NU’s Martinelli utilized European vacation to become Big Ten’s top scorer
A Big Ten star was born in an unlikely location.
The Northwestern men's basketball team visited Venice, Florence and Athens last fall. Because three veteran starters were out with injuries, it fell on forward Nick Martinelli to take on a lead role during a dream trip.
“Nick was the go-to guy with those three guys out and it put him in a position to step up and have to be a leader,” Northwestern head coach Chris Collins said Tuesday. “It's like anything, once you start having success, your confidence grows.”
The Glenview native took what he learned in Europe and brought it back to Evanston. Martinelli is currently the Big Ten's leading scorer at 19.8 points per game.
That's a very surprising development for a player who wasn't heavily recruited coming out of Glenbrook South High School and originally committed to Elon University.
And it's interesting that between the gondola rides, Duomo tour and Greek Island hopping, Martinelli set the foundation for a potential All-Big Ten season. Northwestern was without Brooks Barnhizer, Ty Berry and Matthew Nicholson for the European exhibitions due to injuries, and the Cats lost top scorer Boo Buie to graduation.
“It was a great trip, especially with us coming into a transition year,” Collins said. “Adjusting to life without Boo, it was a good time to take a trip.
“We went to Venice for a couple days, then we went to Florence, which I loved. Then we wrapped up in Greece. It wasn't too shabby. We stayed in Athens, right on the water at a resort. We did a boat trip one day and kind of hit four different islands.”
When Northwestern hosts Rutgers on Wednesday at Welsh-Ryan Arena, the game will feature three of the Big Ten's top four scorers, and four of the top eight.
Rutgers freshman Ace Bailey is in a virtual tie with Martinelli for the conference scoring lead. Fellow freshman Dylan Harper ranks fourth at 18.6 ppg, while Barnhizer is eighth.
Harper is the son of Bulls dynasty guard Ron Harper, and is being projected as a possible top-2 pick in this year's NBA draft, along with Duke's Cooper Flagg.
“Harper, he grew up in an NBA household with his dad and older brother (Ron Jr.),” Collins said. “So he was the young guy kind of taking it all in. You can see he's got a poise and a maturity in his game, that goes beyond his years. He's a 6-6 point guard, he can handle the ball, he can really shoot. He's got all the tools, in my opinion, to be an outstanding pro.”
Harper suffered an ankle injury last week and played just 13 minutes over the weekend in a loss to Michigan State. He opened the eyes of NBA scouts with a 37-point performance against Alabama in November.
Bailey and Harper were both top-five recruits, which was quite a coup for Rutgers. It hasn't rolled into success on the court just yet. The Scarlet Knights are 10-10 overall, 3-6 in the Big Ten, same as Northwestern. Bailey, though, scored 39 points against Indiana and 30 against Penn State this month.
“Bailey is in that Kevin Durant-type mold,” Collins said. “He's 6-10, but he's an electric shooter, he's got deep 3-point range, he shoots off the dribble. He's long, he's athletic and you can't bother his shot because he's 6-10. When he gets going, he's impossible to stop. Those two are every bit as good as advertised.”
On the other hand, Rutgers has to try to stop Martinelli. The 6-foot-7 junior has more than doubled his scoring average from last season. He's not a high-volume 3-point shooter, but his percentage from long range has moved from 27.1 to 41.1%. Basically, he can score however necessary — 3-pointers, post-ups or midrange. He hit a game-winner at the buzzer against Maryland on Jan. 16.
“The very first thing is just his work ethic,” Collins said. “It's what I first noticed about him when he was a freshman in high school and we had his older brother Dom with us. He was always in the gym.
“He was working on footwork, he was working on different shots. So it always stuck with me, 'That kid's going to be good, because of his seriousness and work ethic.' And he's carried that over to this level.”