They did a lot of good things tonight that put us in peril, with foul trouble and giving up easy baskets around the paint, but our guys’ competitive will was able to come out in the end.”
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In the loss to Buffalo, the Blue Demons scored just 18 points in the first half. But the DePaul wasn’t sluggish to start off Friday.
The Blue Demons had 10 offensive rebounds and 16 second-chance points before halftime. That included three offensive rebounds in the final 1:44 of the half as they pulled to a 44-42 lead. They at one point got to the free-throw line three straight times without Northwestern gaining possession of the ball.
They shot 17 of 20 from the line in the half and 22 of 27 in the game. They finished with 16 offensive rebounds.
“(Offensive rebounding) is something we have really worked on,” Holtmann said. “Northwestern is a good rebounding team because they’re really well coached and they’re physical. They are in rotation because of how they play defensively a lot, so they’re off bodies. When you’re in rotation defensively like that, you can be susceptible to getting (beat) on the offensive glass. … We did a good job of flooding often to the weakside and creating extra opportunities, and our guys did it with effort. It was really good to see.”
But Northwestern’s offense prevailed. The Wildcats shot 58% from the floor, also getting 17 points from Reid and 10 from freshman Tre Singleton, to stay undefeated with games against Virginia, South Carolina and Oklahoma State in the next two weeks.
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/11/15/northwestern-depaul-basketball-nick-martinelli/
