Northwestern scored 81 points on Thursday night at the United Center, but it wasn't enough for a win.

Northwestern (5-2) fell to undefeated Oklahoma State (7-0) 86-81 in the CBS Sports Thanksgiving Classic, undone by defensive breakdowns, rebounding deficiencies, and late-game execution failures. Despite Nick Martinelli's heroic 28-point effort and Angelo Ciaravino's season-high 14 points, the Wildcats couldn't overcome their inability to defend the paint or control the glass against a physical Cowboys squad.

"We have to be a more disciplined team," head coach Chris Collins said after the loss. "We have to be much tighter with our defense and rebounding."

The offensive stagnation surfaced early. Northwestern remained scoreless for two minutes in the first half after Arrinton Page picked up his second foul and exited at the nine-minute mark. Max Green even missed two free throws during the drought before Jayden Reid finally broke through with a three-pointer.

The game devolved into a foul-fest throughout the first half, with 34 free throw attempts combined. Northwestern shot 20 free throws but converted just 14, continuing their struggles at the charity stripe. The constant whistles disrupted the rhythm and allowed Oklahoma State to hang around despite Northwestern's offensive spurts.

Three-point shooting woes added another dimension to Northwestern's early struggles. The Wildcats finished just 3-of-19 from beyond the arc (15.8%). Through seven games, Northwestern is shooting 24.5% from three-point range, ranking outside the top 300 Division I schools per KenPom.

"We scored 81, but you'd love to shoot the ball better from three," Collins said. "We didn't shoot the ball great from the three-point line."

Collins didn't view offense as the concern, but the other end waved off that production as the Cowboys carved up Northwestern's interior defense and dominated the glass. The Cowboys, outrebounding Northwestern 39-31, repeatedly crashed the offensive glass and won 50-50 balls while the Wildcats failed to box out. This marked the third time in seven games that Northwestern has been exposed on the glass, following similar struggles against Virginia and DePaul.

The defensive lapses were most glaring in the second half. After Northwestern built a six-point lead early in the period behind Ciaravino's driving layup and Martinelli's four points under the rim, the Cowboys stormed back. Both teams went ice-cold for two minutes until Oklahoma State broke the silence with back-to-back three-pointers to retake a 62-58 lead.

Page, who sat out most of the first half after picking up his second foul and returned late in the second, responded with an interior bucket. But Anthony Roy immediately answered with consecutive three-pointers to balloon Oklahoma State's lead to eight points. The Cowboys' guards consistently found space on the perimeter while Northwestern's rotations broke down.

"When we got the lead, we actually strung together a few stops," Collins said. "We just couldn't consistently keep that going."

That inconsistency proved fatal. With five minutes remaining, Page and Martinelli combined for four points to cut the deficit to four. But Roy drilled another three from the line after drawing a foul on the three-point line, pushing the lead back to seven. 

The Wildcats showed resilience late. Ciaravino found a driving lane to cut the deficit to three, then powered four more points to make it a two-point game with under a minute remaining. Martinelli grabbed his own miss for a putback and-one that trimmed it to 80-79 with 32 seconds left, giving Northwestern hope.

But the Cowboys sealed it from the free-throw line. Northwestern quickly fouled, and Oklahoma State converted both attempts to push the lead to three. In the final possession, Reid created space for a step-back three-pointer that would have tied the game, but the shot air-balled off the line, leaving no hope on the United Center hardwood.

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