Originally Posted by
CDu
In a single game, players' plus/minus numbers can be hurt by being on the court during a bad stretch or helped by being on the court during a good stretch. That's one of the understood limitations of looking at single-game plus/minus tallies. With basketball, points can be scored so easily (either way) without a player having any influence. And in a single game, a brief period of time can greatly swing the plus/minus. If a guy is in the game when the point guard commits a few straight turnovers for baskets, it's hard for that guy to make up the difference in his remaining minutes. That's why single-game stats can be tough to accurately interpret.
This game turned largely on a 2-3 minute stretch late in the first half in which Temple committed multiple turnovers which resulted in points. McClure happened to not be on the floor during that stretch. He may have also been on the floor during a particularly bad stretch. For a player like McClure (who isn't an impact offensive player), if our offensive players struggle with turnovers while he's out there, his plus/minus is going to suffer.
All that said, plus/minus shouldn't be intended to answer the question of whether or not the team would have won with/without a player. It can do that sometimes, but that's not the intended value. In McClure's case, his +1 plus/minus indicates that he was a positive value. Moreover, if you take him out of the lineup, everyone else's plus/minus may go down indirectly due to fatigue. So whether or not his plus/minus shows it, McClure may have still played a valuable role.