INDIANAPOLIS — In the early moments of Northwestern’s season opener, junior forward Nick Martinelli received a post entry pass, spun past a defender and effortlessly laid in a left-handed shot off the glass to thrust a 4-0 lead over Lehigh.
“That is in his bag,” NBC commentator Paul Burmeister exclaimed, encapsulating the smooth finesse of the play.
At that moment, few could have imagined that Martinelli’s first basket of the season would serve as a launching point for the greatest single-season scoring campaign in the history of Wildcats basketball.
But deep in the post with three minutes remaining in the first half of NU’s 70-63 second-round Big Ten Tournament loss to No. 18 Wisconsin Thursday, the junior etched his name in the program history books.
Upon receiving a bounce pass from redshirt sophomore forward Luke Hunger, Martinelli evaded Wisconsin guard Kamari McGee and calmly flicked down his trademark left-handed flipper to secure more points in a season than any Wildcat before him.
Entering Thursday’s contest, Martinelli was just seven points shy of tying former NU forward John Shurna’s 661-point output in the 2011-12 season. He surpassed former guard Boo Buie’s 646-point 2023-24 season in NU’s first-round win over Minnesota Wednesday.
Martinelli took a backseat in the offense early against the Badgers, as junior guard Justin Mullins and sophomore guard Jordan Clayton each hit 3-pointers.
When Martinelli went up for an offensive rebound four minutes into the game, his jersey ripped, causing the junior to don a generic, unnamed kit with the number 66 — replacing his iconic No. 2.
The Big Ten’s leading scorer finally got off the mark after eight minutes with a signature left-handed floater in the paint. Martinelli added a tip-in off the glass and another floater to get within two points of the record.
With 4:56 remaining in the first half, Martinelli was fouled in the act of shooting and earned a trip to the free-throw line, but he missed the front end of the pair. After tying Shurna with a make on the second free throw, his flipper roughly a minute and a half later launched Martinelli into Wildcat immortality.
The makeshift No. 66 finished the game with 22 points — his 18th game of the season scoring at least 20 — but the ‘Cats were unable to prevent Wisconsin from pulling away in the second half and their season drew to a close with the loss.
Martinelli’s journey to standing alone atop the pantheon of NU scoring seasons was long and winding.
Before the season began, coach Chris Collins’ side ventured on a European tour. With graduate student guard Ty Berry, graduate student center Matthew Nicholson and senior guard Brooks Barnhizer all at various stages of injury recovery, Martinelli assumed a leading role in NU’s offense.
After the ’Cats closed out their preseason campaign with an 89-62 exhibition win over Lewis at Welsh-Ryan Arena, Collins spoke of high expectations for his forward.
“His next step is to be a guy you count on for major production every night,” Collins said. “We’re expecting Nick to have a chance to be an all-conference player. That’s how highly I feel about him.”
As the regular season got underway, it was instantly apparent that Martinelli had taken a step up from the year before, when he averaged 8.8 points per game and entered the starting lineup for the team’s final 11 games — including a pair of March Madness contests.
The unconventional southpaw started his campaign by scoring at least 25 points in NU’s first three games, including a season-high 32-point showing in a 71-66 loss to Dayton. In those three games, Martinelli was a perfect 7-for-7 from 3-point range, showcasing a new dimension to his game after shooting just 27.1% from beyond the arc the previous season.
Alongside his nine 25-plus point outputs this season, Martinelli’s late-game heroics have been the deciding factor in multiple contests.
With just 0.7 seconds on the clock in overtime during NU’s Jan. 16 home game against Maryland, the two teams were knotted at 74 apiece when the Glenview, Illinois, native received an inbound pass from graduate student guard Jalen Leach. With no time to survey his options, Martinelli launched an off-balance fadeaway jumper. The Welsh-Ryan Arena crowd erupted as his buzzer-beater found nothing but net.
And yet, Martinelli deferred to crediting his teammates and coaches after his signature moment.
“That (play call) 100% could have went to Brooks, and he probably would’ve made it too,” Martinelli said. “But I’m grateful they did go to me, and I’m just grateful we won.”
Just a few weeks later, Martinelli’s ability to perform in moments of extreme pressure persisted as his role on the team grew increasingly influential.
When graduate student guard Jalen Leach went down holding his right knee late in the second half of NU’s Feb. 5 game against USC — its second contest after Barnhizer was ruled out with a season-ending injury — the ’Cats scoring options were limited in a game tied at 75 as the final moments ticked down.
When Collins called timeout with 12 seconds on the clock, Barnhizer’s message to Martinelli was simple: “You got to go win it for us,” he said.
And Martinelli did.
Collins has lauded Martinelli’s continued ascension as Barnhizer and Leach’s season-ending injuries pushed him to the top of opponents’ scouting reports.
“Two guys down, two of our very best players, and Nick Martinelli just said: ‘we are going to have a winning season. We are going to have a winning season,’” Collins said following NU’s first-round Big Ten Tournament win over Minnesota Wednesday. “Because for him, he’s never had a losing season at Northwestern.”
Alongside his program-most points in a single season, Martinelli surpassed the most made-field goals by any NU player in a season in addition to achieving the Big Ten regular season scoring title with an average of 20.2 points per game.
“I told him he’s lucky as a coach who tells him to shoot it every time,” Collins joked ahead of the team’s trip to Indianapolis Tuesday. “So he should give me some of the credit for giving him that freedom.”
With the shorthanded ’Cats fighting to keep their season alive at Gainbridge Fieldhouse, their prospects rested heavily on Martinelli’s shoulders. Despite that pressure, Collins emphasized his trust in the now-record-breaking junior.
“I’m riding his wave,” Collins said. “It’s fun as a coach when you can ride a great player’s wave and let him let his heart lead the way.”
Email: [email protected]
Email: [email protected]
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