Bruins Must Limit Big Ten's Top Scorer

The UCLA Bruins are preparing for a Monday night road matchup with the Northwestern Wildcats and the Big Ten's top scorer, Nick Martinelli. The Bruins must limit the junior forward if they want to find a bounce-back win.

Feb 28, 2025; Evanston, Illinois, USA; Northwestern Wildcats forward Nick Martinelli (2) celebrates a win against the Iowa Hawkeyes at Welsh-Ryan Arena. Mandatory Credit: David Banks-Imagn Images | David Banks-Imagn Images

The UCLA Bruins (20-9, 11-7) will have a prime bounce-back spot this Monday night when they battle the Northwestern Wildcats (16-13, 7-11) on the road Monday night. The No. 1 priority for a Bruins win will be stopping junior forward Nick Martinelli, the top scorer in the Big Ten.

The Wildcats' third-year star is having one of the most surprising breakout seasons in all of college basketball. After averaging just 8.8 points in his sophomore season a year ago, Martinelli has posted a conference-high 19.9 points in 37.4 minutes per game, also ranking first in the Big Ten.

Northwestern is the third-lowest scoring team in the conference, putting up just 73.3 points per game. With Martinelli's point average, he accounts for just under one-third of the team's points, proving to directly correlate to their successes and failures.

With the Wildcats' star playing the most minutes of any player in the conference, he is relied on heavily for their success. They are currently tied for eighth in the Big Ten standings and are a team that may miss out on the Big Ten tournament if they lose their final two games of the season.

Head coach Mick Cronin's group has had recent problems in defending the top scorers on opposing squads. In their previous loss to the Minnesota Golden Gophers, UCLA allowed their top scorer, senior forward Dawson Garcia, to go off for 32 of the 64 team points.

In their latest defeat to the No. 20 Purdue Boilermakers, top junior scorers guard Braden Smith and forward junior Trey Kaufman-Renn combined for 51 of the team's 76 points. They cannot allow Martinelli to have the same sort of performance for the Wildcats.

Besides Martinelli, Northwestern possesses two other high-potent scorers that could pose issues. Senior guard Brooks Barnhizer is averaging 17.1, which ranks ninth in the conference whille senior guard Jalen Leach pours in 14.3 buckets per contest.

Tip-off is set for Monday night at 9 p.m. ET / 6 p.m. PT at Welsh Ryan Arena in Evanston. The Bruins are in another must-win situation as they seek to bolster their NCAA Tournament resume and set themselves for a prime seeding in the Big Ten tournament that begins next weekend.

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