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I know some of you don’t buy in to these plus/minus ratings. And that’s
OK. They aren’t the end all, be all of basketball statistics. But there is
something to be said when teams play so well with a player in and so poorly
when that player exits.
Take UALR junior Will Neighbour for example. Neighbour, who played
despite missing the entire week of practice with a virus, was limited to 5
points, 6 rebounds, 2 assists and 5 turnovers in 21 minutes during Thursday’s
86-62 loss at Arkansas State.
When Neighbour was in the game, UALR outscored Arkansas State 40-36 for
those 21 minutes. For the 19 minutes
Neighbour was on the bench, UALR was outscored 50-22. UALR scored 1.9 points
per minute with Neighbour in and 1.2 with him out. UALR allowed 1.7 points per
minute with him in and a ridiculous 2.6 per minute with him out.
Neighbour was making a difference even if he never really found his
shooting touch.
Here’s the rest of Thursday’s top five plus/minus ratings:
- John Gillon +2 (47-45)
- Stetson Billings +1 (12-11)
- Taggart Lockhart -5 (8-13)
- Gus Leeper -8 (14-22).
I won’t call anyone out specifically, but there were a couple of
players in the -30s. That shouldn’t be possible.
Also note that Gillon has been on the plus side (8, 1, 10, 11 and 2) in
every game since he returned from injury. Neighbour has been a plus in 9 of the
past 11.
