Bryant McIntosh, Scottie Lindsey, Vic Law and Dererk Pardon combined to take 69 percent of Northwestern’s field goals and 63 percent of its 3s in conference play. Those core four players defined the Wildcats’ offense as it battled to a 10-8 Big Ten record.

But players like freshman guard Isiah Brown, junior forward Gavin Skelly and senior forwards Sanjay Lumpkin and Nathan Taphorn also played parts in NU’s success as they paired with bigger names on the floor. They aren’t stars by any stretch, but a big game from any of those role players could win the Cats an NCAA Tournament game.

All zone-level stats from Big Ten regular season games.

Isiah Brown

Brown’s best trait on offense is his ability to get into the teeth of the defense, and he led NU’s perimeter players with 27 percent of his shots coming at the rim and 47 percent of his total shots coming from the paint. He shot a solid 57 percent at the basket in the conference season, but beyond that Brown didn’t find much consistent success. After shooting 35 percent from the field and 24 percent from 3 in the Big Ten, the freshman has plenty of room to improve heading into his next campaign.

Graphic by Max Schuman/Daily Senior Staffer

Sanjay Lumpkin

Known for his defense, Lumpkin’s shot chart is one of a limited offensive player who tries to play within himself on that end. More than half of his attempts came at the rim in Big Ten play, and he hit a very efficient 68 percent of those shots, the third-best rate on the team. The senior took also took a low volume of 3s without much success; outside of shots from deep and at the basket, Lumpkin took just two shots in total throughout the Cats’ conference schedule.

Graphic by Max Schuman/Daily Senior Staffer

Gavin Skelly

NU’s first big man off the bench flashed a versatile offensive game early in the season, but that never really materialized as the Cats entered Big Ten play. Skelly did offer some spacing as a pick-and-pop option, connecting on a solid 41 percent of his straight-away 3s, but showed little ability to score from other areas on the floor. Skelly hit just 43 percent of his layup attempts, a dismal clip for someone his size and the worst rate on the team among players with more than six such shots.

Graphic by Max Schuman/Daily Senior Staffer

Nathan Taphorn

Taphorn is more or less a designated shooter when he’s on the floor, and he lived up to that reputation in conference games by taking more than 70 percent of his shots from deep and hitting on a solid 39 percent of those attempts. In a small sample size, the senior shot best from the left corner and the top of the arc, but proved mostly cold from the right side of the floor. On his rare ventures inside the 3-point line, Taphorn found little success, and his 33 percent clip at the rim was the worst on the team

Graphic by Max Schuman/Daily Senior Staffer

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