Martinelli reminds me more and more of Doug McDermott in his Creighton days with each passing game. Just finds a way to put it on the rim with touch from every conceivable angle, backs his guy down from 20 feet, does all the little flourishes to draw referee attention. Mart’s perimeter shooting and post passing are way on the rise, too. McBuckets was allegedly not athletic enough to play at the next level and we have seen how that turned out. Just stunning improvement from Nick.
The refs let EIU play graba$$ with Nick all night and good on them for challenging the officials to make a decision on how it was going to go and then sticking with what worked when they swallowed the whistles. The more rotund defender for the Panthers knocked Nick down half a dozen times when he would catch it in the paint and we only got a few whistles. The lanky white guy for them was also putting hands on jersey all night. Teams won’t be able to pull that so easily when Brooks is back. Was nice to see Jalen capitalizing on the fear EIU had of Nick - was really smart by CC and co to have Mart set picks for Leach down the stretch and let Jalen make the right decisions. Get our 95% foul shooter to the line 15 times a night and we will beat plenty of BIG opponents.
This is a really, really good ‘Cats team again.
The refs let EIU play graba$$ with Nick all night and good on them for challenging the officials to make a decision on how it was going to go and then sticking with what worked when they swallowed the whistles. The more rotund defender for the Panthers knocked Nick down half a dozen times when he would catch it in the paint and we only got a few whistles. The lanky white guy for them was also putting hands on jersey all night. Teams won’t be able to pull that so easily when Brooks is back. Was nice to see Jalen capitalizing on the fear EIU had of Nick - was really smart by CC and co to have Mart set picks for Leach down the stretch and let Jalen make the right decisions. Get our 95% foul shooter to the line 15 times a night and we will beat plenty of BIG opponents.
This is a really, really good ‘Cats team again.
