Crunching the numbers: Penn-CCSU plus/minus

Utilizing the box score and play-by-play from Penn’s matchup with Central Connecticut State, this post uses unofficial plus-minus numbers for the Quakers in their 77-61 win. Keep in mind that these numbers are a very short sample size.

While Sam Jones put on a show against Central Connecticut State by going 5-for-9 from three-point range http://wp.me/p5jSrX-1QV, he wasn’t the only Penn player to post strong plus-minus numbers. Of the 10 players to get three minutes or more of playing time, seven posted positive plus-minus numbers, including a game-high +23 from Darnell Foreman.

After a -1 first half, Jones put together a +20 to lead all Penn players in the second half for an impressive +19. Jones and Foreman were joined by Matt Howard, Darien Nelson-Henry and Antonio Woods in posting a +15 or better in the second half as the Quakers took over the early season contest. That lineup – Woods-Foreman-Howard-Jones-DNH – was also the Red and Blue’s most effective lineup, posting a +15 in a span of 4:41 in the early second half. They came into the game down 36-34 and left with a 57-44 lead.

Interestingly enough, Penn’s worst lineup on the day was also its most used lineup. The starting lineup of Jake Silpe-Woods-Howard-Jones-DNH posted a -11 rating in 11:49 together on the court. The +15 lineup was the Quakers’ second-most used lineup while the lineup of Silpe-Foreman-Jamal Lewis-Max Rothschild-Mike Auger was the only other lineup coach Steve Donahue used for more than three minutes, putting together a -5 in 4:13. All in all, Donahue used 19 different lineup combinations with 14 different players (18 different lineup combinations with just 10 players before he used the rest of his bench to end the game).

Silpe posted the worst plus-minus numbers of any Penn player with a -8 rating, mostly thanks to a -9 in the first half. Rothschild put up a respectable +8 thanks to a team-high +9 in the first half.

According to KenPom, Penn averaged 1.10 points per possession compared to 0.87 for CCSU. Jones’ 23 points in 24 minutes gave him an offensive rating of 159. Silpe, despite his -8 plus-minus rating, had a respectable 105 offensive rating. Nelson-Henry and Jones had the highest usage ratings with 32 percent and 27 percent, respectively.

Here’s each player’s plus-minus rating from the game.

Silpe:  -8

Woods: +16

Howard: +15

Jones: +19

Nelson-Henry: +10

Foreman: +23

Rothschild: +8

Auger: -2

Lewis: -3

Jackson Donahue: +2