After a frenetic 76-52 victory over Boston University, Nick Martinelli was a little out of breath. After playing a team-high 31 minutes, the senior forward was clearly still winded as he approached the podium
for his postgame presser. Yet when he was asked about his team’s fast pace, he easily found the energy to smile.
“It’s a blast. We get a rebound, bang, bang, bang, three. It’s nice,” Martinelli said. “It’s pretty hard to catch up with this kid when he has the ball, but it’s pretty awesome.”
“This kid” is Jayden Reid, the 5’10” bulldog point guard from New York by way of USF. The junior helped bring the Bulls to the NIT as a freshman, but started looking for greener pastures after the team regressed in his sophomore season. Those greener pastures were in Evanston, where Reid’s breakneck style of play has helped send Northwestern’s offense into fifth gear.
“JR was terrific tonight. It just sets the tone, the way he’s pushing that ball,” Northwestern head coach Chris Collins said postgame. “How could you not want to run with that guy when he’s getting out there? He’s unselfish…he’s going to really help our team.”
Reid helped the team from the opening tip on Friday night, scoring or assisting on nine of the team’s first 11 points. He mildly cooled down after his hot start, but closed the game with a hyper-efficient 17 points and eight assists. The most impressive part of his success was his variety. He opened the scoring with a tough layup, then promptly nailed a stepback jumper with a hand in his face. A few possessions after finding Martinelli in the lane for an easy floater, he showcased some fleet feet while moving off the ball to earn himself a wide-open triple.
But it wasn’t only the Wildcats’ offensive speed that took out the Terriers. One may have noticed in the highlight above that Boston had four points at the 15:33 mark. The Terriers earned their third and fourth points with 17:49 left in the first half. They didn’t score again until the 9:27 mark. For the game, Northwestern’s hypersonic defense held the visitors to 32.8% shooting from the field, 16 points in the paint, and forced a turnover on nearly a quarter of Boston’s possessions.
“That (defense) is our calling card. It’s what we hang our hat on,” Collins said. “We try to set a goal: can we keep teams under 30 in a half? That takes commitment, it’s an every possession kind of thing, and our guys have really bought in on that.”
That buy-in is especially evident in the transfers. Reid led a perimeter charge that forced BU into several turnovers and created at least five possessions that ended in air balls. But the key to the defense was the key to the season — a 6’11” ball of pure energy with enough wingspan to cover the entire lane.
Despite the pedigree he carries as a former top-50 recruit, forward Arrinten Page never quite lived up to expectations at USC or Cincinnati. But through two games in purple and white, he has been the destructive defensive force Collins has been searching for.
“He’s a terrific athlete, and he’s done everything we’ve asked him to do,” Collins said of Page. “I thought from a defensive standpoint, he really was a dominant force for us tonight.”
Aside from his success on the glass (Page snared seven rebounds, second-highest on the team), Page’s dominance came in the passing lanes. Northwestern forced 14 Boston turnovers, and Page’s active hands were directly responsible for five of them. His two blocks and three steals were both high-water marks for the Wildcats, and he held BU forward Ben Defty to just two points on 1-for-5 shooting.
Northwestern tallied 18 points off turnovers and 12 fast-break points, and Page was the kickstarter for most of those prompt possessions.
“He was big time tonight,” Martinelli (who had a “quiet” 20 points and nine rebounds) gushed. “We really challenged him…he really worked his butt off in practice and it showed on the court.”
Angelo Ciaravino also had to work hard to return to full form. He missed the season opener against Mercyhurst with an injury, but looked fully healthy on Friday night, scoring nine points on efficient shooting and chipping in three rebounds.
“Gelo is a great piece for us…he earned that (starting) spot,” Collins said. “He’s playing with more force, and with the pace of the game, he was able to get out in the open floor.”
Thanks to the sheer length of the lineups (aside from Reid, every player in the starting five is at least 6’6”) and the headlong hustle that the defense played with, basically every Wildcat was able to get out in the open floor on Friday night. With Page and Martinelli manning the back line, Northwestern opponents hand over a lot of turnovers and long misses. With Ciaravino streaking down the sideline and Reid running the show like a Lincoln Center conductor, those turnovers and long misses lead to some great looks.
Friday night was defense to offense at its quickest, and the result was an efficient shooting night (51.7%) and an easy 24-point victory.
“It (the transition offense) has been great. We’re getting a lot of easy baskets off of our defense,” a gleeful Collins raved after the blowout. “I’ve always wanted to play like that, but you also have to have the personnel and the depth to be able to do it.”
This year, Northwestern finally has that personnel and depth to play with that type of speed. The results (at least for opponents) are going to end up being deadly.
