No. 13 Illinois (13-3, 4-1) is rolling right now, currently riding a five game win streak. The Illini have won all three of their Big Ten road games thus far, and they have a chance to make it four against the Northwestern Wildcats (8-8, 0-5) in Evanston on Wednesday night.
“A very very good basketball team,” said Illinois head coach Brad Underwood about Northwestern. “Typical (Northwestern head coach) Chris Collins team. Going to punch you on the defensive end. Very very physical. And then they’re playing through one of the best players in the country a lot.”
Meet the Wildcats
Northwestern comes into Wednesday’s matchup on a three game losing streak, racking up losses to Minnesota, No. 12 Michigan State and most recently, Rutgers. To put it simply, Northwestern is a bottom of the barrel Big Ten team this year, at least on paper. However, Underwood is still approaching the game with the same focus as he does the more challenging teams in the conference.
“Northwestern is much better than what their record is showing,” Underwood said. “They’ve led in the second half of every one of those games.”
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Underwood is right to be cautious of the Wildcats’ results on paper, seeing that his team has had some troubles in Evanston over the past few years. Northwestern has won its last three matchups against Illinois on the North Shore, including a four-point overtime win last season. For some reason, Welsh-Ryan arena has been a tough environment for the Illini to crack, but on Wednesday, they’ll be giving it a shot against a new group of players.
This season, Northwestern is still led by star senior forward Nick Martinelli, but it’s supporting cast has changed. No longer is star guard Brooks Barnhizer, who has moved on to the pros. The rest of the starting five, guards Ty Berry and Jalen Leach, as well as center Matthew Nicholson, are all gone as well.
Instead, the Wildcats have two transfers, 6-foot-11 junior forward Arrinten Page and junior guard Jayden Reid, as their other double-digit point scorers bolstering Martinelli. At 5-foot-10, Reid is more of a pass-first point guard that is averaging 5.6 assists per game, while Page is a traditional low-post big man that is averaging 14.1 points and 6.1 rebounds.
Yes, both players will be important for Illinois to slow down, but they are not who the Illinois defense, which has looked very strong the past few games, will be focused on stopping. That honor will go to Martinelli, who is tearing up college basketball right now.
Illinois’ main defensive focus: Martinelli
Martinelli is Division I men’s basketball’s leading scorer this season, and he’s impacting the game in a variety of ways.
“Nick’s just having one of the great, great years in college basketball,” Underwood said. “Leading the country in scoring; his shooting is off the chart. He does it in a lot of ways. You know they’re very versatile. …You got to make his challenges shots hard. You can’t give him the easy ones and then you’ve got to keep them off the boards. He gets you know three and a half offensive rebounds a game.”
In almost 34 minutes per game, Martinelli is averaging 24.1 points on a very efficient 58.1% from the field, including an impressive 52.6% from three. At 6-foot-7 and 225 pounds, Martinelli uses his strength well in the post, but he will also make defenders pay from deep.
The Illini could have their bigger forwards guard Martinelli, but more than likely, senior guard Kylan Boswell will take a major piece of the assignment. Boswell is by far Illinois’ best defender and has embraced the challenge of being a pest for both guards and bigger players, including slowing down former Duke star forward Cooper Flagg last year.
On the glass, the Glenview, Illinois, product is equally as impressive. He is grabbing 6.8 boards per game, and just over 60% of those have come on the offensive end. Martinelli has a knack for offensive boards and will provide a physical challenge for Illinois’ front court down low when the ball bounces off the rim.
Junior centers Zvonimir and Tomislav Ivišić will need to focus on being aggressive on the glass from the jump. Although the Illini have smaller guys, such as freshman guard Keaton Wagler, who have a knack for grabbing offensive boards, their 7-footers need to step up and lead. With their height and strength, being passive is not an option if they hope to limit Martinelli from getting easy second chance opportunities.
Important milestones to watch out for
1. With a win on Wednesday night, Illinois would improve to 4-0 on the road in Big Ten play, its best start since the legendary 2004-05 season.
2. Junior guard Andrej Stojaković is 11 points away from joining the 1,000 career point mark. If he reaches that milestone on Wednesday, he would join Boswell as the only other active Illini in the club.
3. Illinois is aiming to improve to 14-3. With a win, the Illini would equal their best record through 17 games in over a decade (2012-13).
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