Its so much more fun to write about the team when they play well and win.
Ty Berry and Matt Nicholson, the veterans, share "star of the game" honors.
Solid play by KJ Windham and Angelo Ciaravino provided support, with both freshmen (finally) getting 25+ minutes - and playing well.
Jordan Clayton got the start again. Its just a headscratcher at this point. As is his habit, he took the first shot and the 3rd shot of the game, missing both and then never attempting another field goal.
He played the first 3:12 of the 2nd half, then Collins subbed in Windham and KJ played the rest of the game.
Windham played with poise and skill - the talent is obvious - bouncing back from a bad game against Nebraska.
Ciaravino is big, athletic and disruptive, with good basketball instincts.
Nick Martinelli was on the bench with fouls for the final 7:03 of the first half. Mullins/Ciaravino/Windham/Berry closed out the half with an 11-9 win over that period.
Lastly, toward the end of the first half, KJ Windham passed up an open 3 pointer and his coach barked at him to take that shot after we'd lost possession... so of course the next time down the floor Windham jacked up an ill-advised shot from 4 feet outside the arc, which missed badly. Just let them play, coach. Calm encouragement for the young guys...
Since Leach was lost for the season, I've been stressing the importance of playing Nicholson/Martinelli/Windham and any combination of Berry, Mullins and Ciaravino.
It might seem obvious to you. Seemed obvious to me.
But in the Washington game Collins only played those lineups for 5:31. Those lineups won 12-2. We lost the game 76-71.
Against Oregon, those lineups played for 11 minutes and won 27-19. We lost the game 81-75.
Against Nebraska, those lineups played 11:23 and lost 14-12. We lost the game 68-64.
Finally against Ohio State, the good lineups played 23 minutes and outscored OSU 44-34. Of course this means the "not so good" lineups outscored OSU 26-15, which reflects some improvement on the part of Jordan Clayton and Keenan Fitzmorris - at least for this game.
The point is, however, that the good lineups have outscored our 4 opponents a combined 95-69 since Leach got injured.
And that means they need to play as much as possible.
| Player | Minutes | NU Pts | OSU Pts | Raw +/- | Player +/- | Net +/- | Box Pts |
| Nicholson | 31 | 52 | 39 | +13 | +3.52 | +6.12 | 8.8 |
| Berry | 38 | 66 | 45 | +21 | +1.54 | +5.74 | 6.8 |
| Ciaravino | 25 | 51 | 35 | +16 | +1.31 | +4.51 | 5.9 |
| Windham | 29 | 54 | 40 | +14 | -0.02 | +2.78 | 6.2 |
| Martinelli | 33 | 59 | 40 | +19 | -3.20 | +0.60 | 2.4 |
| Fitzmorris | 9 | 18 | 10 | +8 | -1.08 | +0.52 | 0.3 |
| Mullins | 24 | 34 | 27 | +7 | -1.03 | +0.37 | 1.5 |
| Clayton | 11 | 16 | 9 | +7 | -1.04 | +0.36 | -0.2 |
Ty Berry and Matt Nicholson, the veterans, share "star of the game" honors.
Solid play by KJ Windham and Angelo Ciaravino provided support, with both freshmen (finally) getting 25+ minutes - and playing well.
Jordan Clayton got the start again. Its just a headscratcher at this point. As is his habit, he took the first shot and the 3rd shot of the game, missing both and then never attempting another field goal.
He played the first 3:12 of the 2nd half, then Collins subbed in Windham and KJ played the rest of the game.
Windham played with poise and skill - the talent is obvious - bouncing back from a bad game against Nebraska.
Ciaravino is big, athletic and disruptive, with good basketball instincts.
Nick Martinelli was on the bench with fouls for the final 7:03 of the first half. Mullins/Ciaravino/Windham/Berry closed out the half with an 11-9 win over that period.
Lastly, toward the end of the first half, KJ Windham passed up an open 3 pointer and his coach barked at him to take that shot after we'd lost possession... so of course the next time down the floor Windham jacked up an ill-advised shot from 4 feet outside the arc, which missed badly. Just let them play, coach. Calm encouragement for the young guys...
Since Leach was lost for the season, I've been stressing the importance of playing Nicholson/Martinelli/Windham and any combination of Berry, Mullins and Ciaravino.
It might seem obvious to you. Seemed obvious to me.
But in the Washington game Collins only played those lineups for 5:31. Those lineups won 12-2. We lost the game 76-71.
Against Oregon, those lineups played for 11 minutes and won 27-19. We lost the game 81-75.
Against Nebraska, those lineups played 11:23 and lost 14-12. We lost the game 68-64.
Finally against Ohio State, the good lineups played 23 minutes and outscored OSU 44-34. Of course this means the "not so good" lineups outscored OSU 26-15, which reflects some improvement on the part of Jordan Clayton and Keenan Fitzmorris - at least for this game.
The point is, however, that the good lineups have outscored our 4 opponents a combined 95-69 since Leach got injured.
And that means they need to play as much as possible.
