HOW TWO ‘CATS PLAYERS COMING OFF OF INJURY WILL HELP THE POST-BOO BUIE SQUAD SUCCEED

Alright, it’s time to talk about the ‘Cats basketball elephant in the room. We’re now months removed from the season-ending UConn loss, and we must face the facts eventually. All in all, the 2023-24 Northwestern basketball team turned in a great year, matching the accomplishments of the previous year’s team.

It was also likely, at a minimum, a sweet 16 team if it had stayed healthy down the stretch. Maybe even an elite eight team. Yes, I said it. The cat (no pun intended) is out of the bag. Ty Berry and Matt Nicholson were key cogs in the starting lineup, but after they both got hurt, it became increasingly obvious that neither was replaceable.

Nick Martinelli did his best to step up and provide scoring in Berry’s absence, and Ryan Langborg also increased his already-large role. But it was never enough to make up for Berry’s lethal three-point shooting and almost 12 points per game.

Meanwhile, Luke Hunger and Blake Preston had no business seeing the floor as much as they had to at the end of last season. Their struggles forced head coach Chris Collins to experiment with lineups featuring small-ball lineups which often hurt more than helped.

What a healthy ‘Cats team could have done in the postseason will forever be a dark, painful mystery for NU fans. But as always in sports, the focus is shifting to next year’s squad, one that both Nicholson and Berry have opted to return to for their fifth season together in purple. Here’s a look at what we should expect from both of them coming off their respective injuries.

Ty Berry

Berry tore his meniscus on February 7 at home in the first half against Nebraska in what would be an 80-68 win for the ‘Cats. That injury, generally speaking, requires a four to six-ish month recovery, so expect him to be rearing to go by the time November rolls around. That’s still a long time without playing competitive basketball, though, for a player whose success relies heavy on his defensive quickness and a jumper that has historically been streaky.

Additionally, the pressure will now be squarely on Berry immediately. In the first year of the post-Boo Buie era, Collins will be looking to Berry to provide preliminary scoring for this team. If Brooks Barnhizer is the projected first option, which is far from a lock, Berry is right there on his heels. For this team to have success, he’s going to have to improve on his scoring total, as well as his modest 1.4 assists per game, next season.

Berry is a tough player to project, and he always has been. Before last season, my analysis on Berry would have been that he had plenty of potential, but the jump shot was so flat and inconsistent that he would never make meaningful contributions. Then, he shot the lights out (43%) for more than half a season before getting hurt, and was a noticeable absence on one of the three best Northwestern teams ever.

It isn’t fair to discount what Berry did last season. He really came into his own and started to hit big shots for the ‘Cats. I don’t see any reason to expect a regression after the injury. A torn meniscus is rough, but people generally come back from it alright, and Berry is young. Assuming the rehab is going ok, he will be at least equal to what he was last season.

It is fair, however, to wonder if he’s ready to deal with the added responsibility he’s going to receive without a true point guard on the roster. His ball handling is going to have to be better. His leadership skills are going to have to improve. He’s going to take more shots in clutch situations, and he’s going to have to make them. Whether he can step up even more next season is the question we have yet to know the answer to.

Matt Nicholson

After suffering a foot injury on March 2 against Iowa, Nicholson should also be ready to go by the start of the season, and his range of outcomes is much smaller than Berry’s. At this point, five years in, Big Matt is a known quantity in the post on both sides of the ball.

Offensively, he’s not going to provide all that much. Nicholson has no jump shot, which is what it is, but he also doesn’t possess above-average post moves or any sort of touch around the rim, relying mostly on dunks. He can use his size to get fouled sometimes, but he’s not a good free throw shooter. All of this adds up to a career scoring average of just 4.7 points.

However, Nicholson is arguably the most important player to Northwestern’s defense. He’s a very experienced Big Ten big, and he knows how to matchup against the best of the best in the conference. He’s enormous and very physical guarding down low. Underrated is the only word to describe his reputation around the conference because most outside Evanston don’t understand just how crucial he is to this defense.

Without Nicholson, Northwestern’s defense looked out of sorts down the stretch. The patented post trap all of the sudden didn’t work as well. Evident mismatches appeared to crop up significantly more often. Nicholson’s return is an incredible boon for a defense that is going to have to be good in order to help a weakened offensive attack.

Northwestern brought in Keenan Fitzmorris, and Hunger is still on the roster, but Nicholson will still see the majority of the playing time. As discussed, his offensive and defensive production seem somewhat fixed, but the one area he can and must improve is his performance on the glass.

Nicholson averaged just 4.3 rebounds per game on the year. That’s simply unacceptable for a seven-foot, 280-pound senior. Crashing the boards needs to be his main focus in practices and throughout the run-up to this season. If he can learn to grab the ball up high and never bring it down, which is admittedly easier said than done at game speed, he could become the cornerstone to Northwestern’s success.

2024-06-15T18:32:04Z dg43tfdfdgfd