Points of interest: Martinelli scores 20, but Northwestern falls to Illinois
Northwestern forward Nick Martinelli led the Big Ten in scoring last season.
Since then, the Glenview native has gone nationwide, leading the entire country at 24.1 points per game heading into Wednesday's home game against No. 13 Illinois.
The points haven't come with a payoff, though. The Wildcats dropped to 0-6 in the Big Ten with a 79-68 loss to the Illini. Unlike the previous four conference losses, NU did not hold a late second-half lead in this one.
The Wildcats trimmed a 15-point deficit down to 4 late in the game, but a pair of 3-pointers from Illini center Tomislav Ivisic put things away.
“I thought we did a solid job on Nick,” Illini coach Brad Underwood said. “He had a quiet 20, in my opinion. Great win for us. Any time we win on the road and you beat a Chris Collins team, you should feel happy when you walk out of the gym.”
Following an overtime loss at Rutgers last weekend, Martinelli suggested he'd rather ride the bench and win than lead the nation in scoring and lose.
He had a chance to finish his career going 4-0 against the Illini in Evanston, but NU's three-game home win streak in the series was snapped. Martinelli finished with 20 points, while Northwestern's scoring leader was guard Jayden Reid with 28.
“It doesn't matter how many games we lose in a row,” Martinelli said Tuesday. “I'm going to continue to come here with the same mindset and drive to try to win the next one.”
With the victory Illinois (14-3, 5-1) matched its best start in 13 years. Despite losing two first-round draft picks off last year's team, the Illini seem significantly improved.
The two key newcomers are freshman forward Keaton Wagler and 6-7 Cal transfer Andrej Stojakovic, then the Illini added an extra 7-footer when Zvonimir Ivisic transferred from Arkansas to join twin brother Tomislav.
Wagler (22 points) was feeling back spasms before the game and had a quiet first half. Then he pushed the Illini over the top after halftime. Midway through the second half, he drove to the basket for a three-point play, then added a step-back 3-point jumper to give Illinois its biggest lead to that point at 62-47.
Northwestern got back into it, though, thanks to a flagrant foul by Wagler, then a technical on the Illini bench, which helped create a 10-0 NU run to get it back to a 5-point deficit. Eventually, the Cats got within 67-63 with 4:57 left, but that was it.
Northwestern had the nation's leading scorer, but the Illini brought college basketball's tallest team to Welsh-Ryan Arena.
An appropriate description of Martinelli is the ultimate garbageman. At 6-foot-7, he's got a variety of unconventional moves around the basket. He'll step outside sometimes, but the essence of his game is creating contact and shooting floaters.
Illinois tried an interesting defensive tactic, guarding Martinelli with 6-2 point guard Kylan Boswell for much of the night. While being checked by Illinois’ quickest player, Martinelli was still surrounded by big bodies when he did catch the ball.
“He solves problems,” Underwood said of Boswell. “When Reid got going, we switched him on Reid. It's nice to have a guy that versatile.”