Northwestern Wildcats battle way to Big Ten Tourney despite challenges
Ahead of the conference tourney tipping off Wednesday in Indianapolis, the Big Ten announced its postseason awards — and one star of the Northwestern Wildcats was snubbed.
The Illini's Kasparas Jakučionis was voted Third Team All-Big Ten, and made the all-freshman team. Fellow newbie Will Riley earned Sixth Man of the Year honors.
But somehow, Wildcats workhorse Nick Martinelli was not selected First Team All-League. The junior was named All-Big Ten Second Team, despite leading the conference in overall scoring, while finishing third in Big Ten games this season.
Martinelli, a forward, could have an extra chip on his shoulder headed into the Big Ten Tournament. But he took it in stride.
"I think being on any team at the end of the day has been a dream of mine," he said. "Seeing my progression over the years, I obviously want to be a First Team player, but whatever the case may be, I have trust that, you know, the coaches in our league have good judgment — and same with the media."
Martinelli and the Cats still clawed their way to Indy despite losing two of their three leading scorers — Brooks Barnhzier and Jalen Leach — to injury last month.
"I mean, we knew we had to find a new identity and a new way to play with each other — and it was hard at first," said Wildcats guard Ty Berry, "but I think getting, you know, back to being a strong-minded defensive team was kind of our main focus."
"Sitting at 4-11 after losing big lead to Nebraska, and you know, having five games left, and I just remember our guys saying, 'We're going to keep battling,'" said Wildcats Head Coach Chris Collins.
The 13-seeded Cats will tip off the tournament against 12 seed Minnesota. It is a team they actually beat by 12 just two weeks ago.
Still, the mindset headed in is that it will be a clean slate come 2:30 p.m. Wednesday.
