Jitim Young understands Rick Rickert’s situation. Northwestern’s sophomore guard knows what it’s like to be a freshman in the Big Ten.
Last season, Young started all 30 NU games and averaged just more than 30 minutes and 8.8 points a game.
Pretty good for a rookie, right?
But Rickert has been even more spectacular in his first year. The 6-foot-10 forward leads the Golden Gophers (14-7, 7-3 Big Ten) in scoring with 14.6 points per game, making him the top freshman in the conference.
“It’s real hard to adjust, especially with the competition,” Young said. “For (Rickert), Minnesota is a great place to play basketball, and he’s adjusting fine. He has leaders on his team who are enabling him and helping him to become a good player.”
Rickert was named Big Ten Player of the Week last week after averaging 26.5 points in two wins, making him the first freshman in four years to snag the honor.
“He’s playing good basketball, and he has good guards to get him the ball,” Young said. “But as a freshman in this league, he still has his weaknesses. Our job, as a defense and especially as a veteran team, is to exploit those weaknesses.”
Rickert’s emergence has been a big factor in Minnesota’s success. Last season, the Golden Gophers finished with a 5-11 Big Ten record. This year, the team is third in the conference, behind Indiana and Ohio State.
NU coach Bill Carmody, for one, isn’t surprised by Rickert’s performance.
“I thought he was the best high-school kid I’d seen last summer,” Carmody said. “I was hoping he’d stay at Arizona (where Rickert originally committed). I didn’t enjoy the fact that (Minnesota) got him.
“He hurts you every way. He shoots long shots and he’s terrific around the basket.”
But Rickert isn’t the only big name playing for the Golden Gophers, who have a pair of star seniors in Travarus Bennett and Dusty Rychart. Bennett tops the Big Ten in steals with 2.29. And Rychart is the team’s second-leading scorer at 13.5 points per game.
When Minnesota visits Welsh-Ryan Arena tonight, NU (13-9, 4-6) will have to face these three tough forwards. The Wildcats are coming off their worst loss of the season, 73-44 to Wisconsin on Saturday.
But despite the lopsided result in Madison, Young thinks he knows the key to topping the Golden Gophers.
“Against Minnesota, if you come out with a passive attitude, you might as well just not come on the floor at all,” Young said. “They’ll shove it right down our throats. If we can just really knock their confidence out of the game and get the crowd behind us, I think it’ll help us a lot.’
Saturday, Young collected 17 points on 8 of 15 shooting, breaking out of a four-game slump during which he averaged 7.8 points.
Young is also working on his positive thinking, assuming there will be a postseason for the Cats.
“We have to come out ready to work hard (against the Golden Gophers),” he said. “Just get ready for the postseason, basically.”
