Before his season-ending injury, Berry was an electric Wildcat this past campaign
Ty Berry is returning to Northwestern after his senior season was cut short by a torn left meniscus. Prior to the injury, Berry was one of Northwestern’s most effective players, sporting a silky-smooth stroke from downtown and an athleticism on defense that the ‘Cats sorely missed. Let’s take a look at how his abbreviated season went as a whole.
Stats
From Sports-Reference:
Offensively, Berry statistically improved on his junior season in just about every way. He was a way more efficient three point shooter, shooting it at an impressive 43.3% clip. He shot a frustrating 29% from three last year, which was a big concern heading into this season. But his drastic improvement silenced any doubters.
Berry was also money from the stripe, something the ‘Cats needed, especially when Ryan Langborg was struggling and Boo Buie didn’t feel automatic (both of these trends reversed later in the season).
Facilitating the basketball has never been one of Berry’s strong suits, but as pictured above, he was slightly better in the assist category than his career average. Ditto to his rebounding numbers, an area of the game where he’s surprisingly impactful for a guard who spends most of his time on the perimeter.
Shot distribution
From Hoop-Math:
It’s no secret where Berry makes his hay. With 64.1% of his shots coming from three-point land, opposing defenses know what they’re up against when they play Northwestern. After threes, 21.2% of his shots came at the rim, while just 14.6% were two-point jumpers. Many of those two-point jumpers were probably Berry coming off a screen into the corner on an in-bounds play — a Chris Collins special.
However, maybe the most relevant number is that 94.5% of his threes were assisted, as well as 58.3% of his twos. Berry was able to create his own shot a little better than some of his counterparts on the roster like Nick Martinelli and Langborg. But he’s still not a huge threat to do so. Improvement in that area could make him a more intriguing NBA hopeful, but without improvement he’s likely playing overseas if he wants to play professionally.
Berry also had the best true shooting percentage of all the guards on the roster by a significant margin, as well as the highest effective field goal percentage.
The Good
As noted previously, Berry was an excellent shooter, and that cannot be understated. His consistency shooting the basketball gave Northwestern another gear, a gear it lost and never quite found after he went down with an injury.
Berry is also a quick defender. He’s athletic enough to guard just about anyone on the perimeter. There are certainly more skilled guards who have the burst to blow by him, but not many. He’s also obviously comfortable in Northwestern’s defensive scheme which means he’s generally in the right spot.
His improvement from his junior season is also a huge positive. Berry was, flat-out, WAY better than he was the previous season. A lot of it was about consistency. During the 2022-23 campaign, Berry had plenty of games where he flashed this new version of himself, but never could string those games together. This year, that changed, and he became an integral offensive weapon for Northwestern.
The Bad
Well, the injury was very bad. It was one of the lower points for Northwestern fans this year, seeing Berry hobble off after an innocent-enough looking play with minimal contact against Nebraska. When he went back to the locker room, it felt like there was a good chance something was significantly wrong.
On the floor though, it’s tough to point out things Berry wasn’t doing well at the time of the injury. The two main remaining criticisms of the returning guard are pretty picky. First, he’s not a natural facilitator which limits what Collins can use him for. Second, for a guard as athletic as he is, his handles leave something to be desired. He’s not the guy you want necessarily bringing the ball up the court (although he’s certainly capable in a pinch).
The Bottom Line
Berry’s return for the 2024-25 season was the single most important thing Northwestern needed to go its way this offseason. And he’s coming back — everyone can breathe a sigh of relief. He gives the ‘Cats a dependable starter who is a reliable scorer with the potential to be elite from beyond the arc. That’s a good start as Collins attempts to rebuild this roster without Buie.
Berry should also be motivated to take Northwestern to its third NCAA Tournament in a row. He missed this entire run, and he certainly knows that. Along with Matthew Nicholson, who was in the same boat dealing with injury as Northwestern went dancing, Berry will be geared up and ready to go next season.