Northwestern University Athletics
The Skip Report: Iowa Primer
1/24/2014 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Jan. 24, 2014
NUsports.com Special Contributor Skip Myslenski checks in with the Northwestern men's basketball team as it gets set to host No. 10 Iowa on Saturday.
The players talked somberly as the bus sped through the night and, at his seat, Chris Collins watched a tape of the game his team had just lost at Iowa. He had not liked what he had sensed during that affair's second half and here he was searching for empirical data to support his feelings. He got it. His `Cats, down 15 at halftime, had virtually surrendered early in the second half, finally falling by 26. That disturbed him, that distressed him, that flew in the face of all that he wanted them to be, and he let them know just that when their ride finally ended. Their approach must change, he told them before they exited that bus, or the lineup will change.
"That was a bad game for us. We knew we had to step up," Alex Olah will say, thinking back to that evening. "We talked to each other and we said, `Next game, let's give it all we got, leave it on the court. If we play well, if we play hard, no matter the outcome we're going to be happy with ourselves because we're going to leave it all on the floor. If it's a loss, we know we tried our best. If we win, it's even better.'"
"The way we felt on that bus ride, everybody felt horrible. Everybody felt in their hearts that they'd given up on the team," Tre Demps will say even more forcefully. "That's something we promised one another that we wouldn't do anymore. No matter if we're down 20, up 20, no matter what the circumstances are, we wanted to make sure we're fighting even if we're 0-for-20 in the game."
They gave up in the game?
"I felt we did a little bit. We gave in," Demps reiterated. "We accepted the fact that we were losing by a lot. And coach made it very clear that's not what our program's going to be about. So no matter what the circumstances are, we're just going to keep fighting."
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The `Cats have indeed fought over the 15 days that have since passed, and their reconstituted attitude has delivered them three wins in their last four games. Their calling card, of course, has been their defense, which is now a threshing machine able to undo even the most-efficient of offenses. It held Illinois to 19.4 percent shooting in the first half of their meeting and to 43 points on the night. It held Michigan State to 54 points, 25.6 below its season average, and Indiana to 47 points, 31.1 below its, and Purdue to 46 points in regulation in a game the `Cats would finally claim in overtime.
Now, at noon Saturday at Welsh-Ryan, they again bump into Iowa, which leads the Big Ten in both scoring (85.7 ppg) and scoring margin (+18.7). "They killed us with that the first game," Collins will say of the Hawkeyes' deadly transition game. "They got out, one, on live-ball turnovers and, two, on run-outs not only on missed shots, but on made field goals as well. They're as good as it gets in turning defense into offense. So our main priority against these guys is to get back and make them play against our set defense."
That, in fact, has been a point of emphasis during their surge and one of the technical tweaks made before it began. So now they no longer crash the offensive boards. They instead make certain their guards get back quickly to prevent easy baskets, which has produced these results. In that loss at Iowa, the Hawkeyes were credited with 17 fast break points. But since then Illinois got just two, Michigan State got eight, Indiana got four and Purdue didn't get any at all.
"We're a different team than when we played them the first time," Olah will say, and then he adds this when asked how. "We played hard (before). But we didn't play as a team, I guess. We didn't help each other that much on defense. Now you see, when a guy drives, there's two or three people around him, stopping him from going to the basket. When they get the ball in the post, people are digging, making the center uncomfortable. We help each other more."
"We learned how to fight," adds Demps, himself comparing then to now. "I think it took a long time for everyone to learn how hard it is to win, especially with the way we're playing and the identity we have. We let up defensively, we're not going to win a lot of games. So us being attentive to every detail-- that's the thing. Everybody's playing hard. But I think it's attention to detail, attention to scouting reports and preparation that's going to be key for us moving forward. We have to make sure that we're preparing in the right way each and every day."
"It's huge. In sports, no matter what sport you're playing, the number one thing is to learn how to compete at the highest level, and to fight, and to battle," Collins finally says. "Sometimes that can overcome shortcomings in Xs and Os and execution, just your ability to fight on every play. And not only have they learned that, but they've had some success with it. So I think it goes hand-in-hand.
"It was very important for us to have a little success because they're giving everything they have and, if you continually do that and nothing's being shown for it, you can get discouraged. I think the guys have see some success with the way we're playing and they're starting to believe in what we're doing. It's been fun to watch our growth."
The `Cats have indeed grown since that long bus ride 15 days ago and here is one last, not-unimportant fact to consider while marveling at that. To do that, to grow, they had to redefine themselves, they had to take as much pride in collecting a loose ball as they did in draining a pretty jump shot. "We saw what we had as a team," Demps will finally say when asked how they've managed that metamorphosis. "We had guys who are good athletes, not the best play makers, and we had to develop an identity. We knew with our personnel that could be our identity. Making the hustle plays. Getting rebounds. Taking charges. I think a guy like Sanjay (Lumpkin, who's renowned for doing the dirty work) embodies what we are as a team. He's kind of the leader of that defensive splurge a little bit.
"I think everybody's bought in to what we are. It's a different identity than what the past Northwestern teams have been."
NOTE: Point guard Dave Sobolewski, who has missed the last four games while recovering from a concussion, has been cleared to play against the Hawkeyes. "I can't explain how hungry it makes me to get back out with these guys," he says. "It's really fun to watch the way they're competing on the defensive end. I'm happy to be healthy again and to join the fun."
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