Well, that was a tough one... playing Iowa without enough scoring options... and then losing our presence in the paint...
Here's how it looked statistically...
A couple of positives... Buie played great and shot the lights out. Star of the game for sure... but that wasn't enough.
Blake Smith put up a good game. His steady play has been startling for a very inexperienced guy recruited by no one out of high school.
The flipside is the play of Luke Hunger and Jordan Clayton, who combined for 0 for 5 from the floor and just didn't add a lot to the team effort.
Martinelli and Barnhizer played the full 40 minutes.
After Nicholson took a bad step and injured himself, NU faced the unpleasant challenge of having no size advantage at any position.
The difference was fairly immediate and fairly obvious as Iowa scored 43 points in 17 minutes after Nicholson left the game.
Iowa was 2 for 5 from outside the arc over that 17 minute period, shifting their focus to all-out attacks in the paint.
With Berry and Nicholson apparently out for the season, there are not a lot of numbers to form projections...
NU has been outscored 187-153 with Jordan Clayton on the court for 102.5 minutes.
NU has outscored our opponents 152-144 with Blake Smith on the court for 83.6 minutes.
Unfortunately he was +17 with Nicholson and -9 with Hunger or Preston.
There are some other rays of hope... if Langborg is healthy...
Hunger/Martinelli/Barnhizer/Buie/Langborg is 90-79 in about 44 minutes.
Preston/Martinelli/Barnhizer/Buie/Langborg is 45-42 in about 23.5 minutes.
otherwise we've got
Preston/Martinelli/Barnhizer/Buie/Smith ahead 16-15 in just under 7 minutes.
Hunger/Martinelli/Barnhizer/Buie/Smith trailing 41-32 in just under 19 minutes.
Mullins has the athleticism to (maybe) have a productive game. I'm not confident that Clayton can say the same right now.
Here's how it looked statistically...
| Player | Minutes | NU Pts | Iowa Pts | Raw +/- | Player +/- | Game +/- |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Buie | 39 | 80 | 87 | -7 | +9.93 | +8.53 |
| Smith, Blake | 29 | 56 | 60 | -4 | +2.69 | +1.89 |
| Nicholson | 17 | 36 | 33 | +3 | +0.23 | +0.83 |
| Barnhizer | 40 | 80 | 87 | -7 | +1.56 | +0.16 |
| Mullins | 0.1 | 0 | 2 | -2 | +0 | -0.40 |
| Martinelli | 40 | 80 | 87 | -7 | -2.75 | -4.15 |
| Hunger | 13.5 | 24 | 30 | -6 | -4.79 | -5.99 |
| Clayton | 12 | 24 | 27 | -3 | -6.24 | -6.84 |
A couple of positives... Buie played great and shot the lights out. Star of the game for sure... but that wasn't enough.
Blake Smith put up a good game. His steady play has been startling for a very inexperienced guy recruited by no one out of high school.
The flipside is the play of Luke Hunger and Jordan Clayton, who combined for 0 for 5 from the floor and just didn't add a lot to the team effort.
Martinelli and Barnhizer played the full 40 minutes.
After Nicholson took a bad step and injured himself, NU faced the unpleasant challenge of having no size advantage at any position.
The difference was fairly immediate and fairly obvious as Iowa scored 43 points in 17 minutes after Nicholson left the game.
Iowa was 2 for 5 from outside the arc over that 17 minute period, shifting their focus to all-out attacks in the paint.
With Berry and Nicholson apparently out for the season, there are not a lot of numbers to form projections...
NU has been outscored 187-153 with Jordan Clayton on the court for 102.5 minutes.
NU has outscored our opponents 152-144 with Blake Smith on the court for 83.6 minutes.
Unfortunately he was +17 with Nicholson and -9 with Hunger or Preston.
There are some other rays of hope... if Langborg is healthy...
Hunger/Martinelli/Barnhizer/Buie/Langborg is 90-79 in about 44 minutes.
Preston/Martinelli/Barnhizer/Buie/Langborg is 45-42 in about 23.5 minutes.
otherwise we've got
Preston/Martinelli/Barnhizer/Buie/Smith ahead 16-15 in just under 7 minutes.
Hunger/Martinelli/Barnhizer/Buie/Smith trailing 41-32 in just under 19 minutes.
Mullins has the athleticism to (maybe) have a productive game. I'm not confident that Clayton can say the same right now.
