Player | Minutes | NU Pts | RUT Pts | Raw +/- | Player Adjust | Net +/- |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Barnhizer | 33 | 62 | 45 | +17 | +3.5 | +20.5 |
Nicholson | 28 | 41 | 38 | +3 | +8.9 | +11.9 |
Martinelli | 18 | 33 | 20 | +13 | -1.6 | +11.4 |
Verhoeven | 11 | 22 | 13 | +9 | +1.6 | +10.6 |
Audige | 39 | 65 | 53 | +12 | -7.2 | +4.8 |
Berry | 30 | 49 | 41 | +8 | -4.0 | +4.0 |
Beran | 13 | 12 | 17 | -5 | +3.5 | -1.5 |
Buie | 28 | 41 | 38 | +3 | -4.7 | -1.7 |
The Wildcats earned a significant victory against a desperate, but overmatched, Rutgers squad in New Jersey. In so doing, Northwestern earned a tie for second in the Big Ten regular season. As optimistic as I was coming into the season ("We'll finish at best 6th, at worst 12th") I didn't think we could finish 2nd, although I did think 11-9 was possible.
Anyhow, the dismantling of Rutgers has to be tempered with the knowledge that Rutgers just isn't that good without Mawat Mag, whose injury left them with useful 6 players. They wore down against NU and, as usual, struggled to score. Having written that, the positives for Northwestern are numerous.
Brooks Barnhizer is becoming an "above average" Big Ten player. He is scoring very efficiently, something the Cats had been lacking until his emergence. He continues to grab rebounds at an impressive rate. In our last 10 games, Barnhizer has made 40 of 78 shots, including 14 of 29 from outside the arc. He was the star of the game.
Matt Nicholson had a strong night, as reflected in his Player Adjust of +8.9, but it is worth noting that NU was only +3 in his 28 minutes. When Verhoeven was on the court we were +9 in 11 minutes as we dominated Rutgers bench.
Nick Martinelli surprised with a +13 in 18 minutes. The frontcourt of Nicholson / Martinelli / Barnhizer shut down Rutgers 22-12 in 13 minutes of action. Martinelli contines to improve. In fact, the Martinelli/Barnhizer combo is now 191-166 (with either center). "Martinelli with Verhoeven" is the highest-rated 2 man combo on the team, with a 128 - 108 advantage.
Robbie Beran is seeing his minutes cut. Somewhat sad to see him sitting on the bench during his last (?) regular season game, but hopefully going to the NCAA tournament will more than offset his difficulties on the court.
Chase Audige continues to struggle. He was 1 for 10 from the field. Player Adjust of -7.2. He doesn't need to be playing so many minutes. In his last 10 games he has made 39 of 126 field goal attempts (31%).