Berry used to be a one-dimensional player. On a bad shooting night, he used to find himself on the bench. But tonight he has 5 boards, multiple steals. A guy you want on the floor. The shot will come.
Game Thread: Northwestern vs. UIC
- Thread starter mshelton33
- Start date
To echo what others have said, our defense is fun to watch.
We’re going to have ride it all year cause as fun as these last two games have been, we are not a good shooting team. The more we can turn good defense into offense, the better. This is not a knock, but just a reality of who we need to be to be successful in the B1G.
We’re going to have ride it all year cause as fun as these last two games have been, we are not a good shooting team. The more we can turn good defense into offense, the better. This is not a knock, but just a reality of who we need to be to be successful in the B1G.
One major part of this team I really like is of someone is not having a good game scoring they do not let it effect the other parts of their game. They keep hustling and playing excellent defense.
At risk of jinxing it, the biggest turnaround in Nicholson’s game this year is the ability to impact the play without fouling. He played 89 minutes the last two years and committed 20 fouls. This year, he’s played around 215 minutes and has 17 fouls.
That's a nice stat find as it made me run to kenpom. Here's MN's Fouls Committed/40 min:
2021: 12.6
2022: 10.0
2023: 3.3
Also, his Block Rate:
2021: 6.5%
2022: 4.8%
2023: 10.3%
Barnhizer looked great on offense tonight. The best he has looked since he got to NU. Roper also looked very good on the offensive side. If those two can become consistent scorers that would be gigantic as NU heads into BIG play. Now all we need is for MN to finish at the rim other than dunks and the Cats will be really dangerous.
50 in BartTorvik. If you click on “Similar Teams” (based on offensive and defensive rating similarity over the past 20 years), half of them made it to the NCAA Tournament. All we wish for at the start of the season is to have a glimmer of hope and we have more than that as we move into the conference season.
And I think much less selfish. Seems like he is more relaxed that the whole team is good.
I was at the game. Mostly empty seats, especially on the Wilson side of the court. Boooooo!
The kids who played basketball at halftime brought a lot of enthusiasm.
The non-Wilson side had decent energy.
Was pleased to see Barnhizer getting significant time with Beran and either Nicholson or Verhoeven.
It makes a big difference in our offense compared to say Nicholson, Barnhizer and 3 guards.
Collins hadn't used Barnhizer with 2 bigs the last several games.
Barnhizer is significantly more effective as a 3 than a 4.
Hunger showing signs. And Beran still needs a backup, but Hunger was playing the 5.
Against Brown, I'd love to see Hunger get 5 minutes at the 4.
The kids who played basketball at halftime brought a lot of enthusiasm.
The non-Wilson side had decent energy.
Was pleased to see Barnhizer getting significant time with Beran and either Nicholson or Verhoeven.
It makes a big difference in our offense compared to say Nicholson, Barnhizer and 3 guards.
Collins hadn't used Barnhizer with 2 bigs the last several games.
Barnhizer is significantly more effective as a 3 than a 4.
Hunger showing signs. And Beran still needs a backup, but Hunger was playing the 5.
Against Brown, I'd love to see Hunger get 5 minutes at the 4.
Little Hungry let loose an ear piercing shriek when free Chick Fil A was on the line late in the game. Made me jump. Alas, it was all for naught.
I loved seeing Barnhizer scoring from all directions last night. We need offensive weapons.
The defense leading to transition points was great because Boo had room to run. Once he gets going forward, he’s damn near unstoppable. Just way too fast. It’s pretty clear that B1G teams will try to force half court play and try to force Boo to move horizontally to keep him from getting going.
One of these days Chase is going to jump over the backboard…
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There was one specific play where Buie hit the rocket engine and went from top of key down the lane for a layup... made me go "whoa"
Barnhizer loves attacking the paint and has a lot of moves, even if he is slightly less explosive than other guys.
Roper has same general approach - go at the defender and try to score inside - but not as crafty.
I haven't seen anybody mention this, but we were 28 of 43 inside the arc (65%) and 8 of 27 from distance (30%)... So maybe we can put aside the "we should just keep launching 3's" talk for now? The team (generally) wants to pound the opponent inside. Our interior passing was significantly better last night.
We also outrebounded UIC 44-23. And that UIC freshman center (Fens) was no pushover at 6'10" 255 lbs.
That kid looked huge and even has an outside shot. Worth keeping an eye on for future portal activity.
UIC has about the same inside presence defensively as DePaul. NU did what they should and took advantage of it. Doesn’t mean the same looks will be there against B1G opponents.