# Northwestern Had To Overcome Its Hotel Before Playing In Big Ten Tournament

## Published: March 12, 2025 8:32 PM EDT | Updated: March 12, 2025 8:31 PM EDT

There are some things you can control as a basketball coach before taking the court, but Northwestern's Chris Collins had a problem with the team's hotel last night that had the players rubbing ice on their body to stay cool.

Yes, dealing with AC problems at the team hotel was not something on the list of things the Wildcats thought they would have to worry about before playing in the Big Ten Tournament opener on Wednesday, but they had no other choice.

As they prepared to play Minnesota, the Wildcats found themselves in a very hot situation at the team hotel in Indianapolis. The air conditioning was not working, which had the Wildcats head coach pretty upset following the win.

"I remember last night like when it was happening, we were kind of just like joking around, oh, this is gritty," Nick Martinelli said following the win. "Me and Gelo had a bucket of ice, and we were just grabbing the ice and rubbing it on ourselves all night to try to stay cool. Honestly, I'm not going to say I'm happy it happened, but we came out here, and we showed them."

As for head coach Chris Collins, I imagine he was having some pretty heated conversations with the Big Ten early this morning, no pun intended.

"We're used to being treated like that by this league," Collins continued postgame.

One thing I can promise you following the Northwestern win on Thursday afternoon is that the Wildcats will be resting comfortably this evening, with the temperature in each room set at 65 degrees.

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Trey Wallace is the host of _The Trey Wallace Podcast_ that focuses on a mixture of sports, culture, entertainment along with his perspective on everything from College Football to the College World Series. Wallace has been covering college sports for 15 years, starting off while attending the University of South Alabama. He’s broken some of the biggest college stories including the Florida football "Credit Card Scandal" along with the firing of Jim McElwin and Kevin Sumlin. Wallace also broke one of the biggest stories in college football in 2020 around the NCAA investigation into recruiting violations against Tennessee football head coach Jeremy Pruitt. Wallace also appears on radio across seven different states breaking down that latest news in college sports.
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