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 to come by and late-game execution fell short. Butler’s Michael Ajayi was able to operate at will with the loss in size, grabbing 20 boards and putting up 19 points.
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Page’s offensive struggles stood out the most, with the big man scoring seven points on 3-of-8 shooting. Without Martinelli on the other side of the paint drawing doubles or forcing weak-side stunts, Butler stayed home on Page, taking away his typically clean looks in the paint.
As a team, Northwestern shot just 4 of 23 from 3-point range, and late looks from Reid and Singleton — outside of the long two from the freshman that looked like it would tie the game — were critical missed shots with time expiring. The 58 points the Wildcats scored was their lowest of the season by 12 and their fewest since the second-round loss to UConn in March Madness.
The defense was strong — 61 points allowed was Butler’s second-lowest of the season — but the offense was clearly the falling point on Saturday. Northwestern’s 7-5 (0-2 B1G) record heading into Christmas break isn’t fatal, but it leaves little room for error once conference play resumes. Martinelli is expected to be out of protocol by the Howard game, but his absence shows just how much NU’s scoring depends on him.
Women’s basketball: identity void with Sullivan’s absence
After opening the season 6-0, this year’s women’s team looked promising following a tough 2024-25 season. Grace Sullivan, in her second year with the ‘Cats since transferring from Bucknell, opened the year playing at an All-America level, averaging 22.4 points (10th nationally) and 7.8 rebounds through 11 games — the highest scoring mark by a Wildcat since Kristina Divjak in 1996-97.
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However, nine minutes into the Loyola Chicago game on Dec. 18, Sullivan exited early with an ankle injury, causing her to miss the remainder of the game and the George Washington contest three days later.
The absence also coincided with that of junior guard Casey Harter — the team’s most reliable shooter at 35% on 4.4 attempts per game — and forward Daija Turner being out, forcing heavy minutes on primary ball-handlers like Caroline Lau and shrinking the floor around senior forward Tayla Thomas.
As with the men’s team, the consequences were felt immediately. Thomas delivered a career night against Loyola Chicago, scoring 30 points and grabbing 11 boards, but Northwestern still lost 69-68. At George Washington, the offense struggled, finishing with 62 points as the Revolutionaries loaded the paint on Thomas and blitzed Lau, daring anyone else to score. The two still managed to score 17 points each and had nice contributions from freshman Angelina Hodgens, but the rest of the roster offered little relief, as Northwestern fell for the sixth game in a row, losing 75-62.
The heart of the issue for McKeown in his final season is that without Sullivan, the offense lacks identity, and the workload for the remaining leaders is dangerously high. Even before her injury, cracks were showing with the team’s inability to make 3s and the lack of bench scoring. With Sullivan, the ’Cats have a path to success, but without, the season could be a drag to the finish.
