CHICAGO — In his last stand wearing Northwestern purple, senior forward Nick Martinelli found himself all alone down 22 points against a well-oiled Purdue machine.
2024-25 First Team All-Big Ten selection Trey Kaufman-Renn and 6-foot-11 center Oscar Cluff packed the paint for the Boilermakers (24-8, 13-7 Big Ten), but that didn’t faze the conference’s leading scorer two years running. Martinelli backed down Cluff, felt a bump, knocked down his trademark floater and took the foul to go.
The ensuing free throw was Martinelli’s 18th point of the evening. At that point, four minutes into the second half, none of the other Wildcats (15-19, 5-15 Big Ten) had more than four.
Junior guard Jayden Reid may have scored 15 points in garbage time as NU’s season ended Thursday with a respectable 81-68 loss, but the team’s listless performance when the game was still in reach revived serious concerns over who can lead a post-Martinelli offense.
Coach Chris Collins acknowledged the team’s poor shooting efficiency this year and said NU’s roster construction would have to improve in the upcoming offseason.
“We weren’t equipped with what we needed going through the grind of the Big Ten this year,” Collins said.
Individuals in Martinelli’s supporting cast have shown flashes that they could become the main lead next season, but none have done so consistently.
While Martinelli reached double figures in 59 of his last 61 games, Reid strung together back-to-back games with more than 10 points just once in conference play.
Freshman forward Tre Singleton had a streak of three games in late January, but never again.
For all the promise freshman guard Jake West showed against Indiana on Wednesday, scoring 18 points, he has never reached double digits in consecutive games.
Junior center Arrinten Page was the Robin to Martinelli’s Batman to start the season, and nine straight games in double figures stretching from November to December suggested that Page and Martinelli would be a formidable frontcourt duo in conference play. That changed when a team standards violation before NU’s Dec. 30 game against Howard seemingly sent him crashing down Collins’ pecking order, and he started four of the team’s last 22 games.
Just as it looked like he was getting back in Collins’ favor with starts against Oregon and Purdue, an illness took Page out of the Big Ten Tournament. In his absence, the Boilermakers scored 38 points in the paint and outrebounded the ’Cats 35 to 23.
“It really hurt us, and to their credit, they took advantage of that,” Collins said. “The post-ups were one thing, but it was the glass, the offensive boards, and we didn’t have the size to combat that, especially when you’re on the third game in three days.”
The fatigue seemed to hamper everyone except Martinelli, who scored 24, 28 and 25 points across the three games. He finished with 1,787 career points, sixth-most in NU history.
Beyond his exploits on the court, Martinelli ends his college career as one of just 22 high-major scholarship players this year who will graduate after spending four or more years with the same program. The transfer portal, revenue sharing and Name, Image, Likeness deals have rendered the college basketball landscape that Martinelli entered as a freshman virtually unrecognizable, and they have turned one-program players like him into an endangered species.
It remains to be seen which of Martinelli’s teammates will choose to follow in his footsteps, but he seemed to understand their position in his last words to the press as a Wildcat.
“I don’t condemn anyone for looking at other schools,” Martinelli said. “For me, I found my place. This is my home, and I’ve gotten so much love reciprocated because I’ve stayed. It’s just been such a blessing and an honor.”
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