(stats acquired from Statsheet.com. Photos courtesy of Red Storm Sports. All stats are as of February 10th.)
Justin Burrell has struggled much of the year. Since the beginning of the Big East season, he has been wearing a mask to protect his facial bones after catching a Sean Evans elbow in the face. Generally considered the most potential-laden post player on the team, he is fifth in minutes played on the team, is the fourth leading scorer, and is third in rebounds.
If it feels like Justin Burrell is regressing, he is. His numbers at the beginning of his freshman year were nice, but since conference play in 07-08, he may have simply lost confidence, or faced better defenses, or a bit of both.
The percentage of shots he is taking has dipped 4 percentage points to 20.9% of the team's shots. He still gets some shots up, but he's not the main focus of the offense.
Part of that might be the emergence of Paris Horne, DJ Kennedy, and Sean Evans as offensive threats, but as the team's most athletic post player, he should get more shots. But more than the dip in shooting, his turnovers have gone up slightly, his free throw shooting percentage has dropped 12 points from last conference season and his rebounding on both ends has dipped.
Interestingly, though his field goal percentage has gone down, his effective field goal percentage has gone up, owing to his newfound ability to take a three-pointer in each game. He's 4 of 10 and with that level of success in a small sample, maybe he should take more. Or at least, take some open jump shots (he generally looks for offense in the post or at the top of the key).
Justin is slightly more eager to look for his teammates, and is getting to the free throw line more frequently than he did last year. His position defense isn't bad, and he picks up a lot of fouls off of other players' mistakes, it seems. He has some shot blocking moments. He has ability, and he gets to the line... he can be better than this.
Below are tables with Burrell's conference numbers from this year and his freshman year. To better understand the individual tempo-free statistics mean, read here and a glossary of terms here.
See the full half-season spreadsheet here for all players.
Tempo-free Statistics, Conference Games only
Justin Burrell
|
||
|
2007-08
|
2008-09
|
STAT |
Value
|
Value
|
Minute Pct |
77.7
|
72.4
|
Floor Pct |
42.1
|
43.4
|
Offensive Rating |
81.3
|
84.3
|
Shot Pct |
25.0
|
20.9
|
Effective FG Pct |
40.8
|
41.7
|
True Shooting Pct |
45.8
|
45.8
|
Free Throw Rate |
31.1
|
41.7
|
2pt FG Point Pct |
77.5
|
64.0
|
3pt FG Point Pct |
0.0
|
12.0
|
FT Point Pct |
22.4
|
24.0
|
Off Reb Pct |
5.9
|
4.9
|
Def Reb Pct |
14.5
|
13.1
|
Assist Pct |
4.1
|
7.6
|
Steal Pct |
0.8
|
0.9
|
Turnover Pct |
24.1
|
25.6
|
Block Pct |
2.0
|
2.5
|
Per-Game Statistics, Conference Games only
Justin Burrell
|
||
2007-08
|
2008-09
|
|
STAT
|
Value
|
Value
|
Games Played |
18
|
11
|
Games Started |
18
|
11
|
Min Per Game |
31.3
|
29.0
|
FG Pct |
40.9
|
39.6
|
3pt FG Pct |
0.0
|
40.0
|
FT Pct |
75.9
|
63.2
|
Pts Per Game |
10.9
|
9.1
|
Reb Per Game |
5.2
|
4.5
|
Off Rebs Per Game |
1.7
|
1.3
|
Def Rebs Per Game |
3.5
|
3.3
|
Assists Per Game |
0.5
|
1.0
|
Steals Per Game |
0.4
|
0.5
|
TO Per Game |
2.9
|
2.6
|
A/T Ratio |
0.2
|
0.4
|
Blocks Per Game |
0.6
|
0.7
|
Fouls Per Game |
3.0
|
3.1
|
Foul Outs |
2
|
0
|