A nice win for the Wildcats, with major (surprising) contributions from Justin Mullins and Keenan Fitzmorris.
Here is the unbiased evaluation...
Three game balls for this one - Mullins, Fitzmorris and Martinelli. Fitzmorris bounced back from 2 poor efforts to post 8 points in 9 minutes, with 4 of 4 free throws and 3 offensive rebounds. And NU was +6 when he was playing center.
Justin Mullins finally played the game we all were (at one time) thinking he could play. Actually it was better than that. 4 of 5 from 3 will do that for you. Add in 7 rebounds and you've had a good night.
More on Mullins below.
Nick Martinelli took a whopping 25 shots, making 11. While that is not "efficient" his 10 offensive rebounds offset 10 missed shots, so his game score was pretty good. He got dinged for missing the front end of 2 one-and-ones.
Our two top guards both struggled from the field, shooting a combined 5 of 23 overall and 2 of 10 from outside the arc. That normally a recipe for disaster.
What Berry and Leach did do, however, was pass the ball into the paint to teammates who then scored easy baskets. We got 17 points from Nicholson and Fitzmorris.
It was a weird game in that USC was suddenly without its star 6'6" point guard Desmond Claude, who had attempted 188 2 point shots and only 37 three pointers. Our defensive gameplan was probably geared toward stopping Claude and USC from getting into the paint. Instead we faced Clark Slajchert, the Penn grad who was near the top of my wish list in last year's transfer portal. We couldn't stop him all night. Something tells me that Slajchert chose poorly when he transferred to USC, where he had been sitting on the bench, looking un-athletic. In the postgame, Martinelli complimented "Slasher" on his performance - and it took me a few seconds to realize who he was talking about - then I laughed. And so did the guys in the Big Ten studio. Guessing "Slasher" was discussed in our locker room at halftime.
Anytime Blake Smith is on the court during a competitive game, one of the scholarship athletes is getting slapped in the face.
When Collins subbed in Smith for Nicholson with 7 minutes to go in the first half he was going small with Martinelli, Mullins, Leach and Berry. If Luke Hunger is healthy, thats a bad sign. We played that lineup for 3:13, winning 4-3, but struggling to score. With 13:18 left in the game and NU leading 48-37, Collins subbed in Ciaravino for Fitzmorris, going small again, with Martinelli, Mullins, Leach and Berry. That lineup played 53 seconds and lost 3-2. Not really sure what that was about. When Jalen Leach got injured with 5:26 to go, NU leading 66-57, Collins subbed in Blake Smith (with Nicholson, Martinelli, Mullins and Berry) instead of the obvious choice (Windham) or Ciaravino. Dave Revsine said, with a hint of incredulity, "I'm not sure if this lineup has played together all year" It didn't go well, as USC outscored us 18-9 to tie the game. And Smith was the weak link. It indicates where the freshmen stand with their coach. When Windham was on the court for NU (5:23) USC scored 7 points. When Smith was on the court (13:09) USC scored 31 points.
Lastly, the fortunes of Angelo Ciaravino and Justin Mullins have undergone seismic shifts since Barnhizer was eliminated from the lineup. Ciaravino had become the 5th starter and that group was killing it. Mullins had been benched entirely for 2 games and hadn't played well in any of the 7 games since the loss at Penn State. He seemed to be sinking into the abyss.
And then Barnhizer got hurt. Mullins and Ciaravino were going to have to take those minutes, defending bigger players, rebounding, scoring. Somebody else (Leach) was going to be running the offense.
Mullins got a chance to hit the reset button. Ciaravino got asked to step up his play. Both got practice time as prospective starters in a Barnhizer-less lineup. The first game against Wisconsin, Ciaravino wilted. Even though the team was +1 when he was in the game, he personally scored a -7.32, primarily due to an 0 for 6 shooting effort and 1 rebound in 20 minutes. Mullins didn't fare much better (NU was -15 when he was playing, but almost all of that was with Fitzmorris). After two turnovers in the first 1:39 against USC, Ciaravino essentially turned the 5th starter's spot over to Mullins. When Collins had Mullins start the 2nd half, he responded with the best half of his NU career. He and Martinelli played all 20 minutes - with Mullins earning a Player Rating of +3.93 to Martinelli's +1.63.
We'll see what happens next. Hopefully Mullins is in a much better place mentally and can capitalize on his success. It would be nice if Angelo Ciaravino would just relax and play. I'm not worried about that with KJ Windham, who just needs more minutes. Blake Smith only in case of emergency, please.
Here is the unbiased evaluation...
| Player | Minutes | NU Pts | USC Pts | Raw +/- | Player +/- | Net +/- | Box Pts |
| Mullins | 37 | 77 | 69 | +8 | +3.63 | +5.23 | 10.4 |
| Fitzmorris | 9 | 19 | 13 | +6 | +3.20 | +4.40 | 5.4 |
| Martinelli | 40 | 77 | 75 | +2 | +3.58 | +3.98 | 11.9 |
| Nicholson | 27 | 52 | 56 | -4 | +1.98 | +1.18 | 7.4 |
| Windham | 5 | 8 | 7 | +1 | -1.4 | -1.2 | -0.9 |
| Smith | 13 | 27 | 31 | -4 | -1.29 | -2.09 | 1.5 |
| Ciaravino | 4 | 4 | 9 | -5 | -1.75 | -2.75 | -2 |
| Leach | 32 | 58 | 54 | +4 | -3.79 | -2.99 | 2.2 |
| Berry | 32 | 63 | 61 | +2 | -4.16 | -3.76 | 1.7 |
Three game balls for this one - Mullins, Fitzmorris and Martinelli. Fitzmorris bounced back from 2 poor efforts to post 8 points in 9 minutes, with 4 of 4 free throws and 3 offensive rebounds. And NU was +6 when he was playing center.
Justin Mullins finally played the game we all were (at one time) thinking he could play. Actually it was better than that. 4 of 5 from 3 will do that for you. Add in 7 rebounds and you've had a good night.
More on Mullins below.
Nick Martinelli took a whopping 25 shots, making 11. While that is not "efficient" his 10 offensive rebounds offset 10 missed shots, so his game score was pretty good. He got dinged for missing the front end of 2 one-and-ones.
Our two top guards both struggled from the field, shooting a combined 5 of 23 overall and 2 of 10 from outside the arc. That normally a recipe for disaster.
What Berry and Leach did do, however, was pass the ball into the paint to teammates who then scored easy baskets. We got 17 points from Nicholson and Fitzmorris.
It was a weird game in that USC was suddenly without its star 6'6" point guard Desmond Claude, who had attempted 188 2 point shots and only 37 three pointers. Our defensive gameplan was probably geared toward stopping Claude and USC from getting into the paint. Instead we faced Clark Slajchert, the Penn grad who was near the top of my wish list in last year's transfer portal. We couldn't stop him all night. Something tells me that Slajchert chose poorly when he transferred to USC, where he had been sitting on the bench, looking un-athletic. In the postgame, Martinelli complimented "Slasher" on his performance - and it took me a few seconds to realize who he was talking about - then I laughed. And so did the guys in the Big Ten studio. Guessing "Slasher" was discussed in our locker room at halftime.
Anytime Blake Smith is on the court during a competitive game, one of the scholarship athletes is getting slapped in the face.
When Collins subbed in Smith for Nicholson with 7 minutes to go in the first half he was going small with Martinelli, Mullins, Leach and Berry. If Luke Hunger is healthy, thats a bad sign. We played that lineup for 3:13, winning 4-3, but struggling to score. With 13:18 left in the game and NU leading 48-37, Collins subbed in Ciaravino for Fitzmorris, going small again, with Martinelli, Mullins, Leach and Berry. That lineup played 53 seconds and lost 3-2. Not really sure what that was about. When Jalen Leach got injured with 5:26 to go, NU leading 66-57, Collins subbed in Blake Smith (with Nicholson, Martinelli, Mullins and Berry) instead of the obvious choice (Windham) or Ciaravino. Dave Revsine said, with a hint of incredulity, "I'm not sure if this lineup has played together all year" It didn't go well, as USC outscored us 18-9 to tie the game. And Smith was the weak link. It indicates where the freshmen stand with their coach. When Windham was on the court for NU (5:23) USC scored 7 points. When Smith was on the court (13:09) USC scored 31 points.
Lastly, the fortunes of Angelo Ciaravino and Justin Mullins have undergone seismic shifts since Barnhizer was eliminated from the lineup. Ciaravino had become the 5th starter and that group was killing it. Mullins had been benched entirely for 2 games and hadn't played well in any of the 7 games since the loss at Penn State. He seemed to be sinking into the abyss.
And then Barnhizer got hurt. Mullins and Ciaravino were going to have to take those minutes, defending bigger players, rebounding, scoring. Somebody else (Leach) was going to be running the offense.
Mullins got a chance to hit the reset button. Ciaravino got asked to step up his play. Both got practice time as prospective starters in a Barnhizer-less lineup. The first game against Wisconsin, Ciaravino wilted. Even though the team was +1 when he was in the game, he personally scored a -7.32, primarily due to an 0 for 6 shooting effort and 1 rebound in 20 minutes. Mullins didn't fare much better (NU was -15 when he was playing, but almost all of that was with Fitzmorris). After two turnovers in the first 1:39 against USC, Ciaravino essentially turned the 5th starter's spot over to Mullins. When Collins had Mullins start the 2nd half, he responded with the best half of his NU career. He and Martinelli played all 20 minutes - with Mullins earning a Player Rating of +3.93 to Martinelli's +1.63.
We'll see what happens next. Hopefully Mullins is in a much better place mentally and can capitalize on his success. It would be nice if Angelo Ciaravino would just relax and play. I'm not worried about that with KJ Windham, who just needs more minutes. Blake Smith only in case of emergency, please.
