Northwestern University Athletics
Thursday, January 26
Evanston, Ill.
7 p.m.
Northwestern
vs
Nebraska
Photo by: Joe Maiorana-USA TODAY Sports
The Skip Report: Nebraska Preview
1/26/2017 2:44:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Two years ago, at the Xfinity Center, the 'Cats and Maryland engaged in a stare down, and there the 'Cats blinked and lost by one at the buzzer. Three days ago, at Value City Arena, the 'Cats and Ohio State engaged in their own stare down, and here the 'Cats held firm and won by a pair. "They believed they were supposed to win the Ohio State game. They didn't believe they were supposed to win the Maryland game. They were just holding on for dear life," Chris Collins said Wednesday when asked the difference between past and present. "That's a mindset. That's something you have to develop through experience, through time, through success. I think, whether we win or lose a game, our guys are walking onto the floor now believing we're supposed to win. That's a big jump from where we've been in the past."
"We expect to win," the point Bryant McIntosh echoed minutes later when asked the same question. "At Maryland, we were hoping we could hold on. We were trying to hold for dear life. At Ohio State, the entire game when shots weren't falling, when things weren't going exactly right, I still always felt we were in control of the game. I never had an inkling that, 'Man, we might lose this game.' I just had so much confidence in us, in myself, in our team, in our coaching staff that I felt we were going to win."
On that January 25th two years ago, Collins was in just his second season as the 'Cats head coach; the culture he propounded was still a new-and-unfamiliar thing; and McIntosh was part of a callow freshmen group that also included forward Gavin Skelly and wings Vic Law and Scottie Lindsey. On this past Wednesday the 25th, Collins is a familiar face; that culture he implanted back then is deeply imbued in the program; and his first quartet of recruits is all grown up and catalyzing a team that is 16-4 overall and 5-2 in the Big Ten as it awaits a Thursday meeting with Nebraska at Welsh-Ryan Arena.
More impressively, it is a team that was tempered by the spankings it endured as it matured and is now as tough as the cheapest cut of beef. A month ago, just before the start of the conference season, Collins was not yet sure of that. "I think we're in between," he said back then when asked if his was a young or a veteran group. "We're showing signs of being a veteran team, but also some signs of still being pretty young."
"I think we have a veteran team. I do," he amended on Wednesday and after his 'Cats had won not only at Ohio State, but also at Nebraska and at Rutgers and at Penn State as well. "What that leads to here on out, I don't know. But we have a lot of guys who've played a lot of games, and we've been together for awhile. We have two freshmen who are playing for us off the bench and doing a nice job (center Barret Benson and guard Isiah Brown). But the core of our team are sophomores, juniors and seniors (Sanjay Lumpkin and Nate Taphorn). We rely on our experiences. Guys have been through ups, have been through some downs, and because of that we've been able to overcome some of the things in front of us and figure out a way to become a good basketball team."
And that toughness you've needed to win on the road, that evolved from those experiences?
"No question," he said. "I've always said, in life you get told things a million times. But until you go through it, until you see for yourself, you just don't understand. You have to go through this Big Ten gauntlet. You have to see how tough it is. You have to see how locked in, how strong physically, mentally you have to be, how well you have to play together in order to win at this level. Through our experiences the last couple of years, we've become that team."
"I would say we're a veteran team just the way we've handled it so far," McIntosh would echo minutes later. "Now we have to continue to handle it the say way as far as not looking past an opponent, respecting each opponent and executing a game plan. There's where I think our maturity has really grown in my time here."
That is one area where that maturity has manifested itself and here are two others, one specific to McIntosh himself, the other relating to the 'Cats as a whole. The point guard, to begin with him, arrived in Evanston with a high basketball IQ. But here is what he said when asked how he is now practically applying the lessons he learned in November in his team's last-minute losses to Butler and Notre Dame. "Knowing time outs. Knowing the clock. Whether we need to go for two-for-one. Analyzing it much more than I was already," he said. "I mean, I knew if I needed to go for a two-for-one. But the foul situation has been bigger. That's one thing I've really kept an eye on. If I needed to draw a foul so I could get myself to the free throw line. Teams are going to try to not let me touch it at the end. Just things like that. Little things that are part of growing up and understanding a little bit more of the game."
Then there was this from Collins, who implicitly revealed how deeply the new 'Cat culture is imbued when asked about his veterans. "They're the ones who've done everything. I take no credit for any of this," he said here. "It's great when you have great veteran leadership. Then those guys control what's going on within the team. My job has been easy this year. All I have to do is come up with game plans with my staff, and work on things on the floor. What kind of offense are we going to run? How are we going to defend this team? I've had to spend no effort at all this year talking about attitudes, talking about them being together, talking about unselfishness. They have done that among each other. That's what makes it really fun. Those are the most fun teams to coach when you don't have to spend any time on those things. You can just coach the team. I've been able to do that with this group."
On January 12th a year ago, the 'Cats upset Wisconsin at Welsh-Ryan to run their record to 15-3 overall and 3-2 in conference. They then lost eight of their next 10, which is reason enough for Collins to urge them to remain in the moment and to heed the journey. "I feel like I'm the scrooge all the time. I'm the one everyday telling them they haven't done anything. . .," he said. But to me, in basketball time, (the)11 games (left in the regular season) is an eternity away. March is forever away in my opinion. So to me it's irrelevant to be talking about it (a possible tourney bid). We've got a lot of basketball still to play and our guys realize— last year we went on a losing streak and it ended our hopes. So. You cannot take your foot off the gas pedal. You have to stay on what's in front of you. And you've got to figure it out."
"That's how I feel. We haven't accomplished anything," McIntosh concluded. "There are two stories that can be written about us this year. It's either us falling apart, or us coming together and doing something special. That's what we realize. That's why we say that. That's why we say we haven't accomplished anything. We know there's only one of two stories that can go down."
"We expect to win," the point Bryant McIntosh echoed minutes later when asked the same question. "At Maryland, we were hoping we could hold on. We were trying to hold for dear life. At Ohio State, the entire game when shots weren't falling, when things weren't going exactly right, I still always felt we were in control of the game. I never had an inkling that, 'Man, we might lose this game.' I just had so much confidence in us, in myself, in our team, in our coaching staff that I felt we were going to win."
On that January 25th two years ago, Collins was in just his second season as the 'Cats head coach; the culture he propounded was still a new-and-unfamiliar thing; and McIntosh was part of a callow freshmen group that also included forward Gavin Skelly and wings Vic Law and Scottie Lindsey. On this past Wednesday the 25th, Collins is a familiar face; that culture he implanted back then is deeply imbued in the program; and his first quartet of recruits is all grown up and catalyzing a team that is 16-4 overall and 5-2 in the Big Ten as it awaits a Thursday meeting with Nebraska at Welsh-Ryan Arena.
More impressively, it is a team that was tempered by the spankings it endured as it matured and is now as tough as the cheapest cut of beef. A month ago, just before the start of the conference season, Collins was not yet sure of that. "I think we're in between," he said back then when asked if his was a young or a veteran group. "We're showing signs of being a veteran team, but also some signs of still being pretty young."
"I think we have a veteran team. I do," he amended on Wednesday and after his 'Cats had won not only at Ohio State, but also at Nebraska and at Rutgers and at Penn State as well. "What that leads to here on out, I don't know. But we have a lot of guys who've played a lot of games, and we've been together for awhile. We have two freshmen who are playing for us off the bench and doing a nice job (center Barret Benson and guard Isiah Brown). But the core of our team are sophomores, juniors and seniors (Sanjay Lumpkin and Nate Taphorn). We rely on our experiences. Guys have been through ups, have been through some downs, and because of that we've been able to overcome some of the things in front of us and figure out a way to become a good basketball team."
And that toughness you've needed to win on the road, that evolved from those experiences?
"No question," he said. "I've always said, in life you get told things a million times. But until you go through it, until you see for yourself, you just don't understand. You have to go through this Big Ten gauntlet. You have to see how tough it is. You have to see how locked in, how strong physically, mentally you have to be, how well you have to play together in order to win at this level. Through our experiences the last couple of years, we've become that team."
"I would say we're a veteran team just the way we've handled it so far," McIntosh would echo minutes later. "Now we have to continue to handle it the say way as far as not looking past an opponent, respecting each opponent and executing a game plan. There's where I think our maturity has really grown in my time here."
That is one area where that maturity has manifested itself and here are two others, one specific to McIntosh himself, the other relating to the 'Cats as a whole. The point guard, to begin with him, arrived in Evanston with a high basketball IQ. But here is what he said when asked how he is now practically applying the lessons he learned in November in his team's last-minute losses to Butler and Notre Dame. "Knowing time outs. Knowing the clock. Whether we need to go for two-for-one. Analyzing it much more than I was already," he said. "I mean, I knew if I needed to go for a two-for-one. But the foul situation has been bigger. That's one thing I've really kept an eye on. If I needed to draw a foul so I could get myself to the free throw line. Teams are going to try to not let me touch it at the end. Just things like that. Little things that are part of growing up and understanding a little bit more of the game."
Then there was this from Collins, who implicitly revealed how deeply the new 'Cat culture is imbued when asked about his veterans. "They're the ones who've done everything. I take no credit for any of this," he said here. "It's great when you have great veteran leadership. Then those guys control what's going on within the team. My job has been easy this year. All I have to do is come up with game plans with my staff, and work on things on the floor. What kind of offense are we going to run? How are we going to defend this team? I've had to spend no effort at all this year talking about attitudes, talking about them being together, talking about unselfishness. They have done that among each other. That's what makes it really fun. Those are the most fun teams to coach when you don't have to spend any time on those things. You can just coach the team. I've been able to do that with this group."
On January 12th a year ago, the 'Cats upset Wisconsin at Welsh-Ryan to run their record to 15-3 overall and 3-2 in conference. They then lost eight of their next 10, which is reason enough for Collins to urge them to remain in the moment and to heed the journey. "I feel like I'm the scrooge all the time. I'm the one everyday telling them they haven't done anything. . .," he said. But to me, in basketball time, (the)11 games (left in the regular season) is an eternity away. March is forever away in my opinion. So to me it's irrelevant to be talking about it (a possible tourney bid). We've got a lot of basketball still to play and our guys realize— last year we went on a losing streak and it ended our hopes. So. You cannot take your foot off the gas pedal. You have to stay on what's in front of you. And you've got to figure it out."
"That's how I feel. We haven't accomplished anything," McIntosh concluded. "There are two stories that can be written about us this year. It's either us falling apart, or us coming together and doing something special. That's what we realize. That's why we say that. That's why we say we haven't accomplished anything. We know there's only one of two stories that can go down."
••••••
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