Northwestern duo Brooks Barnhizer and Nick Martinelli came into the 70-66 OT win over #19 Illinois averaging 20.2 and 20.1 points per game, respectively. They were the only teammates in the entire country to both average over 20 points per game. But Martinelli went off for 27, bumping his average up to 20.8 while Barnhizer “only” scored 17, “dropping” his average to 19.8.
Martinelli, a 6-7 junior from very nearby Glenview, IL, just took over the game and showed who wanted it more.
“Nick is a warrior, even though he went to Glenbrook South, I’m glad he’s on my team now” Northwestern coach Chris Collins said of Nick Martinelli.
He then discussed the mentality involved, as Martinelli was just 2-9 from the floor at half, but finished the game 11-20 FG.
“I tell our guys all the time, don’t judge yourself on missed shots. A missed shot is not a mistake, as along as you’re taking good shots.
“I’m a big law of averages guy, because I was a gunslinger, when I played. If I missed five shots, I was wacky enough to think I was gonna make the next five, because at the end of the day, I was going to shoot 50%- that’s the message with our veteran guys.
“It’s funny how you just got to keep that mentality, when you’re missing shots, you got to keep battling.”
You can draw comparisons between Martinelli and another forward with a great mid-range game- Jalen Johnson of the Atlanta Hawks. Through 18 games, Johnson is scoring 20.1 points on 16.1 shots per game, both of which are career highs. He’s also pulling down 10.3 rebounds and handing out 5.2 assists per game.
The two are almost exactly the same height (Martinelli is listed at 6″7″ while Johnson is 6’8″). Johnson is a huge part of what of what the Hawks do, just like Martinelli is the main man through which Northwestern runs their stuff.
Johnson is second in the NBA in touches, and passes made.
“I think he’s doing a good job,” DeAndre Hunter, a teammate of Johnson’s in Atlanta told RG at a Hawks shootaround. “He’s still playing his game. He’s never out there forcing anything. I always thought he was super talented, so I’m glad he’s getting to show that now.”
And the Hawks are very adept at the mid-range game, just like Northwestern is.
“I got a mid-range team,” Collins said.
“Brooks Barnhizer is a mid-range player. Nick Martinelli is a mid-range player, Jalen Leach is a mid-range player. You got to coach the team you have. I’d be an idiot to tell those guys not to take mid-range jump shots. If I told Nick Martinelli not to shoot his flipper, that would not be smart, just like Boo Buie had a floater.
“I’m not anti-analytics. We’ve got mid-range guys, and there’s nothing wrong with that. My three best guys are midrange scorers and if we get mid-range shots, we’re gonna take ’em.”
Illini head coach Brad Underwood stated the macro, in complement to Collins’ micro, in regards to this Northwestern basketball team: “You can give all the credit to Chris and what they’ve done…The job he’s doing, he’s found a style to play.” “Northwestern is really good. People need to wake the hell up and realize this is a really good team with a really good basketball coach.”
As for that reference to Glenbrook South High School that Collins made earlier, well that’s because he went to Glenbrook North, and as you can imagine, the two schools are bitter arch-rivals.
“He likes to talk a lot of trash, and it’s kind of a hard argument to him, because he claims he never lost to GBS,” said Nick Martinelli. “I never lost to GBN, so it’s a hard conversation and he always thinks that he wins every argument.”
Hey, you can’t argue with the coach, The Sports Bank joked to him.
“No, absolutely not,” he responded with a smile.
Paul M. Banks is the Founding Editor of The Sports Bank. He’s also the author of “Transatlantic Passage: How the English Premier League Redefined Soccer in America,” and “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry.”
He currently contributes to USA Today’s NFL Wires Network, the Internet Baseball Writers Association of America and RG. His past bylines include the New York Daily News, Sports Illustrated and the Chicago Tribune. His work has been featured in numerous outlets, including the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, the Washington Post and ESPN. You can follow him on Linked In and Twitter.