Northwestern can't keep Virginia off the glass in 83-78 loss
Northwestern dropped their first game of the 2025-26 season in an 83-78 loss to Virginia in the Greenbrier Tip-Off, unable to overcome a monstrous rebounding deficit.
The Wildcats were outrebounded 49-25 overall, with a debilitating 21-6 disadvantage on the offensive glass. They were able to stay in the game down to the wire thanks to 25 points from Jayden Reid and 20 from center Arrinten Page, but they couldn’t hold out forever with such a glaring discrepancy on the boards.
Star forward Nick Martinelli came back down to earth after a surreal start to the season, with nine points on 3-for-12 shooting, snapping his 30-game streak of double-digit points.
Virginia was led by forward Thijs De Ridder with 26 points and eight rebounds, though he fouled out with 5:46 to play. He was one of four players overall to foul out in a frustratingly officiated game.
Here are our takeaways from Northwestern’s loss to the Cavaliers.
Rebounding problems persists
After allowing 15 offensive rebounds to DePaul, this game was even worse for Northwestern, with 21 offensive boards allowed. Although Page has been a sensational scorer, he hasn’t been much of a deterrent on the defensive glass.
Page had five rebounds against DePaul and six in this one. Those aren’t bad numbers in a vacuum, but it’s a problem when opposing bigs are consistently racking up more. De Ridder had eight and center Johann Gruenloh had seven.
The issue is not just Page, though. Virginia guard Chase Mallory, all of 5-foot-10 of him, had eight rebounds of his own.
Coming into the season, Northwestern planned to support Page with two strong rebounding forwards in Martinelli and Tre Singleton. Singleton, a true freshman who has been mired in foul trouble for most of this season, had five rebounds in 23 minutes. Martinelli was as out-of-sorts on the glass as he was from the floor, snagging just three boards.
It takes a village to rebound and right now no one in purple is blameless. They have to find the physicality, discipline and hunger to overcome undersized matchups because it’s incredibly difficult to play winning basketball with this kind of deficit on the glass.
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Refereeing style has been an eyesore in back-to-back games
Let the kids play. It’s been exhausting to watch the last two Northwestern games, with whistle after whistle, punishing both teams.
De Ridder and Mallory fouled out for Virginia, Singleton and Page were knocked out for Northwestern. That quartet represents just 20 of the 51 fouls called in this game, with 60 free throws awarded.
An over-the-back call on Singleton’s attempt to putback Reid’s missed layup with 1:01 left was particularly egregious. It fouled him out of the game, gave two key free throws to Virginia and turned a one-point deficit into three, drastically changing the game’s landscape.
Against DePaul, it was 48 fouls and 51 free throws. It clogs the game up and turns what should be an exciting battle between two Power Five programs into a free-throw fest. That suited the Cavaliers just fine. They shot a pristine 30-for-36 from the line, while the Wildcats struggled, shooting 17-for-24.
Northwestern did intentionally foul a few times late to play the foul game, but all five of their starters fouled four or more times, often on perimeter touch fouls or while battling for position. There were 51 made field goals in this game and 47 made free throws.
The refs need to give the whistle a rest and let the teams decide the result in the course of the game, not at the line.
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Scoring diversity needs to improve
Northwestern has prided themselves on their depth and their scoring options this season. But so far that has meant three main options: Reid, Page and Martinelli. That trio took 41 of Northwestern’s 58 field goal attempts.
Reid deserves kudos for how he piloted the offense; he relentlessly pushed the pace, initiated offense and drew key fouls.
Page continued his brilliant run to start the season with his second-straight 20-point performance. He threw down multiple thunderous dunks and was a great roll man off of screens for Reid. There were a couple nitpicks in his play style. He got impatient or overzealous at junctures and took ill-advised 3s, finishing 2-for-6 on the game. One of them was a chance to tie that was blocked by Gruenloh with 41 seconds left. He should cut down on those hoists and target three attempts from beyond the arc in a game at most — though it’s hard to fault him too much when the rest of the offense was struggling to create.
Martinelli’s 3-for-12 performance marked the fewest field goals for him since he was 2-for-8 against Purdue back in January of last season.
Circling back to the depth, this was a game where Northwestern needed supplementary scoring off their bench, and they were pretty much out of luck with just 12 bench points. Collins talked after the DePaul game about getting more looks for shooting specialists Max Green and KJ Windham. Green was 0-for-1 from the floor in seven minutes, Windham was 1-for-2 in 11 minutes, his only make coming in the final seconds on a 3-pointer off an inbounds play.
Future outlook
This loss stings. After all, Northwestern led 55-48 with 15:24 left, and then 70-68 with 4:46. Getting to those junctures away from home, it’s difficult to not come out with a win.
But Virginia has the makings of a very solid team under new coach Ryan Odom, and Northwestern has some positive revelations and actionable weaknesses out of their first five games.
They have struck gold twice out of the portal with Reid and Page. Martinelli won’t score just nine points too many more times this season. They have a real hydra of scoring options. They have limited the very early season turnover issues and are looking after the ball better.
The rebounding has to get fixed. If that continues, it could sink the season. But confidence should be high in the coaching staff to light the needed fire to put that right.
Similarly, Singleton hasn’t been as ready-made as anticipated, but he’s showing more and more flashes, and the foul trouble is something that should fade with more maturity and better refereeing. The Wildcats need to get more of their bench scorers involved, but they’ve shown that they have the shooting skill. They just need to create some windows for them.
The Wildcats have a day off on Saturday to lick their wounds and they have what it takes to put together a winning performance against South Carolina in their second game of the event on Sunday.
