+/- from the nightmare in Iowa City

[PurpleWhiteBoy]

First Big Ten game... and another gut punch. We should have won this game.

Player	Minutes	NU Points	Iowa Points	Raw +/-	Player +/-	Net +/-
Berry	29	59	63	-4	+5.44	+4.64
Barnhizer	38	73	76	-3	+2.94	+2.34
Mullins	11	30	13	+17	-1.23	+2.18
Martinelli	39	77	78	-1	+0.74	+0.54
Ciaravino	1	2	4	-2	+0.25	-0.15
Smith	8	13	15	-2	+0.23	-0.18
Hunger	22	55	39	+16	-3.73	-0.53
Nicholson	18	24	39	-15	+2.1	-0.90
Leach	34	62	70	-8	-6.74	-8.34

I'm going to give the star of the game to Justin Mullins, in his excellent 11 minutes. Ty Berry played great until the last 1:45 of the game, but then things went south.
Obviously Jalen Leach struggled again in front of a large, hostile crowd - two road games, 2 bad efforts - which is a concern going forward.
The starters came crashing down to earth as they were outscored 25-15 in 11 minutes. Thats bad offense and bad defense. Most of that came in the opening 5:39, when NU fell behind 13-3.
The results when Hunger was playing center stand in sharp contrast with the Nicholson results. 55-39 in 22 minutes of Hunger. 24-39 in 18 minutes of Big Matt.

The most positive development of the night was that Coach Collins may have discovered a lineup that works when Luke Hunger is in the game.
Hunger had not played with Barnhizer/Martinelli/Berry/Mullins all season. Against Iowa that was the lineup that went on a 17-5 run, turning a 51-40 deficit into a 57-56 lead with 10:31 left. Unfortunately Mullins fouled out of the game at that point, having committed only 1 or 2 legitimate fouls.

On the downside, Keenan Fitzmorris got to play 1 second and Iowa outscored NU 3-0 in that 1 second. That projects to a 7200-0 score over 40 minutes. It is impossible to do worse, so things can only improve.

Windham did not see the court. Ciaravino played 1 minute. Not going the right direction for either of the two freshmen.

 

[SimpsonElmwood]

Thanks for this information, as always.

Mullins had 4 fouls at the 10 minute mark. He never fouled out. I’m not sure why he didn’t play later in the game. Super strange. Mullins is able to play well in hostile environments. He was great at Rutgers last year after Langborg got ejected.

There could have been a foul on the 3 pointer and Nix would then have a FT. So it could get worse for Fitzmorris!

KJ and Ciravino will get in and make an impact later this year. Going down 13-3 made it very difficult to sub them in.

 

[Hungry Jack]

That’s probably the weirdest PWB +/- (TM) box you will ever see.

 

[PurpleWhiteBoy]

Mullins had 4 fouls at the 10 minute mark. He never fouled out. I’m not sure why he didn’t play later in the game. Super strange.

Wow, I thought for sure the TV announcers said Mullins had fouled out.
I am astonished that Collins would have benched him - that really makes no sense.

 

[GatoLouco]

Wow, I thought for sure the TV announcers said Mullins had fouled out.
I am astonished that Collins would have benched him - that really makes no sense.

I did not catch that either. Wondering why Blake Smith came in on defense at the end instead of Mullins.

 

[PurpleWhiteBoy]

I did not catch that either. Wondering why Blake Smith came in on defense at the end instead of Mullins.

I don't know why, but I am having flashbacks to Robbie Beran playing in crunch time while Ryan Young observed glumly from the bench.
I'm just gonna go with "Mullins fouled out and the box score is wrong" or I'll start getting nervous.