MavsDraft Scout Notebook: Illinois vs. Northwestern
Kasparas Jakucionis's ascent for Illinois continues, and Northwestern's Nick Martinelli emerges as a true prospect in the 2025 NBA Draft.
Northwestern beat Illinois in an overtime thriller 70-66. With 20 NBA scouts in attendance, Kasparas Jakucionis continues to climb in the minds of NBA decision-makers, which gives an added eye to his deep roster of NBA prospects. In addition to the Illinois prospects, this gives a lens into their opposition, which allows for opposing prospects to enter the spotlight. In this game, Nick Martinelli was the opposing player who shined the brightest. Martinelli has had a strong breakout junior season, shooting the ball at an elite level right now on somewhat low volume, but has rounded out his game in more ways than just scoring.
The third key prospect in this game was Will Riley, who had a strong summer in EYBL before reclassifying up a year to make the jump to college basketball in June. One of the strongest arguments for Riley’s upside is that while physicality and a lack of strength are inhibitors to his game now, if that is reversed and he becomes strong with an NBA strength and conditioning program, his upside could be through the roof and many of his woes could vanish.
Kasparas Jakucionis (6’4.5, 205 pounds with 6’7.5 wingspan)
20 points, 10 rebounds, seven assists, one steal, one block, four turnovers, two fouls on 7-16 shooting (6-10 from 3), zero free throw attempts, 15.6 BPM
Strengths
Outstanding passing vision; his playmaking is a trademark trait for him as a point guard
Exploits defenses by quickly capitalizing on 2-on-1s, particularly out of screens
Strong motor, which helped him to 10 rebounds. There’s value in how he can come out of nowhere to win a ball
Off the dribble shooting upside is high; his ability to square himself to the basket when changing direction from his dribble
Areas for Improvement
Defense is going to be Jakucionis’s biggest weakness in the NBA early in his career. He’s prone to losing discipline, and his lack of strength makes him a liability in the P&R.
Settles for jumpers too often; needs to attack the basket more. Very boom or bust in regards to free throw volume this season per game
Videos
Stepback and off the dribble jumpers
Bad turnover through contact
Nice assist out of spin to quickly take advantage of broken defense
Split + layup
Nick Martinelli (6’7, 225 pounds, 6’10.5 wingspan)
27 points, six rebounds, one assist, one steal, two blocks, zero turnovers, three fouls on 11-20 shooting (2-4 from three), 3-6 from FT line, 16.2 BPM
Strengths
Does a great job of using his lower body to shield defenders from blocking his shots off of cuts
Defenses can’t allow him to get to his strong left hand; has soft touch near the rim and will force his way to his left hand for a high-quality shot
Has soft touch on every shot near the rim
Made some good reads out of the paint as a passer
Areas for Improvement
Shooting form is unorthodox; one of the few players to jump on free throws
Lacks explosion, which could be a key limitation to his game scaling up to the NBA
Videos
Off-handed assist to the corner
Reverse pivot
Block on drive in isolation
Will Riley (6’9, 195 pounds 6’7 wingspan)
12 points, three rebounds, two assists, zero blocks, zero steals, one turnover, one foul on 4-12 shooting (0-6 from three), 4-6 from free throw line, -0.9 BPM
Strengths
Passes well out of drives + on the move; quick to make extra passes as well
Thrived in an off-ball role; cuts well, finds the holes in the defense, and can attack off of three dribbles or less
Areas for Improvement
Skinny frame limits him on both ends; struggles to thrive through physical play on either end
Jumper needs work; has too many excess movements
Videos
Bad feet on missed jumper
Bad decision to dribble into the deep corner + into defender end of clock
Nice pass but no assist (nice rotation + block by Brooks Barnhizer)
Quick Hitters:
Kylan Boswell started the game nicely, getting to the rim and making things happen. His finishing and overall efficiency still needs work, but his passing under the rim and out of drives (often an overlap) is a strength.
Tomislav Ivisic out of the pick-and-pop is a real weapon. I do wonder what his adjustment looks like when defenses are prepared for his jumper off of screens. With his passing threat, I expect a positive counter from Ivisic against NBA spacing. Some clips of his passing:
Ben Humrichous’s defense worries me. He is stiff and easily taken aback by hesitation moves and the threat of drives from the perimeter. Northwestern targeted him and found a lot of success.
This game only had three dunks in it; this was a game of touch at the rim, intelligence, and playing a very fundamental-based brand of basketball.
Northwestern’s breakout feels real. They lost on the road to a good Dayton team by five points, which was their largest margin of defeat. Then they lost by one point to Iowa and two points to Butler. If they’re not an NCAA Tournament team, they’ll at least be near the bubble and will make an already loaded Big Ten even stronger.