| Player | Mins | NU Pts | MSU Pts | Raw +/- | Player Adjust | Net +/- |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Berry | 30 | 53 | 43 | +10 | +5.2 | +15.2 |
| Roper | 26 | 48 | 44 | +4 | +4.1 | +8.1 |
| Audige | 28 | 52 | 46 | +6 | -1.1 | +4.9 |
| Beran | 29 | 45 | 35 | +10 | -5.1 | +4.9 |
| Buie | 37 | 63 | 56 | +7 | -2.8 | +4.2 |
| Verhoeven | 20 | 34 | 31 | +3 | +1.7 | +4.7 |
| Nicholson | 18 | 30 | 30 | +0 | +2.3 | +2.3 |
| Barnhizer | 12 | 25 | 28 | -3 | -3.7 | -6.7 |
A sneaky good game by Julian Roper coupled by a strong first half by Ty Berry carried Northwestern to a surprising road win against Michigan State.
Everybody played fairly well overall, with the possible exception of Brooks Barnhizer, who saw his minutes reduced due to the return of Julian Roper.
Coming into the game, our best 3 man lineup (statistically) was Nicholson/Beran/Barnhizer. They did not play together in the victory against the Spartans.
Coach Collins appears to have decided that the 6'6" Barnhizer is going to be Beran's backup at power forward. Personally, I'd like to see Barnhizer getting most of his minutes at the 3 position, with Beran at the 4.
The problem is that Beran doesn't have a natural replacement - well it could be either Martinelli or Hunger - but so far, with our 8 man rotation, we have one power forward, two centers, one small forward and 4 guards. So Collins plays 3 guards at a time. In fact we played the whole game with 3 guards on the court. (and we won)
NU got the ball inside and got to the free throw line more often than normal. Robbie Beran attempted 6 free throws. His career average against Big Ten opponents is 1.1 fts per game. That is a step in the right direction. We were 14 of 26 on 2 point shots and 7 of 23 on 3 point shots.
The offense looked less stagnant.
