Could Keenan Fitzmorris be the key for the ‘Cats to make the Big Ten Tournament?

The big man’s bevy of post moves happen to be one of Northwestern’s most effective scoring options.

Keenan Fitzmorris plays basketball a bit like one of those inflatable tubes you’ll find flailing its arms outside of a car dealership. Constant energy, passion and effort make up for the wacky limbs-flying-everywhere style he hoops with.

As Northwestern sinks to 16th in the Big Ten standings, one of three spots that fails to qualify for the Big Ten Tournament, the shorthanded Wildcats are searching for answers. The March Madness hopes this team had to start the season are long gone, save for K.J. Windham and Justin Mullins miraculously turning into prime Boo Buie and Chase Audige for the rest of the season. Matthew Nicholson suddenly being able to be nail threes, much less a jumpshot could help turn the tide. Seems less likely than snow in South Florida.

At this point, the next six games are about giving the Wildcats’ young talent crucial experience for the future. More tangibly, the goal is making the Big Ten Tournament. With his wide assortment of sneaky post moves and energetic defense, Fitzmorris is the out of the box X-factor to get Northwestern there.

Out of any healthy Wildcat on the roster, Fitzmorris’ post offense might be the most efficient way for Northwestern to score points. Although he’s got the second-lowest usage rate (9.4%) of any Wildcat that has played meaningful minutes at any point this season, he has the highest offensive rating on the team (143.8) per Bart Torvik. He also leads the team in both effective field goal percentage and true shooting percentage.

Of course you’d expect to see his offensive rating and efficiency metrics dip as his usage increases, but even with larger workloads he’s succeeded. In Northwestern’s 77-75 win against Southern California, Fitzmorris racked up a 28.6% usage rate, but was highly effective. The big man scored eight points on 2-for-3 shooting and a perfect 4-for-4 from the charity stripe in nine minutes. Since then, he’s continued to see more time on the floor, playing 17 minutes in Northwestern’s loss to Oregon.

All the offensive success stems from his weirdly pure touch around the rim. He’s robotic in the post, but the code works as he spins away from defenders, hoisting and hitting one-handed hookshots that touch nothing but nylon. At the beginning of the season, Fitzmorris with the basketball in his hands felt like a scary proposition. Almost as bad as telling Northwestern fans that Jordan Clayton would be the team’s starting point guard this time last year. All you need to remember is Chris Collins calling timeout in the middle of Fitzmorris going up for a three-point try against Lehigh in the season opener.

But over the last month and a half, as Luke Hunger has struggled to find playing time coming off injury, Fitzmorris has established himself as a competitor. He hustles on both ends, plays with a palpable passion that energizes the team and willingly boxes out defenders — although actually going to grab rebounds is something his code seemingly hasn’t remembered to build into his game.

The next step is being an active contributor on the scoreboard, a task he hasn’t quite been granted yet. But the seeds for success are there. In his last six games, Fitzmorris is 10-for-13 from the field, continuing to prove that his sweet dish of post moves are better than the untouched crudité plate from your Super Bowl watch party. Rather, he’s showing he’s a legitimate choice on Northwestern’s platter of offensive options.

Against Washington, Northwestern went to its backup center, running a handful of actions that got him one-on-one looks in the low post. Fitzmorris finished with four points off 2-for-3 shooting, his second consecutive game with multiple made field goals.

As more of the defensive pressure from opposing teams gets put on Nick Martinelli — pressure he’s struggled with of late — finding other ways to score the basketball is critical. Windham’s 20 points against the Ducks feels like a sign of what’s to come, and Ty Berry has found his scoring touch by adding work off the bounce to his three point offense. But Northwestern needs to supplement the attack with its bigs. Nicholson, although critical defensively and a key offensive piece as a skilled screener, sealer and passer, simply isn’t able to create his own shot.

Although Collins has shied away from utilizing his bigs for low post offense in recent years, that’s been more a byproduct of personnel. Fitzmorris averaged over 10 points per game on an efficient 55% shooting clip from inside the three point line during his two seasons at Stony Brook. This season, he’s once again proven that he can impact the offensive end with efficient play, regardless of averaging just 2.2 points per game.

By no means should Fitzmorris consistently be getting more than 15 minutes a game. However, when he’s on the court, it’s a no brainer to use his offensive skillset to force defenses to worry about something other than double-teaming Martinelli every time he touches the rock.

In a limited sample size over the past couple weeks, Fitzmorris has shown he’s able to put the ball in the basket. Upgrade the sample size to roughly five looks a game and although the efficiency might go down, he’s capable of averaging seven points and taking some of the scoring load and shot creation off Martinelli’s shoulders.

While Fitzmorris started the year as a defensive liability, capping his ability to stay on the floor, he’s grown as a rim protector and seems more comfortable hard hedging when defending pick-and-rolls. Plus, Chris Collins will never complain with his all-out effort even if it lacks polish.

By no means is Fitzmorris’ game beautiful, but this season of Northwestern basketball has been all about winning ugly. Fitzmorris’ game is wacky, but it works. As long as the ball goes in the basket, nobody cares how it got there in the first place.

So, if Northwestern wants to make the Big Ten Tournament, it might be time for the Wildcats to feed their big man in the post.