Northwestern grows into neighborhood bully role in win over DePaul
Nick Martinelli's path to becoming a star at Northwestern involved taking plenty of lumps on the family driveway in Glenview against two older brothers.
Now Martinelli and teammate Brooks Barnhizer are playing like the Big Ten's big brothers. Northwestern has a steady, cohesive, veteran squad that rolled past DePaul 84-64 on Saturday at Welsh-Ryan Arena as Martinelli scored 23 points and Barnhizer added 21.
“I think Brooks is going to have a chance to play in the NBA,” DePaul coach Chris Holtmann said. “Martinelli has found a way to have a tremendous start to his year. They're real matchup problems. They're really strong and physical, they're both really, really tough kids.”
Northwestern coach Chris Collins talked about how the Wildcats might be the antidote to what's ailing the NBA. While the pro teams are spreading the court and shooting 50 3-pointers every game, NU is riding its midrange monsters. The 6-7 Martinelli and 6-6 Barnhizer are big enough to score in the post and skilled enough to play anywhere on the court, so the Cats don't have to rely on 3s.
“Nick's one of those guys you've got to kick him out of the gym,” Collins said. “We've got a few days off, I told him, 'I've got a camera, you're not allowed to go over to Glenbrook South and play pickup with your high school teammates.' Just really proud of his development.”
As the local college hoops teams head into the New Year, the Wildcats (9-3) seem to carry the confidence they can be near the top of the Big Ten if things go well. They've been building up the supporting cast to help the two stars.
DePaul (8-4) is hoping for a revival under Holtmann with a completely new roster. But the Blue Demons have lost 34 straight Big East games. At this point, the conference doesn't seem as strong as it has been, with just two ranked teams (No. 9 Marquette and No. 11 Connecticut). The history is what it is, though.
“It's not something we talk about, think about,” said DePaul guard Conor Enright, a Mundelein native. “That's not our identity. We definitely think we can compete.”
The opening minutes helped decide this game as Northwestern raced to a 20-2 lead. The Blue Demons closed within single digits a few times before the Wildcats finished it off with a late run.
Three road games have been difficult for DePaul, which fell behind 14-0 at the start against Texas Tech a few weeks ago. The first Big East road trip was a 28-point defeat at St. John's on Tuesday.
“We've had a good attitude about it,” Enright said. “That's kind of like our game so far, we have stretches where we don't look great and then stretches where we do. I think we need to clump together those good stretches. We've got to be the team that punches first.”
Both coaches expressed a desire to make this a permanent rivalry. Not many of the local teams play each other anymore, but Northwestern and DePaul will continue.
“I love where Chicago basketball's at right now,” Collins said. “I tell you, in my 12, 13 years I've been here, this is probably the best collectively that you would say Northwestern, DePaul, Loyola and UIC are. What Chris is going to do at DePaul, I hate it, but they're going to keep getting better.”