Justin Mullins Appreciation Thread

[SmellyCat]

Mullins appears to be the unsung hero for the Cats this year. While most are rightfully lauding Martinelli's huge jump this year, Mullins is right there with him. More excitedly, Collins is seeing it too, and it's translating into minutes. Mullins started the second half (when Windham was in foul trouble and was ineffective), played most, if not all, of the OT, and just seemed to be in the middle of the action throughout.

Last night Mullins missed a wide-open airball early in the game, but he more than made up for it after, frequently getting behind his man for layups and a powerful dunk. His numbers in four games this year:

Lehigh (23 mins) - two points, nine rebounds, two steals, one block
Dayton (23 mins) - zero points, five rebounds, three assists, two steals
UIC (27 mins) - five points, seven rebounds, three assists, two steals
EIU (34 mins) - six points, five rebounds, two assists, FIVE steals, and one block

He's second in the conference at 2.75 spg and 16th at 6.5 rpg...as a reserve.

 

[catcrazy]

Our next Sanjay Lumpkin with more offensive upside

 

[Hungry Jack]

I'm becoming a big fan.

The students have replaced their Ry-an-Lang-borg clap-clap, clap-clap-clap! cheer with a new and improved Justin Mullins version. Great to see that our kids appreciate sound basketball.

 

[Arlcatsfan]

Really like Justin's progression this year. Fills up the stat sheet very active on D and probably the most athletic member on the team. Also an unselfish player. On two of the fastbreaks he was on took one to the hoop and passed on the other one. Both led to baskets and in a game that went to OT we needed every point. Looks like he will be a valuable member on this year's squad.

 

[SDakaGordie]

Really like Justin's progression this year. Fills up the stat sheet very active on D and probably the most athletic member on the team. Also an unselfish player. On two of the fastbreaks he was on took one to the hoop and passed on the other one. Both led to baskets and in a game that went to OT we needed every point. Looks like he will be a valuable member on this year's squad.

He is a really good passer as well. He moves the ball very quickly and his passes have a real snap to them.

 

[MCC_Cat]

Big fan of his I am glad he's making a real impact for us. When the O arrives, look out because he is a baller.

 

[AdamOnFirst]

Mullins appears to be the unsung hero for the Cats this year. While most are rightfully lauding Martinelli's huge jump this year, Mullins is right there with him. More excitedly, Collins is seeing it too, and it's translating into minutes. Mullins started the second half (when Windham was in foul trouble and was ineffective), played most, if not all, of the OT, and just seemed to be in the middle of the action throughout.

Last night Mullins missed a wide-open airball early in the game, but he more than made up for it after, frequently getting behind his man for layups and a powerful dunk. His numbers in four games this year:

Lehigh (23 mins) - two points, nine rebounds, two steals, one block
Dayton (23 mins) - zero points, five rebounds, three assists, two steals
UIC (27 mins) - five points, seven rebounds, three assists, two steals
EIU (34 mins) - six points, five rebounds, two assists, FIVE steals, and one block

He's second in the conference at 2.75 spg and 16th at 6.5 rpg...as a reserve.

If Brooks comes back and it re-stabilizes the offense, Mullins will look like a key defensive and system type guy

 

[Baz=Heisman]

Agree with all of this and would add 1) he seems like a great guy and 2) doesn’t get too low or too high which makes him a quiet leader.

 

[Catreporter]

I remember him knocking down some corner threes at an open practice a year ago so I think he can shoot a little. He just rushed his shot too much last night even though he was wide open.

 

[Catdude]

Mullins had a potentially game-saving play vs EIU on his chasedown block with 3:30 left to prevent EIU from going up 5.

 

[Purple Pile Driver]

What a difference a year makes. Last year, we had a bunch of people lamenting how he was a bust as a transfer.

 

[catcrazy]

Just took him a bit to get adjusted to P5 basketball. Chase Audige type player. Can never have too many jacks of all trades

 

[PurpleWhiteBoy]

Just took him a bit to get adjusted to P5 basketball. Chase Audige type player. Can never have too many jacks of all trades

There's the Chase Audige comparison I was looking for!
Both transfers!
Both are better at defense, have quick hands, long arms, good hops. Mullins is a better rebounder. Audige was tougher, more physical and more determined.
Audige took (missed) too many shots for my liking - we had better alternatives. If Mullins can play to that "scaled back on offense" version of Audige, which seems possible, he will be quite valuable for Collins and NU.

And yes I remember that Audige outburst against Purdue! Glorious but all too rare.

Regarding Lumpkin - he was a real leader, fairly vocal and tough as nails. He had seniority on the better players. Mullins will not be that guy, although he does do a lot of dirty work, a la Lumpkin.

 

[SmellyCat]

A guy who plays Chase Audige's defense but lets the shooters on the team shoot while he does the dirty work would basically become my favorite player on the team.

 

[PURPLECAT88]

A guy who plays Chase Audige's defense but lets the shooters on the team shoot while he does the dirty work would basically become my favorite player on the team.

It's tough to let the shooters shoot when they pass you the ball with 2 seconds left on the shot clock because you're the one guy on the floor who isn't scared to shoot.

 

[clarificationcat]

There's the Chase Audige comparison I was looking for!
Both transfers!
Both are better at defense, have quick hands, long arms, good hops. Mullins is a better rebounder. Audige was tougher, more physical and more determined.
Audige took (missed) too many shots for my liking - we had better alternatives. If Mullins can play to that "scaled back on offense" version of Audige, which seems possible, he will be quite valuable for Collins and NU.

And yes I remember that Audige outburst against Purdue! Glorious but all too rare.

Regarding Lumpkin - he was a real leader, fairly vocal and tough as nails. He had seniority on the better players. Mullins will not be that guy, although he does do a lot of dirty work, a la Lumpkin.

Mullins is much more of a stat stuffer than Sanjay. In Sanjay’s 4th season he averaged .5 blocks, .5 steals, 1.2 assists and 3.8 points a game. He was a pretty good rebounder (5.0 a game) but Justin has surprisingly been an even stronger rebounder so far this season at 6.5 a game. I am hoping the game will slow down offensively for Justin and he will get comfortable knocking down open 3’s and running the floor. If he can do that, he will be a really valuable rotation guy even when Barnhizer returns.

 

[SmellyCat]

It's tough to let the shooters shoot when they pass you the ball with 2 seconds left on the shot clock because you're the one guy on the floor who isn't scared to shoot.

Of course. I wasn't talking about those. I was talking about the rushed shots when the team needed to slow down.

Look, I loved Chase's contributions, especially to the exciting 2022-2023 season, but his offense was a little shaky.

 

[GatoLouco]

And yes I remember that Audige outburst against Purdue! Glorious but all too rare.

The first was in Bloomington where he scored like the last 10 pts for us. We went 3-0 in conference and lost like 50 in a row after that.

 

[hdhntr1]

Mullins is much more of a stat stuffer than Sanjay. In Sanjay’s 4th season he averaged .5 blocks, .5 steals, 1.2 assists and 3.8 points a game. He was a pretty good rebounder (5.0 a game) but Justin has surprisingly been an even stronger rebounder so far this season at 6.5 a game. I am hoping the game will slow down offensively for Justin and he will get comfortable knocking down open 3’s and running the floor. If he can do that, he will be a really valuable rotation guy even when Barnhizer returns.

It is encouraging but have to remember the teams are not (other than Dayton) rated that high. Hopefully he can keep it up against the tougher competition we will be facing

 

[clarificationcat]

It is encouraging but have to remember the teams are not (other than Dayton) rated that high. Hopefully he can keep it up against the tougher competition we will be facing

Fair point. I am guessing his rebounding and steals will decrease in conference play, particularly his rebounding once Barnhizer gets back. But I am hoping he will get more comfortable taking open 3’s as the season progresses. And he’s already a pretty good passer. He looks very uncomfortable with his back to the basket or otherwise trying to create shots for himself so hopefully he can contribute offensively on the break, hitting open shots and driving hard to the rim.

 

[hdhntr1]

Fair point. I am guessing his rebounding and steals will decrease in conference play, particularly his rebounding once Barnhizer gets back. But I am hoping he will get more comfortable taking open 3’s as the season progresses. And he’s already a pretty good passer. He looks very uncomfortable with his back to the basket or otherwise trying to create shots for himself so hopefully he can contribute offensively on the break, hitting open shots and driving hard to the rim.

Also when Barney comes back his minutes may go down as well. This year he is earning the extra minutes he is getting and getting plenty of steals as well as the rebounds. Every game so far at least two.

 

[Hungry Jack]

JM is currently averaging 27 minutes. I think he can easily get 20 per game as the next option after Nick and Brooks, especially with BB spotting some time at guard given our limitations there. He is also a great option for going (very) small, assuming NIck or BB mans the 5 in that configuration. He is definitely a guy you would turn to late in the game for defense (see EIU).

 

[HKKJB]

Chiming in to express my appreciation for Justin as well. I had thought he deserved a thread and was going to start one. Thanks to @SmellyCat for actually doing it!

I don't have a lot of wisdom to add aside from agreeing with the above. I would imagine it was hard sitting for much of last year and it says a lot about his character that he kept working and stuck with us until he reached this point. Great glue guy - the value of which is hard to measure, but which is almost always much more than people realise. And he's got the potential to be a star player for us.

We're lucky to have him. The kind of young person that makes me admire his parents as well. In their shoes, I would be very proud indeed.

 

[SmellyCat]

Great glue guy - the value of which is hard to measure

I've heard him called a "glue guy" so much (including by Collins) in the last couple weeks that I think that should be his nickname.

"Jello and Glue played throughout the overtime when NU didn't allow a single point."

 

[jensberg]

Fair point. I am guessing his rebounding and steals will decrease in conference play, particularly his rebounding once Barnhizer gets back. But I am hoping he will get more comfortable taking open 3’s as the season progresses. And he’s already a pretty good passer. He looks very uncomfortable with his back to the basket or otherwise trying to create shots for himself so hopefully he can contribute offensively on the break, hitting open shots and driving hard to the rim.

If he could just shoot the ball he'd be a very key player on the team. Currently his shot looks rushed and shot without confidence

 

[SmellyCat]

If he could just shoot the ball he'd be a very key player on the team. Currently his shot looks rushed and shot without confidence

He looks good when he takes it to the basket, but it doesn't appear that long-range/mid-range shooting is his strength.

 

[AdamOnFirst]

JM is currently averaging 27 minutes. I think he can easily get 20 per game as the next option after Nick and Brooks, especially with BB spotting some time at guard given our limitations there. He is also a great option for going (very) small, assuming NIck or BB mans the 5 in that configuration. He is definitely a guy you would turn to late in the game for defense (see EIU).

JM with 27 and jelly with 19. Windham with 24.

Probably a battle between those three to lose the fewest minutes for Brooks' 30-35 (to start with). If I had to guess I'd say Mullins loses the most and Windhame the least, to start.

Something like Jelly 8, Mullins 13, and Windham 15 or so is a reasonable start, with one of the three collapsing to little use unless they all play extremely well.

 

[Hungry Jack]

JM with 27 and jelly with 19. Windham with 24.

Probably a battle between those three to lose the fewest minutes for Brooks' 30-35 (to start with). If I had to guess I'd say Mullins loses the most and Windhame the least, to start.

Something like Jelly 8, Mullins 13, and Windham 15 or so is a reasonable start, with one of the three collapsing to little use unless they all play extremely well.

Tend to agree in that I think we will need KJ's lead guard skills soon enough. Neither Gelo nor Mullins cannot bring the ball up reliably. I am hopeful we can use Mullins to spare BB and NM a heavy workload in the non-con schedule. There is close to 20 minutes there that could be given to Mullins if BB and Nick are kept around 30 minutes.

 

[Username Not Available]

The way he’s been playing, I can easily see Mullins subbing to rest Brooks with Collins expecting the D won’t suffer from the shift. So I’d expect Mullins to be in the 15-20 minute range, but coach has options.

 

[NUCat320]

The tattoo on his left shoulder is super cool. Not sure if he’s got it on both sides.

 

[SmellyCat]

I was coming here to say the same thing! That tattoo is bad ***. He had another decent game tonight, though he wasn't the best Mullins on the floor.