Little brother life pushed Martinelli to become NU’s super sub
In Northwestern's season opener against Binghamton, sophomore forward Nick Martinelli played just eight minutes.
A sign of things to come? Hardly.
As injuries piled up this season, the Glenbrook South product went from sixth man to Iron Man.
During the final eight games of the regular season. Martinelli played at least 35 minutes seven times. He was on the court for all 40 minutes of a loss to Iowa on Mar. 2, and scored a career-high 27 points at Maryland on Feb. 28.
The Wildcats had a few stumbles while playing shorthanded, but still finished with a 21-10 record, 12-8 in the Big Ten. As the No. 4 seed in the conference tourney, NU has a bye into Friday's quarterfinals.
Those eight minutes against Binghamton came with an explanation. Martinelli was sidelined in the fall by a foot injury and was just getting back to playing shape.
“It's really hard, you kind of just seep into this darkness when you can't play,” Martinelli said before a recent practice at Welsh-Ryan Arena. “I love to play the game and at the start of the season it was just so hard to get back to myself.”
Maybe the silver lining is Martinelli got the injury out of the way early. Northwestern has since lost fourth-leading scorer Ty Berry for the season and center Matthew Nicholson to a foot issue in the Iowa game.
“I feel horrible about who's injured, of course, and I want them to be on the floor,” Martinelli said. “They make us so much better. Now I'm put in the position where I have to play a ton of minutes.
“I'm so grateful for the opportunity. All the work you put in and sometimes you doubt yourself. Finally, to be able to feel a little proud of yourself every once in a while, it feels good.”
In eight games as a starter, Martinelli has averaged 13.5 points and 8 rebounds in 37.1 minutes. As a former high school center, he tends to get most of his points in the lane.
“Nick's been great,” NU coach Chris Collins said. “He's got a different type of game, so we're still figuring out how to use him to do what he does well. But he's such a competitor.”
The youngest of three brothers, Martinelli is part of a prominent basketball family. Oldest brother Jimmy played in college at NYU and middle brother Dom is a senior at St. Thomas.
But it took Nick a few years to appreciate the sport. He focused on football and baseball when he was younger. During middle school, he said an illness kept him off the court and that's when he started to miss basketball.
“I went through so many trials and tribulations growing up, not really liking basketball much and feeling like I was in their shadow,” Martinelli said. “I saw Dom and Jimmy were like these superstars in basketball. They just always continue to push me.”
These days, Jimmy lives in Evanston and keeps close tabs on his younger brother, frequently doling out advice and encouragement. Dom, who spent one year as a walk-on at Northwestern, also stays in touch from Minnesota.
This seems like the typical sports family storyline: Youngest brother becomes an accomplished athlete because he spent so many years getting pushed around by his older brothers.
“Absolutely. My brothers, they've done nothing but make me a better player and better person,” Martinelli said. “It was crazy growing up, constantly being competitive. We would be competitive over the littlest things, like who gets to eat first, who has to set the table. We'd be like, 'Let's shoot for who has to set the table, shoot for who has to do this chore.'”
Board games, video games, backyard sports — there was no limit to the competition among brothers.
“I think that really helped with my competitive drive, constantly wanting to beat them and constantly wanting to be better,” Nick said. “We've hit each other, choked each other, thrown each other to the ground a million times. I just love it every time we play, it's super competitive.”
And no wonder Martinelli doesn't flinch when asked to play 40 minutes of Big Ten basketball.
Twitter: @McGrawDHSports