Northwestern’s game against Maryland on Thursday night isn’t a must-win, but it’s about as close as you can get in mid-January.
The Wildcats, losers of three straight and sitting in 16th place at 1-4 in Big Ten play, are in danger of losing their fourth game in a row for the first time in three seasons. They lost by double figures in each of their last two outings, against ranked Purdue and Michigan State teams. Both of those games were over by halftime, when the Wildcats were down by 23 and 19 points, respectively.
Northwestern’s offense is ranked 16th in the Big Ten at 73.7 points per game and in desperate need of a spark after scoring an anemic 18 points in the first half against the Boilers and 28 against MSU. Injecting the surging Angelo Ciaravino into the starting lineup in place of the sliding Ty Berry could be just what the Wildcats need.
I don't make this suggestion lightly. Berry started every game for which he’s been healthy over the last three seasons. He was a linchpin for Northwestern’s NCAA Tournament teams the last two years.
But it’s clear he’s struggling and, with the season slipping away from them quickly, the Wildcats need to make a move sooner rather than later. The schedule doesn’t get any easier, with road games at ranked Michigan and Illinois sandwiching a home date against Indiana coming up.
During Northwestern’s three-game skid, Berry has scored a grand total of 5 points. He put up 3 points at Penn State, was shutout at Purdue and tallied only 2 against Michigan State on Sunday. He went 2-for-13 from the floor during that stretch and played 16 or fewer minutes in each game. His shooting percentage of 34.2% is the worst of his career and his average of 6.9 points per game is the lowest since his freshman season.
More than numbers, though, Berry seems to be lost for stretches on the floor. He has battled foul trouble, but when he’s out there he’s not hunting for his shot like he's done in the past. Fans were hopeful that his 23-point outburst against Northeastern on Dec. 29 might awaken him, but it didn't spur any production. He has scored in double figures just three times in 12 games over the last two months, and has been held scoreless four times this season.
While no one has stated it publicly, Berry looks like he’s still bothered by the knee meniscus he tore last February, which sidelined him for the remainder of the season. He’s not getting up and down the court with the same speed he did before the injury, and he doesn’t seem to have the same explosiveness.
That’s one thing that Ciaravino has in spades. While just a freshman, he’s provided a spark for the Wildcats before.
Early in the season, he scored 12 points in 21 minutes against a ferocious Dayton defense. He put up a career-high 19 points in 21 minutes at Purdue, where he carried the offense for much of the second half and head coach Chris Collins called him the “one real bright spot” in an otherwise dismal performance. He had 8 points in nine minutes against the Nittany Lions and 5 in just eight minutes against the Spartans.
He is by no means a finished product, but his play has earned him a longer look.
At 6-foot-6, Ciaravino will also give Northwestern a little more size and length than the 6-foot-3 Berry, and he can match up with longer, more athletic wings. He also is a dynamic athlete who can play above-the-rim, a quality the Wildcats lack.
This change isn’t a drastic one, as Ciaravino and fellow freshman KJ Windham have gotten more minutes at the expense of Berry in recent games as Collins tries to find the right combination and get his team out of its funk. It isn’t banishment, either. Berry played well off the bench his first two years in Evanston and could return to the starting lineup if he regains his mojo.
Ciaravino may struggle from time to time defensively, but he’s a fearless and aggressive player who could give the Wildcats’ offense a jump start.
That’s something they’ll need against Maryland, a team that is coming off two straight home wins and sits at 3-3 in the league. Most notably, they drubbed UCLA by 18 last Friday. However, the Terps are also 0-3 in road games this season, while the Wildcats are 8-1 at Welsh-Ryan Arena.
Northwestern will have to be ready for 6-foot-10 freshman big man Derik Queen, who is averaging 16.2 points and 7.8 rebounds per game and would be getting a lot more league-wide attention if it wasn’t for Rutgers’ freshman sensation Dylan Harper.
Having Matt Nicholson in the lineup should help. Sources say that the 7-foot grad student should be in the lineup for Northwestern after he left the MSU game in the second half with what appeared to be a leg injury.
On the down side, backup big man Luke Hunger probably won’t play for the second straight game as he recovers from a minor sprain he suffered at Purdue. This would mean that Keenan Fitzmorris will likely be pressed into duty again. The grad transfer 7-footer played 18 minutes against the Spartans after logging just 20 minutes all season up to that point.
