He’s not the only one. When we beat Virginia and Preston was interviewed; he had to correct Randy Scott that Saul had recruited him and not Boals.

That certainly feels like an important win in a place that's been unkind to us against a team that actually played a solid game.

We dominated the defensive glass vs their offensive rebounding. The box score credits NIU with nine offensive boards but only six to individual players as there were multiple instances where two of our guys went for the ball and it ricocheted out of bounds

Cut those turnover numbers by a third and we have a 90+ point outing on the road.

I thought we got the short end of officiating even though fouls were about even. Roderick and Wilson have their torsos facing defenders and absorbing contact and they get whistled so much. I don't see it.

Wiz, figure out how to set a damn legal screen already. I don't know what the coaches see out of Wiz that Clayton couldn't do better to the point that Gabe gets three times as many minutes as AJ.

Elmore James is a treasure. Program cornerstone kind of player even if he doesn't make the freshman team.

Jaylin Hunter in the last seven games: 16 ppg, near 3:1 A/TO ratio, 53% FG, 47% 3FG.

Did you see any of their game vs Kent? He'd spend the whole last half of timeouts "leading" a one-man "Lets Go Huskies, Lets Go!"

This. All of this. I'm surprised Clayton can't take more of Wiz' PF/C minutes.

Its starting to look like Jaylin Hunter's performance decides the outcome of the game. If he's on, we can win. If not, the depth isn't there to make up for an off game. And off games happen.

(Can we send Elmore James to "PG camp" for the entire offseason?.....)

I think he and AJB both have a chance to be special as soon as next season.

Heard that too. I hope that wasn't in the game notes that the announcers received.

I will say....while Saul found JP, I don't know if JP would have flourished the way he did under Boals. I think Jeff had just the right amount of push in him while also fostering JP's strengths. Don't get me wrong, JP would have been very good under Saul but Jeff just has a way of bringing the best out of those types of kids. The problem I am having as a fan with Jeff is he seems quick to ditch a kid to. I can start a list but we'll need some player development soon. To just let guys loose to the portal and bring in other guys isn't a formula. He's going to need to get guys like Hadaway, Clayton, Nolan Foster etc. to live up to their potential.

Let's keep things in perspective here. Kirk had more than 60 starts and played roughly 31 minutes a game. Wiznitzer is a bench guy who has one start and plays 13 minutes a game.

 

The Cats got it done on the court & @robcwv & I got it done on the air. Here's the @OhioSP @Learfield rewind of @OhioMBasketball's win over @GoHuskiesMBB. It was an infotaining night in DeKalb!🎙️ pic.twitter.com/iLL2SOgdCa

— Russ Eisenstein (@RussEisenstein) February 8, 2023

Gabe Wiznitzer is like the modern day Kenneth Van Kempen. Underappreciated because he's got better things to do than dunk!!!

KVK's junior year he averaged 15.5 mpg, 3.2 ppg and 2.4 rpg, 2.6 fouls per game and 2.5 turnovers per game.
Compare that to Wiznitzer who currently averaging 13.4 mpg, 3.8 ppg, 3.2 rpg, 2.5 fouls per game and 1.5 turnovers per game.

KVK progressed his senior year to average a whopping 27.8 mpg, 6.8 ppg and 6.7 rpg, 3.4 fouls per game and 1.2 turnovers per game. I think most would agree KVK's contributions on the court that year greatly exceeded his stat-line. He understood the offense and opened up the floor for the other guys on the team to thrive.

Clayton is clearly more of a scoring threat offensively than Wiznitzer. I think on the defensive side it's a much different conversation. Wiznitzer is more of a true interior post player than Clayton. I would rather have Wiznitzer racking up fouls during the minutes where Dwight Wilson is resting than getting Clayton into foul trouble.

I don't think this is a case of Wiz taking minutes from Clayton. For most of the season Clayton has been a regular in the rotation. It's really just been these last two games where Clayton played less than we would expect. It may have been due to matchups or something else with Clayton. I don't think it's a case of Clayton vs Wiz. We are going to need both of these guys next year with Dwight gone. If Wiz can continue to learn our scheme, I could see him being a valuable piece in the offense with Clayton and Hunter taking more of the scoring responsibility.

But after KVK's third year of D1 basketball, there really wasn't evidence that he would grow into something better. He was pretty much the same awkward stiff for his first three years, and he had an offseason working with Groce before his third year. Even Reggie Keely had a lot of awkwardness and gaffes to his game his first two years. So, you never know.

I don't see the sense in maybe "suggesting" any player on this roster leave, especially a post player. We do have one scholarship to work with and possibly (likely) more if Ben or Miles call it a career or anyone else decides on their own to go. We absolutely MUST get another big for next year and I'd like them be an option with AJ, IJ, and Gabe.

+1. I wouldn’t mind having Gabe back if he was let’s say, just lack of a scoring threat. But his struggles go much deeper than that. He has more turnovers (37) than FG’s made (36) this season and has a hard time just catching the ball, setting a legal screen, and maintaining his footing. Not to mention, he has less blocks on than season the Jaylin, AJB, Elmore, Hadaway (who hardly plays) and Miles. Which is truly astonishing as the tallest guy on the team.

I’m not saying he isn’t back, but I do think there needs to be drastic improvement the remainder of the season to make a valid case for it.

As for Clayton, if he hovers around 5-7 mins a game the rest of the way, I think he’s gone.

It was incredibly frustrating to watch. It seemed obvious that the NIU players were grossly initiating the contact into defenders and kept getting calls. How is a defender supposed to play defense?

I'm also highly confused at why we "have" to keep playing Gabe when it sure seems like AJ Clayton could in no way be worse in the role. I couldn't have been the only fan holding their breath when Dwight fouled out, because we had to survive the last 3.5 minutes with Gabe on the floor.