Northwestern at Maryland: Player Grades

Overall: A

For 39 minutes, Northwestern dominated one of the Big Ten's best teams. But, in very Northwestern fashion, the Wildcats were unable to close out the potential victory and it's another disappointment for Chris Collins' team in a season of disappointments.

NU has now lost six games in a row, with the last three coming by a total of five points. Clearly, NU is playing good enough to win but just hasn't been able to make the baskets and stops at the right times to finish off teams. That has to get to the players and surely they're stunned and upset right now, but in the long run--especially for the freshman--those failures will make the successes all the more sweet. Things may not be too good right now but losses like these are program builders and do more eventual good than harm.

As for the A rating, NU played incredibly well--with some hiccups/turnovers--for basically the entire game. The Wildcats took a double digit lead early and, more or less, held it for most of the first and second halves. The problem is they let it slip late and could only watch as the talented Terrapins took over.

Alex Olah

Points	Assists	Rebounds	Field Goals	Turnovers
8	0	4	3-7	1

Grade: B-

Not the most inspiring statline, I know, but when he was in the game, he made a difference on both ends of the floor. When NU needed a bucket at the hoop, Olah was there to make a nice move and put it in. Also, for the few minutes he and fellow European Michal Cekovsky were matched up with each other, Olah clearly played better. However, he didn't play for long stretches of the second half, which was a strange strategy from Chris Collins that ended up not working.

JerShon Cobb

Points	Assists	Rebounds	Field Goals	Turnovers
7	5	8	2-6	2

Grade: C

Cobb may have missed a bunch of open shots--both twos and threes--that could have extended NU's lead but his work on the boards and in finding open teammates was a big reason for the Wildcats' success tonight. NU won the rebounding battle handedly for much of the night thanks to his team-high eight boards, all of which came on the defensive glass. Unfortunately, he couldn't come up with a ninth...

Tre Demps

Points	Assists	Rebounds	Field Goals	Turnovers
9	2	1	4-9	4

Grade: C-

Outside of the go-ahead (for like 11 seconds) jumper he hit with time winding down in regulation, Demps wasn't all too effective in this one. Sure he made some shots here and there but he was his usual out-of-control self, as his four turnovers attest to. Those miscues (NU had 17) really hurt the Wildcats in the long run.

Scottie Lindsey

Points	Assists	Rebounds	Field Goals	Turnovers
2	0	2	1-1	0

Grade: C+

Didn't do anything wrong, and didn't do much right either. He made a shot and grabbed a few boards but didn't have a huge impact on this game, except for a massive second half block on Maryland star freshman Melo Trimble.

Bryant McIntosh

Points	Assists	Rebounds	Field Goals	Turnovers
21	3	3	10-14	1

Grade: A+

Outstanding. For the entirety of the first half and part of the second, NU's star freshman point guard outplayed Maryland's as McIntosh was able to penetrate MD's defense with ease and continued to finish on layups, jumpers or his signature floater. He missed a few threes, but was the biggest reason NU got out to its huge early lead. Also, his off-the-ball movement going to the hoop was phenomenal.

Jeremiah Kreisberg

Points	Assists	Rebounds	Field Goals	Turnovers
2	1	3	0-1	2

Grade: B-

B- for Kreisberg? Crazy as it sounds, yes. We know he's not the most athletic guy out there, but he gave his all in this one and was solid on interior defense. Lack of ball handling ability was the reason for his two turnovers but he was decent on the boards and helped limit Maryland's offense down low.

Vic Law

Points	Assists	Rebounds	Field Goals	Turnovers
3	2	1	1-4	4

Grade: D

Turnovers have been a huge problem for the freshman this season, as has shooting consistency, and both issues plagued him tonight. Law missed too many open jumpers and kept dribbling himself right into Maryland's press, and lost the ball on multiple occasions.

Dave Sobolewski

Points	Assists	Rebounds	Field Goals	Turnovers
5	2	2	2-3	0

Grade: B-

Sobolewski has accepted his role reduction from starting point guard to reserve beautifully and clearly knows what he can and cannot do on the basketball floor. Tonight, he played to his strengths (made a big three in NU's first half surge) and didn't try to do too much (infinite assist-turnover ratio). Were there some open threes he may have passed up? Sure, but him not pulling the trigger wasn't the reason NU lost.

Sanjay Lumpkin

Points	Assists	Rebounds	Field Goals	Turnovers
12	0	6	4-4	1

Grade: A-

Lumpkin was one of NU's biggest surprises early in the year but hasn't done much since then. He changed that against Maryland as he got hot from three (3-3 from downtown) and was huge on the boards as well as on defense. If the Terrapin defenders didn't extend far enough out, he made them pay with the long ball. That extension of the defense opened up a lot of lanes for the other Wildcat scorers.

Johnnie Vassar, Gavin Skelly and Nathan Taphorn (foot injury) all didn't play.