A long day of turkey munching and backyard football was capped off by a Northwestern men’s basketball marquee, as it took center stage against Oklahoma State in the United Center on Thursday night.
Inside the home of the Chicago Bulls, the ‘Cats (5-2, 0-0 Big Ten) fell to the Cowboys (7-0, 0-0 Big XII), 86-79, in their first ever matchup at the Thanksgiving Classic inside the United Center, and Chris Collins’ potential 200th win as NU’s head coach on the line.
The star of the show was Anthony Roy, who led OSU down the stretch with 16 second-half points, going 5-of-7 from the field. Overall, five Cowboys logged double-digits on the night: Parsa Fallah, Jaylen Curry, Christian Coleman, and Vyctorius Miller joined Roy with 10-plus each, with Curry’s 18 leading the pack.
For the ‘Cats, Nick Martinelli’s 28 points was a game-high. The senior kept Northwestern in the fight until the very end, going 7-of-10 from the field at in the final 20 minutes.
First blood was drawn by the Cowboys, as Fallah cashed in on a second-chance layup following an offensive rebound just a minute into the first half. But Martinelli responded with his signature lefty floater a few seconds later for NU’s first bucket of the night.
Following an Angelo Ciaravino free throw, Miller canned back-to-back threes to give the Cowboys an early 8-3 lead heading into the first media timeout of the game.
A pair of Arrinten Page free throws cut the lead back down to one possession, but Fallah found a cutting Coleman down the left baseline for a slam, making it 10-5 Cowboys after just five minutes. Miller followed up with a dunk of his own to extend the lead, but Justin Mullins dropped in a layup in transition in response. Fallah continued to work hard down low for Oklahoma State, and drew an and-one to push the lead to eight.
Martinelli sunk a trey before Page hit three free throws and jumper during a brief 8-2 run that got the ‘Cats back in it. Fallah used multiple pump fakes against Page on the left block to open himself up for a hook shot, maintaining a two-score lead for the Cowboys. Max Green responded with a catch-and-shoot jumper just inside the college three-point line to make it 19-17, still in favor of OSU.
Curry went on a 5-0 run of his own with two shots from the charity stripe and a three-point play to add some much-needed padding to the Cowboy lead. Jayden Reid then knocked down his first shot of the day — a three from the right wing, to get NU to the 20-point mark, but Coleman’s off-ball movement got him another dunk, as Curry made the cross-court find.
Reid, Martinelli and Singleton all drained two-pointers to make the deficit much more manageable for the ‘Cats. A mid-range shot from Curry kept Northwestern down by two, however, with 5:54 to go in the half.
The teams then traded free throws after a brief stoppage, with OSU hitting five and NU hitting four, to bring the score to 33-30. Ciaravino’s layup cut the lead to just one with four minutes left on the clock, and Tre Singleton rattled in a pair of foul line shots to give Northwestern its first lead of the game since 3-2.
Curry erased the Wildcats’ advantage with a blow-by layup, contributing to his first half total of a game-high 16. Martinelli followed up with one of his own for his ninth point of the half, a Wildcat best.
Despite Oklahoma State controlling much of the first half, Northwestern found itself with a 40-39 lead at the halftime buzzer. A Curry finger roll, two KJ Windham free throws, two Curry foul shots, and a Martinelli turnaround shot ended a high-octane half of basketball where both teams shot above 40% from the field, but were both below 20% from three-point land.
At the half, Martinelli led all NU scorers with 11 points and six rebounds on 5-of-6 shooting. Page (seven points, 5-of-6 from the free throw line) was a dominant force inside, but two early fouls forced him to sit down the stretch of the opening half. Reid also added seven points of his own along with a trio of assists, but committed two turnovers as well.
For Oklahoma State, it was the Jaylen Curry show. The junior guard led all scorers in the first half with 16 points on 5-of-7 shooting. Parsa Fallah and Christian Coleman followed up for the Cowboys with eight apiece.
NU opened the second half by stretching its lead to four. Ciaravino and Martinelli contributed to the effort, both scoring from inside the restricted area. After a minute of play, the Glenview native muscled in another layup and the ‘Cats found themselves atop their largest lead of the game, up 46-40.
OSU’s Anthony Roy chopped the NU advantage down to four with his first score in seven attempts. Kanye Clary cashed two technical foul shots to reduce the lead even further and Miller made good of two more from the charity stripe following a Jake West foul. He’d then throw down a dunk in transition to complete the eight point swing — a sequence that went down within just 45 seconds.
Ciaravino grabbed the lead right back for Northwestern with his first three of the game, while Martinelli followed with his ninth field goal of the game, cleaning up an airball from Page. The captain’s one-foot fadeaway the next possession gave him 19 on the night.
Curry and Coleman responded with layups, but Windham kept the Cowboys at bay with three free throws following Coleman’s fourth foul of the contest. Andrija Vukovic found his first two points of the game just before the under-12 media timeout.
Out of the stoppage, Green knocked down his second shot of the day, creating space on the wing with a tough stepback jumper as the shot clock expired.
Miller, now playing an expanded role with foul trouble weighing heavily on the Cowboys, found this third three-point field goal of the contest, giving the lead back to OSU. Roy’s 30-foot bomb forced Collins to take a timeout, down 62-58.
Fallah and Page traded buckets down low, but Roy nailed another three to continue OSU’s 13-2 scoring run. Martinelli provided a temporary bandage over the Cowboy explosion with two foul shots, pushing his scoring total to 21, but Roy made another heavily contested triple to make the score 70-62. Windham, Page, Clary, and Martinelli scored in succession to push the score to 72-68. Three foul shots from Roy saw Oklahoma State with another eight-point lead.
Martinelli made good use of his large frame against Clary, bodying the smaller guard out the way to open up a jumper from the free throw line. Ciaravino drove down the right hash and laid in another two, but Fallah got a favorable roll on a free throw to keep it a four point game with 2:15 left.
Roy and Ciaravino found layups under the two-minute mark, and a turnover led to an and-one opportunity on the other end for the Northwestern sophomore, fouling out Coleman in the process. Ciaravino missed the free throw, leaving the ‘Cats down by two with a minute remaining, and possession with the Cowboys. Fallah came up clutch with a floater from the line. Martinelli’s scrappiness on the boards paid off on the next possession, as he fought through contact and nailed a putback, plus the subsequent free throw, to bring NU back within one.
With 34.2 seconds to go and a 80-79 lead, Oklahoma State reaped the benefits of being in the bonus, as Clary sunk two free throws following an off-ball foul on Page. Reid came charging the other way and tossed up a three from the wing, but missed short, all but ending the resilient late-game effort for ‘Cats as the ball bounced out of bounds.
Two free throws from Miller sealed the deal for the Cowboys. Reid got himself a layup, but Coleman iced the game with two final foul shots. Reid had no choice but to heave from half court as the final 4.8 seconds on the clock ticked away, officially giving the ‘Cats their second non-conference loss of the season.
Following the loss, Northwestern takes to the road to begin Big Ten play against Wisconsin on Dec. 3 at 8 p.m. CT.
