Northwestern University Athletics
Minnesota Primer
2/18/2015 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
By Skip Myslenski
NUsports.com Special Contributor
Notes and quotes as the `Cats prepare for their Wednesday night game at Minnesota...
• OFTEN, LAST SEASON, Chris Collins lauded the grit of Sanjay Lumpkin by labeling him the heart-and-soul of his team, and this was a compliment the young forward savored. "My whole life," he would say before this season started, "I've been raised to do whatever it takes to get it done and you need guys to do the dirty work in order to win. In order for us to win, someone has to do the dirty work. If that's what it takes, I'm happy to do it."
That is what why it was surprising that the sophomore disappeared from the starting lineup as the `Cats losing streak grew and that his minutes were severely curtailed. He played just 10 against Purdue, just 11 at Nebraska, just 20 at Wisconsin and last Wednesday against Michigan State, but then Sunday he played 32 when they snapped that losing streak with their win over Iowa. "I thought," Collins would later say, "he got back to being the Sanjay we've all grown to love."
"Making those tough plays. Showing emotion out there on the floor," Lumpkin said Tuesday when asked what his coach meant by that. "Stepping up, making plays when we needed them. Making a hard foul when we needed a hard foul. Just being there for my team. Giving my all out there."
Had he gotten away from doing that?
"I feel like I fell into shooting jump shots early in the season," he admitted. "I wasn't getting on the glass as much. I talked to coach and that's the role I need to be. I need to be the junkyard dog for this team. That's something I can do, something I did last year. I felt I got away from it a couple games this season. But I'm back doing it."
"We've been talking a lot about it. We've had individual meetings with each other and talked about getting back to being that guy," said Collins. "I didn't feel for a stretch of games that he was that guy we needed, that hustle guy, that dirty work guy. We need that out of him. His game is never going to be measured with stats. His game is going to be measured by what he brings with his intangibles, his fight, his toughness. He had gotten away from that a little bit. I felt it was back on Sunday. Hopefully, that's the guy we'll see the rest of the way."
Why did he get away from that?
"Sometimes when you're young, you don't realize you've gotten away from your formula, from what's been successful for you," said Collins. "I think you just have to do some soul searching with yourself and kind of get back to doing the little things. That's what he did. I thought he played a great game (against Iowa) and he didn't score a point."
• FRESHMAN FORWARD Scottie Lindsey was himself a kinetic force against the Hawkeyes, an aggressor who finished that afternoon with seven points and six rebounds and three blocks and two assists and a steal in 38 active minutes. "Seeing his fire was great," Collins would later say of him. "When he plays like that, he's really good. That's the fire we need him to play with. Sometimes he can be a little too chill for me."
"I think he's right," Lindsey said on Tuesday. "As you can see, I have kind of a chill personality. He really just wants me to show more emotion, get excited. He thinks I play better when I show more emotion and he's right. So I've got to keep showing emotion every game, talk more, make it a habit."
But how do you transform a chill person into an emotional one?
"It's a process," explained Collins. "It's something we talk to him about. When you watch film, you show things like body language. You watch reactions after plays. Those are things you look at. Do you respond to your teammates positively? Are you giving out energy or are you sucking energy from others? To me, good players give energy to others.
"He's a very talented player and he's going to have a great career here. But that's the next step for him, to consistently get out of his comfort zone of being that guy who's really cool and chill. I get on him. I try to imitate his walk and all that stuff" -- and here he chuckled -- "I'm not as good as he is at it. And he knows it. That's the good thing. As coaches, you just have to reenforce.
"I told him he screwed up, though" -- and here another chuckle -- "because he showed on Sunday what he could do. So he's got no excuse now. He's got to do it every game."
• THE `CATS FIRST USED A ZONE extensively this season in their Feb. 7 loss at Wisconsin. But Sunday, a mere eight days later, they were comfortable enough with it to employ it throughout their win over Iowa. "Call me (Jim) Boeheim, Jr., I guess." Collins joked Tuesday, referring to the Syracuse coach who has long used a two-three.
Then he explained the switch from a man-to-man. "Our guys have confidence in (the zone)," he said. "We played it reasonably well against Wisconsin, and it really helps (center Alex) Olah because it keeps him in the paint. A lot of teams try to put us in pick-and-roll action, and it keeps him by the basket. Him being our biggest guy, he gets five blocks, he gets 13 rebounds (against Iowa), he doesn't have to get out on the floor as much. So it's really helped him, and I think it's helped our guards as well. At times we've been real susceptible to dribble penetration. Playing in the zone gives everybody that little buffer of confidence knowing that there's guys behind you. We're going to have to mix it up and do some different things. But it's certainly worked well for us."
Does it also save Olah?
"A lot of what people do, they try to bring him away from the basket," said Collins. "So if he has to guard a pick-and-roll, and then he has to hustle back to get on the boards, and then he has to run in transition-- a guy who's 275 pounds, that weighs on you. So I think it's really helped with his endurance. We need him to play heavy minutes. We're different when he's on the floor."
AND FINALLY: Guard JerShon Cobb, who has sat out the last two games, will do the same at Minnesota and is day-to-day for the rest of the season. But forward Nathan Taphorn, who buried a huge three late in regulation against the Hawkeyes in his first game action in a month, is good to go against the Gophers. "I plan to be there for every game," he said Tuesday. "Reevaluate whenever I need to. But stay healthy."
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