+/- for the Withering in Wisconsin

[PurpleWhiteBoy]

The Wildcats gave it up late, going scoreless for the final 2:50 after tying the game at 63. The table below omits the last 25 seconds...

Player	Minutes	NU Pts	Wis Pts	Raw +/-	Player Adjust	Game +/-
Nicholson	23	36	36	+0	+2.1	+2.1
Buie	39	63	68	-5	+2.4	+1.4
Hunger	7	7	8	-1	+1.4	+1.2
Barnhizer	33	52	56	-4	+0.9	+0.1
Berry	31	51	51	+0	-0.9	-0.9
Langborg	20	32	33	-1	-1.0	-1.2
Clayton	7	6	16	-10	-0.75	-2.75
Martinelli	29	48	52	-4	-2.2	-3.0
Preston	10	20	25	-5	-2.0	-3.0

When Jordan Clayton entered the game for Boo Buie with 9:15 to play in the first half, NU had a 17-15 lead.
When Clayton returned to the bench at 4:57, Wisconsin had a 26-19 lead. 11-2 run over 4:18.
The team continues to struggle when Clayton is playing. We got outscored 16-6 in his 7 minutes.
Collins played Clayton (presumably) because Langborg and others had foul troubles.

Luke Hunger only played 7 minutes. The reason for that is unclear. When he played with the other 4 starters, that group went 7-4 over 4 minutes. Thats pretty good. He even hit a 3-pointer.
But Hunger had 2 turnovers, including a missed pass from Buie that had Boo jumping up and down and waving his arms. Hunger never played after that (the last 18 minutes).
With Clayton, Hunger and the Wildcats got outscored 4-0. Preston played 10 minutes and we got outscored 25-20.

The go-to lineup of Nicholson/Martinelli/Barnhizer/Berry/Buie got a little more playing time today. When Langborg has foul trouble, thats what happens.
They put up a narrow 18-17 win over the Badgers in 10.5 minutes. That lineup remains NU's best in most cases.

Not too remarkable this time around... an unfortunate reminder that we have a depth problem when we rotate 5 guys thru 4 positions.
Would have liked to see Hunger playing the 4 instead of Clayton playing guard, but that still hasn't happened.
With Wahl and Crowl out there, it was a good time to try it.

Oh well, next up is Maryland, where Boo Buie will square off with Jahmir Young...

 

[ballerog711]

Boo subbed out at 8:25 of the first half and went back in at 8:05, should his plus/minus be -7. I was looking at the pdf.

Problem is playing MN. When Hunger is in the game, his defender has to come up and respect hist shot which opens the middle of the paint. Leads to straight line drives to the basket.

Plus when Hunger and Preston play, NU can run the floppy set and get the shooters open off the pin down screens.

MN limits the team to the dribble hand offs and high screen roll.

 

[PurpleWhiteBoy]

Boo subbed out at 8:25 of the first half and went back in at 8:05, should his plus/minus be -7. I was looking at the pdf.

Problem is playing MN. When Hunger is in the game, his defender has to come up and respect hist shot which opens the middle of the paint. Leads to straight line drives to the basket.

Plus when Hunger and Preston play, NU can run the floppy set and get the shooters open off the pin down screens.

MN limits the team to the dribble hand offs and high screen roll.

Boo did sub out at 8:25 and Barnhizer fouled Wahl who made one of two free throws while Buie re-entered the game at 8:05. That Wisconsin point goes against the group that was on the floor when the foul occurred. Sometimes it becomes tricky because the pdf (play by play) has little timing errors. They also miss blocks, assign rebounds to the team (which I try to split) - stuff like that.

 

[PurpleWhiteBoy]

Boo subbed out at 8:25 of the first half and went back in at 8:05, should his plus/minus be -7. I was looking at the pdf.

Problem is playing MN. When Hunger is in the game, his defender has to come up and respect hist shot which opens the middle of the paint. Leads to straight line drives to the basket.

Plus when Hunger and Preston play, NU can run the floppy set and get the shooters open off the pin down screens.

MN limits the team to the dribble hand offs and high screen roll.

I agree that when Hunger is away from the basket, he must be guarded. With Nicholson and Preston, their defender just has to prevent them from rolling to the basket and prevent a shot off the ball screen.

Here's something I noticed in the Wisconsin game - our best post entry passer was.... Nicholson.
Couple nice assists to Barnhizer in the paint with Matt out at the arc. Could be a new wrinkle.

On the flipside, Nicholson had position on Crowl and Martinelli chose not to throw a simple entry pass. Gotta make the opponents big guys play defense.

 

[ballerog711]

I agree.

While the plus minus are great data points, one concern I have is this is the third game I can remember where NU could not execute the last 4 minutes of a game.

Yesterday was the 10-2 run by Wisconsin. Chicago St lost the last 4 minutes and Purdue,only one basket last 4 mins of regulation which was Boo's floater at the end of the game.

So if you take out the two free throws at the end with the game on the line, Boo and company were minus 6.