I wrote in the midseason report card that JerShon Cobb would be the key to the Wildcats’ success down the stretch this season. Well, it looks like he read the piece, and his performance in Saturday’s crucial win over Illinois may be the first of many strong outings down the stretch.
This is not to say that Cobb was the ‘Cats best player in that game –- Juice Thompson is probably still limping around after putting the team on his back in the second half –- but he may have been NU’s most important. With another game featuring a hobbled John Shurna, and Drew Crawford scoring the last of his 12 points midway through the first half, the Wildcats desperately needed a playmaker and scorer to step up.
Which Cobb did, with 13 points on 4-of-6 shooting to go along with a much-needed 5-for-5 performance from the line.
There is a reason why Cobb will be so important to this Northwestern team down the stretch as it tries to make the NCAA tournament for the first time. Even though in a perfect world, he would only be the third or fourth scoring option this year (depending on what you think Juice’s role should be), he has shown the ability to create his own shot off the dribble. In Northwestern’s Princeton-style, pass-it-around-the-arc-for-30-seconds offense, the ball will frequently not have advanced beneath the free throw line and the shot clock exhausted to six seconds. At that point, the offense looks like a game of hot potato; whoever is stuck with the ball has to try and create a desperate shot attempt.
To date, only Drew Crawford has consistently shown the ability to create his own shot off the dribble, but even he is guilty of the occasional out-of-control layup. Shurna’s low release point has always inhibited him from shooting over defenders like a go-to option should, and now his ankle injury has sapped his burst. He did have a nice behind-the-back dribble to pull up at the elbow last game, but with the injury, he hasn’t been able to consistently make plays. Juice’s main solution to the shot clock running down is to heave up a 25-foot three, which is fortunate when he hits it –- but still a low percentage shot. And despite his occasional offensive output, Luka essentially cannot dribble, yet oddly he still seems to wind up with the ball when the shot clock is running down when really, he’s the last player who should have the ball in that spot.
So this is where Cobb comes in. He has the best first step on the team, and has shown the ability to get to the rim at will. He still struggles a bit with his stroke and does not always assert himself –- understandable, since he is the only freshman starter. But the Wildcats will need him to make up for much of Shurna’s scoring production at the end of the season. Combine that with the fact that Cobb is often tasked with guarding one of the opposing team’s best perimeter scorers, and you can see why he will be so valuable. The ‘Cats need players who can break from the offense, take the game into their own hands, even if just for a possession, and will themselves to score. JerShon was Northwestern’s highest-rated men’s basketball recruit ever, and it is because he has that potential to score, no matter what.
It appears that in Cobb, Northwestern has found a key cog in their grind-it-out offense.