Northwestern-Wisconsin Player Grades: Wildcats can't generate any offense

Overall: C-

Wisconsin is one of the country's best teams and certainly showed it tonight in Madison, as Bo Ryan's Badgers crushed Northwestern en route to a season sweep over the Wildcats. Last season, NU won in stunning fashion at Kohl Center, shocking the home crowd and the rest of the country. A similar result was not in the cards today.

The Badgers controlled play from the tip all the way until the game-ending buzzer, scoring 16 of the game's first 18 points as they built a double-digit lead they would hold the entire game. It took Northwestern 3:41 to make its first shot and took almost five more minutes to score their second, providing a convenient look into how the rest of the evening would proceed.

Basically, NU played a team with a lot more talent and the end result showed that. This team just isn't good enough to be able to beat good, mediocre or even bad Big Ten teams and with Wisconsin being one of the conference's top squads, NU just never really had much a chance. Also, when you're down 16-2 just a few minutes into the game, you've dug a hole that's very hard to climb out of.

Alex Olah

Points	Assists	Rebounds	Field Goals	Turnovers
15	0	3	6-13	0

Grade: B

Out of Northwestern's 50 total points, 28 of them came from Olah and Bryant McIntosh. The big man held his own against Wisconsin's great frontcourt and was able to put up some points at the rim. Still, he disappeared for large pockets of time in the first half and really inflated his stats in essential garbage time late in the game. Overall, pretty good effort and production even though he his usual widely inconsistent self. If he played for the whole game like he did in the final 5-7 minutes of second half, maybe NU would have had a chance in this one.

JerShon Cobb

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

Grade: D

I know Cobb played today because I saw him on the floor but he didn't nothing to either help or hurt the Wildcats' chances in this game. He, like Lumpkin, committed a bunch of first half fouls and didn't force anything on offense. However, he missed both shots he took and since NU relies on his shooting somewhat, his lack of impact really hamstrung the team.

Tre Demps

Points	Assists	Rebounds	Field Goals	Turnovers
7	3	2	2-7	1

Grade: D+

Once again, Demps took a lot of contested shots and missed most of them. After the Purdue loss, he explained the 18 shots he took in that game on the opposing defense's scheme allowing for him to shoot as much as he did. That wasn't the case today. He needs to be more efficient if NU is going to win another conference game this season.

Scottie Lindsey

Points	Assists	Rebounds	Field Goals	Turnovers
4	0	2	2-5	0

Grade: C+

Outside of his three missed threes, Lindsey actually provided some solid energy and moved pretty well without the ball. His perimeter shooting needs a lot of work but it seems like the rest of his game is slowly improving each time he gets out on the floor.

Bryant McIntosh

Points	Assists	Rebounds	Field Goals	Turnovers
13	2	3	6-9	2

Grade: B-

Even as Northwestern's season falls deeper and deeper into the gutter, McIntosh gives it his all every game and managed to post a decent performance against Wisconsin's staunch defense. He still hasn't progressed a whole ton as a defender and had trouble sticking with the Badgers' three-point shooters, though. Good to see him commit just two turnovers.

Jeremiah Kreisberg

Points	Assists	Rebounds	Field Goals	Turnovers
6	0	1	1-2	0

Grade: C

Kreisberg was overmatched down low on defense due to Wisconsin's size with Frank Kaminsky and Sam Dekker, to name a few, but he managed to hold his own to a certain extent and even scored some points. He hit all four of his free throws and helped hold Kaminsky to just 12 points, so, overall, not a bad day for the big guy.

Vic Law

Points	Assists	Rebounds	Field Goals	Turnovers
3	1	5	1-6	1

Grade: D+

Another disappointing performance from Law, who clearly need to get stronger to be more of a presence in the Big Ten. His shot has been a real issue this season and he couldn't find the touch at all, making just one field goal. He did provide some nice defensive play, with two steals and a block, and rebounded well but he has yet to show the offensive prowess that made him the highly rated recruit he was out of high school.

Dave Sobolewski

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

Grade: C-

Sobolewski, who played with Wisconsin's Kaminsky in high school at Benet Academy in suburban Chicago, wasn't able to get going on offense today and only attempted one field goal (a missed three). Didn't do anything well (a few rebounds here and there are nice, I guess) but didn't do anything too poorly. Still, he's on the floor to hit threes when open and he didn't even look for them in his limited minutes.

Sanjay Lumpkin

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

Grade: D

Since his 12-point outburst against Maryland, Lumpkin has been basically non-existent and that didn't change today. He picked up a bunch of fouls early (in the first half, Northwestern was fouling at a prodigious rate), was put on the bench for awhile and never really made himself known on the floor. He can be a real asset for Chris Collins when he makes good decisions but he just doesn't do that enough to be effective.

Johnnie Vassar (whose birthday is today) and Gavin Skelly played at the very end for around a minute and didn't do anything notable. Nathan Taphorn (foot injury) didn't play.