Northwestern University Athletics
Penn State Primer
2/20/2015 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
By Skip Myslenski
NUsports.com Special Contributor
He played just seven minutes against Iowa and just eight against Minnesota, but in both those games Gavin Skelly's contributions transcended the stat sheet. And so, as the `Cats prepare to host Penn State Saturday at Welsh-Ryan, 10 things you should know about their hyperkinetic 6-foot-8 freshman:
1) He plays with such relentlessness, with such ardor, with such abandon, that he irritates opponents, who add unprintable epithets when telling him to calm down and shut his mouth. "They'll say those things," he says with a smile. "But it's in one ear, out the other. It's funny, though. I laugh at them."
"He can get under people's skin and I think he'll become even better at that as he gets older," attests freshman point Bryant McIntosh, who is also Skelly's roommate.
2) The reason for that is his motor, which is now his greatest asset as well. "He's like the Energizer Bunny. He's just keeps going and going," says McIntosh. "He found out that's how he has to play for this team right now to be able to help. That's his role. To come in and give as much energy as he can. I think he's done a great job doing that these last couple of games."
"When he's playing well, he brings energy. He's an energy giver. That's something I like," echoes his coach, Chris Collins. "And he brings physicality. He can run, he's athletic, he's a mobile big guy. He's skilled. It gives us a different look. Alex (Olah, the starting center whom he replaces) has the size. But Gavin brings the athleticism. He played eight minutes (at Minnesota) and I watched the film. I didn't realize even until I watched the film how many positive plays he made in the game. A couple blocked shots. A couple deflections. Keeping balls alive on the offensive boards. Even one (time) when we didn't score, he had the ball under the basket, kicked it out to Scottie (Lindsey) for a wide-open shot. I thought he had a huge, positive impact on the game."
"It's just myself. This is who I am, what I do," Skelly himself says when asked whom he styled himself after. "I really don't know anyone that brings this much energy and love. But I've heard stories that Magic Johnson would laugh and smile as he beat people up and down the floor. So that's one thing, `Hey, I can do that too. I smile all the time.' That's a great thing I can bring."
3) While he does that, he is still at the front end of mastering the nuances of the college game. "I think his basketball knowledge is picking up every day. He's learning how to watch film," explains McIntosh. "In high school, he didn't know how to watch film. That's something we talked about in our dorm. I would say, `Hey, somebody's playing tonight. You want to watch the game with me?' When we first moved in, he was, `Nah. I think I'm going to play a video game.' Now he's starting to watch games with me and I'll point things out, and he's like, `Yeah. Yeah.' The shot-fake, drive right (by Iowa's Aaron White), he blocked the shot. It was just from preparation."
"That (prep) definitely helps," agrees Skelly. "At this level, if you let a guy get into a move, he's going to make it every time. Just watching players, watching how they play, watching everything they do, it really helps you do what you need to do to win, what you need to do to be successful. At this level, you need to watch film, you need to study the game. I remember the beginning of the conference season, it was too fast for me. I couldn't handle myself and my playing time was cut because I wasn't able to keep up. But now, as I'm studying, the game's starting to slow down for me. So I'm able to play my game."
4) That knowledge, in turn, helps him counter the bigger centers (like the 6-foot-10 White) he encounters. "He's learned he has to use his speed," notes McIntosh. "Just for example, when Tre (Demps) missed a layup (against Minnesota), he's the one who sprinted down and got the offensive rebound and kicked it out and Tap (Nathan Taphorn) ended up hitting a three. That's his hustle and knowing what he does best. He's got to run the floor and get offensive rebounds and just play hard. He had to learn his role and I think he's done a really good job of accepting that and now he's learning how to do it."
"Being an undersized big man, it brings a lot of negatives. But one thing I know is I'm quicker than them," says Skelly himself. "Coach is always telling me I've got to beat `em to the spot, be able to move around them, have better footwork than them. That's one thing I've got to learn. I'm always going to be undersized. So being able to be quick, stay on my toes, is one thing I'm learning."
5) He learned another lesson last spring when, as a high school senior in Ohio, he played in a tournament in Italy, an experience he later termed life-changing. "It's a different kind of culture over there, the way they play. I played four, five games, and I think I saw two turnovers in all those games," he explains. "Those kids make great passes. Their style of play is so fundamental and so strategic, it's a whole different style of basketball. It's something I've learned. My passing has definitely increased because I've seen those kids, I've inner-acted with them, I've asked them things. And they said, `If you stutter with a pass, don't make it. It's too late.'"
6) One last way he learned was talking to former Cavalier and Laker coach Mike Brown, whose son Cameron was his high school teammate. "Coach Brown is a man of few words, but I got to pick his brain a little bit," remembers Skelly. "He said, `Players these days, it's versatility that takes a player from being good to being great. Being able to play different positions. Shooters go far in life. But they don't go as far as a shooter who can post up.' That's something I took into account in high school, to not only be able to post up, but to also be able to dribble and make passes and shoot the ball. That's something I'm learning right now at this level, how to make my game more versatile."
7) Still, even as he goes through all those learning processes, there is always his energy, which he stokes with an sugar rush before every game. He used to do that with candy. Now he does it with Gatorade Prime Energy Chews. "I eat about eight, 10 of those to go get going," he says. "I'm a guy, I've got ADHD. So I know once I get the edge and kick in, I won't stop."
8) He doesn't stop even when he is on the bench, where he gives new meaning to the term vocal. "He's very vocal, almost goofy vocal," McIntosh says with a smile. "It's so much energy, it's almost like, `Calm down. Cut it back. The coach is trying to talk. Relax.'"
9) That, not surprisingly, leads to this. "After every game," says McIntosh, "he just crashes. I think he spends so much energy just getting everyone excited, he's like -- after the Minnesota game, we got back and we woke up the next morning and he's like, `Man, I don't even remember walking into the dorm last night.' He was knocked out."
"After games, everything's out, I'm drained. I feel like I just played 40 minutes," attests Skelly. "But the next day, I'm fully recharged."
10) He, finally, once said, "I'm a goofball. I've got a lot of energy and I love life."
"There's no doubt about it. He's a goofball," concludes McIntosh. "The kid has to brush his teeth about three-times-a-day. It's hilarious. I'm like, `Gavin, where ya going?' `I've got to brush my teeth again.' `Oh. OK.' He's just goofy. He's just full of life. His enjoyment of life makes the lives of everyone around him better. That's one thing I enjoy about living with him. I can take things really hard and he finds a way to make me laugh and relax a little bit."
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