When Ryan Taylor announced that he would be transferring to Northwestern, there was a buzz throughout Evanston.

It was a big pickup for the Wildcats. Not only was the Evansville graduate a proven scorer, but his timing couldn’t have been better, as Northwestern was losing veteran shooting guard Scottie Lindsey. Taylor was expected to come in and fill Lindsey’s role as a shooter and become one of the leading scorers on the team.

Last year with Evansville, Taylor averaged 21.3 points per game on 43 percent shooting from the field and 42 percent from beyond the arc. Those numbers would have made him the best scorer and best 3-point shooter on Northwestern’s 2017-18 team

This season with Northwestern, Taylor is hitting just 37 percent from the floor and 36 percent from beyond the arc, a drop of six percent in each category. Those numbers figured to go down some with better competition in the Big Ten, but his 12.4 points per game is almost nine fewer than he scored last year for the Purple Aces.

The point is, Taylor’s arrival came with high hopes and high expectations. Whether they were fair or not, he hasn’t been able to meet those expectations thus far – and it has cost Northwestern.

From a pure numerical standpoint, Taylor isn’t coming close to replicating the output that he produced in the previous two years at Evansville.

Through 16 games, Taylor is averaging 32 minutes per game, one of four members of Northwestern's team above 30 minutes. Yet, despite his reputation as a prolific scorer, he is the third-leading scorer among that quartet, scoring just over 12 points per game.

This isn’t due to a lack of attempts. Taylor's 181 attempts is the second-most on the team to Vic Law's 213, but he is only converting at a 37 percent clip, better than only one player among the seven Wildcats averaging double-figure minutes per game.

Maybe most glaringly, Taylor’s 3-pointers haven’t been going down as often as expected. He’s attempted 116 triples this season, the most on the team by a wide margin – 26 more than No. 2 Law, and more than double any other player on the team. But again, his 3-point shooting percentage has declined to 34 percent,.

What's more, Taylor has also struggled to convert in critical moments for Northwestern. Head coach Chris Collins has trusted Taylor with the ball in crunch time on numerous occasions, but he hasn’t been able to deliver.

In the team’s first conference matchup against Indiana, Taylor missed two 3-pointers in the last 12 seconds. When Northwestern was down by four points, he missed a triple that was rebounded by Law, who drilled a 3 of his own to pull the Wildcats to with one. After an Indiana free throw, Taylor got a chance to redeem himself with a deep pull-up 3 at the buzzer to win, but he wasn’t able to hit it.

A similar story ensued in contests with Michigan and Oklahoma. In both games, Taylor had the ball in his hands with a chance to take a lead in the final seconds, but he failed to convert. In all fairness, he didn’t have a great look against Michigan, but he had the opportunity to draw a foul after his pump-fake drew a Michigan defender in the air. Instead, he opted to take an awkward shot.

Collins has had Taylor’s back consistently throughout the season. After the Oklahoma game, he gave an honest assessment of Taylor’s opportunity to close out the game, saying, “If you would have told me that Ryan Taylor would have a bare-ass open 3 to finish the game, I would've taken it.” He also added that “he just hasn't shot like he normally does.”

He’s right. Since that Oklahoma game, Taylor has improved on his 3-point shooting, knocking them down at a 50-percent clip, a significant increase. Still, Taylor was only 40 percent from the field in those games.

Taylor can be a valuable weapon for Northwestern. An experienced scorer, his outside shooting could add a much-needed jolt to a Wildcat offense that often lacks firepower.

He certainly isn’t the only reason Northwestern’s offense is struggling, but he has the largest room to grow and could have the greatest impact on the success of the team. If he can find the form that led the Missouri Valley Conference in scoring last year, he may hold the key to reviving the 12th-ranked offense in the Big Ten.