Northwestern University Athletics
The Skip Report: Wisconsin In Review
1/13/2016 9:35:00 AM | Men's Basketball
By Skip Myslenski
NUsports.com Special Contributor
A game with Wisconsin ain't no beauty contest filled with posing and preening and pyrotechnics. It is instead a grind, a test of wills, an examination of one's acumen and acuity and ability to persevere. A date with Wisconsin ain't the stuff of this Computer Age, where all worship at the altar of speed and insist on instant gratification. It is instead a throwback to that earlier era of typewriters and snail mail and rotary phones. A matchup with Wisconsin ain't a high-resolution, big-screen production coming to you in living color. It instead recalls those black-and-white newsreels you view late at night on some history channel.
So it was again Tuesday evening at Welsh-Ryan, where point Bryant McIntosh starred in the 'Cats five-point win over the Badgers. This was only appropriate, and here is why. His favorite player growing up was Jimmy Chitwood, the hero of the iconic movie "Hoosiers" that was loosely based on Milan high's run to the Indiana state championship in 1954.
••••••••••
There is no mystery now when determining how opponents are going to defend the 'Cats. They are going to zealously guard the three-point shot. Maryland did that and so did Ohio State, and that was again the case on Tuesday with the Badgers. "They," Chris Collins would later say, "were really trying to hug the three-point line, which teams have done and had some success against us. We told the guys to drive the ball. Hence, we had a lot of points in the paint. We got to the foul line. And I thought we did a great job of winning without hitting a lot of jump shots. We were able to win a grind-it out kind of game."
The 'Cats, in fact, would get only 12 of their 70 points on threes, the shot that had been their calling card earlier this season. But here they would get 30 down low, the first two coming when McIntosh attacked the rim and dropped in one of his familiar teardrops just 42 seconds into this affair. Then, in the next three minutes, he would make another; he would penetrate and dump to Joey van Zegeren for a dunk; he would make a third; and Tre Demps would make a layup of his own. "He's a really good player. He always has been," Badger coach Greg Gard later said of McIntosh.
"He was, I thought, an under-recruited player coming out of high school, and obviously he has some experience now. He made his lap through the league last year and now has a lot of experience. He's good with the ball. He can shoot the three pretty well and obviously you're cognizant of that. But his ability to hit the runner, to get the big in a back-pedal mode..." and here his voice tailed off and he shook his head.
"If you don't make those shots, you're going to lose," Collins would say. "You know going into the game that's what they give up. They give up coming off (screens) and making mid-range shots and those floaters in the lane. Bryant hitting three of them early really opened up the defense. Then we started getting some lobs. They had to respect him getting in there. He was just magnificent. He absolutely led us to victory tonight."
This was certainly true, McIntosh ending with 28 points while going 10-of-19 from the field, but obviously there were other factors involved as well. There was the 'Cats funky matchup-zone, another thing of the past, which turned the Badgers over a dozen times and led to 11 points. There was the 'Cats work on the boards, where they out-rebounded the Badgers by nine, and there was their gang-like approach to this chore, which was manifested by this unusual line. Sanjay Lumpkin and Aaron Falzon each grabbed off five and, with four each, were van Zegeren, Demps, McIntosh and Dererk Pardon.
There was the defensive work of Lumpkin, that old-fashioned, blue-collar laborer who made life miserable for the Badger star Nigel Hayes. "The last seven minutes of the game we told Sanjay basically, 'No more matchup zone. You're on Hayes wherever he goes.' I thought that slowed him down a little bit,'" Collins would say. There was the instinctive, intelligent play made by Gavin Skelly, who took a charge from Bronson Koenig that blunted a late Badger rally. "It was a game-winning play," Lumpkin said of it. Then, most especially, there was their collective will, which the insistent Badgers tested throughout this night.
"Wisconsin, they're not going to go away. They never panic. You know, when you play those guys, it's going to be a 40 minute game," Collins would say, and the Badgers most-evidently proved this with 30 of those minutes gone. The 'Cats here were up by three, but now, in quick order, Hayes hit a jumper and Pardon turned it over and Badger guard Zak Showalter dropped a three to put his team up two at 8:56. This was a crossroads, a tipping point, a pivotal moment, and the 'Cats did not blink. They simply seized it and made it their own.
They got a foul shot from Pardon. They got a defensive stop. They got a pair of free throws from Lumpkin. They got Lumpkin pressuring Hayes into a missed jumper. They got McIntosh attacking up the left side of the lane and dishing to van Zegeren for a dunk. They got Lumpkin forcing Hayes into the making an extra pass that led to a Badger shot-clock violation. They got McIntosh driving hard on Badger Alex Illikainen and kissing in an underhanded layup that put the 'Cats back up five with 6:18 remaining.
Only now would the Badgers manage a response, Koenig hitting a tough three with McIntosh in his grill, but the 'Cat point would answer right back, hitting a cold-blooded three of his own at 5:18. Now the 'Cat lead would never again go below four and then, when this one was finally over, here was Collins wrapping it all up by most-fittingly saying, "To me, it felt like an old-fashioned Big Ten game. To win a game like that tonight was just big for our team.
"A lot of people don't think we can win without making threes. But I guess we can. For us to play a game like that, and have four threes, and be able to get the ball in the paint, and drive the ball, and get fouled, and get the stops we need, and play a hard-nosed, grind-it-out game and win, it's good for our growth."
NUsports.com Special Contributor
A game with Wisconsin ain't no beauty contest filled with posing and preening and pyrotechnics. It is instead a grind, a test of wills, an examination of one's acumen and acuity and ability to persevere. A date with Wisconsin ain't the stuff of this Computer Age, where all worship at the altar of speed and insist on instant gratification. It is instead a throwback to that earlier era of typewriters and snail mail and rotary phones. A matchup with Wisconsin ain't a high-resolution, big-screen production coming to you in living color. It instead recalls those black-and-white newsreels you view late at night on some history channel.
So it was again Tuesday evening at Welsh-Ryan, where point Bryant McIntosh starred in the 'Cats five-point win over the Badgers. This was only appropriate, and here is why. His favorite player growing up was Jimmy Chitwood, the hero of the iconic movie "Hoosiers" that was loosely based on Milan high's run to the Indiana state championship in 1954.
••••••••••
There is no mystery now when determining how opponents are going to defend the 'Cats. They are going to zealously guard the three-point shot. Maryland did that and so did Ohio State, and that was again the case on Tuesday with the Badgers. "They," Chris Collins would later say, "were really trying to hug the three-point line, which teams have done and had some success against us. We told the guys to drive the ball. Hence, we had a lot of points in the paint. We got to the foul line. And I thought we did a great job of winning without hitting a lot of jump shots. We were able to win a grind-it out kind of game."
The 'Cats, in fact, would get only 12 of their 70 points on threes, the shot that had been their calling card earlier this season. But here they would get 30 down low, the first two coming when McIntosh attacked the rim and dropped in one of his familiar teardrops just 42 seconds into this affair. Then, in the next three minutes, he would make another; he would penetrate and dump to Joey van Zegeren for a dunk; he would make a third; and Tre Demps would make a layup of his own. "He's a really good player. He always has been," Badger coach Greg Gard later said of McIntosh.
"He was, I thought, an under-recruited player coming out of high school, and obviously he has some experience now. He made his lap through the league last year and now has a lot of experience. He's good with the ball. He can shoot the three pretty well and obviously you're cognizant of that. But his ability to hit the runner, to get the big in a back-pedal mode..." and here his voice tailed off and he shook his head.
"If you don't make those shots, you're going to lose," Collins would say. "You know going into the game that's what they give up. They give up coming off (screens) and making mid-range shots and those floaters in the lane. Bryant hitting three of them early really opened up the defense. Then we started getting some lobs. They had to respect him getting in there. He was just magnificent. He absolutely led us to victory tonight."
This was certainly true, McIntosh ending with 28 points while going 10-of-19 from the field, but obviously there were other factors involved as well. There was the 'Cats funky matchup-zone, another thing of the past, which turned the Badgers over a dozen times and led to 11 points. There was the 'Cats work on the boards, where they out-rebounded the Badgers by nine, and there was their gang-like approach to this chore, which was manifested by this unusual line. Sanjay Lumpkin and Aaron Falzon each grabbed off five and, with four each, were van Zegeren, Demps, McIntosh and Dererk Pardon.
There was the defensive work of Lumpkin, that old-fashioned, blue-collar laborer who made life miserable for the Badger star Nigel Hayes. "The last seven minutes of the game we told Sanjay basically, 'No more matchup zone. You're on Hayes wherever he goes.' I thought that slowed him down a little bit,'" Collins would say. There was the instinctive, intelligent play made by Gavin Skelly, who took a charge from Bronson Koenig that blunted a late Badger rally. "It was a game-winning play," Lumpkin said of it. Then, most especially, there was their collective will, which the insistent Badgers tested throughout this night.
"Wisconsin, they're not going to go away. They never panic. You know, when you play those guys, it's going to be a 40 minute game," Collins would say, and the Badgers most-evidently proved this with 30 of those minutes gone. The 'Cats here were up by three, but now, in quick order, Hayes hit a jumper and Pardon turned it over and Badger guard Zak Showalter dropped a three to put his team up two at 8:56. This was a crossroads, a tipping point, a pivotal moment, and the 'Cats did not blink. They simply seized it and made it their own.
They got a foul shot from Pardon. They got a defensive stop. They got a pair of free throws from Lumpkin. They got Lumpkin pressuring Hayes into a missed jumper. They got McIntosh attacking up the left side of the lane and dishing to van Zegeren for a dunk. They got Lumpkin forcing Hayes into the making an extra pass that led to a Badger shot-clock violation. They got McIntosh driving hard on Badger Alex Illikainen and kissing in an underhanded layup that put the 'Cats back up five with 6:18 remaining.
Only now would the Badgers manage a response, Koenig hitting a tough three with McIntosh in his grill, but the 'Cat point would answer right back, hitting a cold-blooded three of his own at 5:18. Now the 'Cat lead would never again go below four and then, when this one was finally over, here was Collins wrapping it all up by most-fittingly saying, "To me, it felt like an old-fashioned Big Ten game. To win a game like that tonight was just big for our team.
"A lot of people don't think we can win without making threes. But I guess we can. For us to play a game like that, and have four threes, and be able to get the ball in the paint, and drive the ball, and get fouled, and get the stops we need, and play a hard-nosed, grind-it-out game and win, it's good for our growth."
••••••
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