Northwestern University Athletics
The Skip Report: Nebraska In Review
1/27/2017 12:11:00 PM | Men's Basketball
By Skip Myslenski
NUsports.com Special Contributor
Notes, quotes and observations from the 'Cats 12-point win over Nebraska Thursday night at Welsh-Ryan…
• THIS VICTORY was not a thing of beauty, nor as easily achieved as the final score might indicate. It was instead, Chris Collins later said, "A really workmanlike win for us. Nebraska makes you do that. They're so well-schooled defensively, they make you work really hard to score."
"We kind of made 'em a little ugly for awhile. We switched some stuff and kind of mucked it up the way we wanted to," concurred Husker coach Tim Miles. "But they got us at the end."
• THROUGH ONE EIGHT-MINUTE STRETCH in the first half, the 'Cats managed just six points. That is how ugly Nebraska managed to make this game. But their own defense controlled the Huskers even better and, with just under five minutes remaining, the 'Cats were up four and with the ball. Now, to use Miles' words, is when they got them.
• VIC LAW, in his third year in the program, is now a thoroughbred, but he more resembled a skittish colt back when he was a freshman. "He had a tendency in games to go long stretches with (the viewer) not really knowing if he was out there," Collins said recently when asked the most-significant difference in those two versions of his wing. "I think the biggest thing for him was being a presence at al times. Staying hungry. Staying aggressive. And not having stretches of games where he's kind of floating and not making his impact."
• LAW, until the clock ticked under five, had not made a major impact on this game, but now he darted to rebound a missed three by Scottie Lindsey, got himself fouled and made both ends of a one-and-one to push the 'Cats lead to six. Then, on the ensuing Husker possession, point Bryant McIntosh picked Evan Taylor, led the break and fed Law for a dunk and finally, on the opposite end, Law corralled a defensive rebound that had been tipped by Dererk Pardon. "Second half I was just really trying to be aggressive," he would explain after finishing with a team-high 20 points and five rebounds.
"The first half I was getting to the basket, but wasn't taking good shots. I was trying to get fouled, wasn't getting contact and missed a wide open layup. In the second half I tried to change my mind.I said I was going to finish. The shots I'm going to take, I'm going to take with the conviction that they're going to go in."
• MILES, feeling Pardon was out-of-bounds on that tip to Law, complained dramatically enough to draw a technical, and now McIntosh made two free throws to put the 'Cats up 10 at 4:12. Husker star Tai Webster then made one-of-two from the line. But here, in the next 50 seconds, Pardon put in an offensive rebound and Law made a pair from the line and Sanjay Lumpkin, off a drive and kick out from McIntosh, dropped a three from up top.
With that the 'Cats had scored 13 points in just three minutes, and had opened up a 16-point lead, and had transformed a taut drama into a feel-good laugher.
• IT WAS ONLY APPROPRIATE that Pardon was part of that decisive 'Cat flurry since he himself had been a dynamic force all through this evening. He had 13 rebounds in the first half alone and ended with 22, the most by a 'Cat since Jim Pitts collected 26 against Indiana back in 1966. He finished with 19 points on eight-of-11 shooting, a far cry from his one-of-seven performance against Ohio State last Sunday. He added three blocks and a steal in his 34 minutes of work, and was a constant rim protector who thwarted the Huskers inside. "The story of the game," Miles called him.
"What can you say about Dererk Pardon? He was fantastic," said Collins. "What I will say, and it shows who Dererk is, Dererk did not play his best at Ohio State. He took it personally. For him to come home and put the gym time in the last two days and come out and have this kind of performance is just incredible."
"We knew we had a big advantage inside," said Pardon himself. "That was our big thing that we focused on in our prep, so we just had to capitalize on that."
• SCOTTIE LINDSEY, the 'Cats leading scorer, suffered back spasms near the end of that Ohio State game, and exhibited none of his usual pop and bounce on this night. He would end with just five points. That was one reason Isiah Brown was an important 'Cat piece in this one, and the other was that Husker defense that mucked it up for so long. "He's a weapon," Collins said of his freshman, who ended with 10 points in 17 minutes. "When things are stalled— Nebraska's a really good team. They take you out of your stuff. So you need some guys who can make plays, and I thought he did a great job of that tonight. Breaking people down and getting in the lane and making shots when we needed them."
"When I come in the game, I just want to be aggressive, try to make plays," said Brown himself. "There were a couple opportunities there for me to make some plays, take some shots, so be confident and try to do that. Like (assistant) Coach (Pat) Baldwin always says, 'See the play, make the play.'"
• THIS WIN WAS ACHIEVED in front of the new normal — a raucous Welsh-Ryan crowd pulling for the 'Cats. "It's amazing from earlier in my tenure to what it is now," Miles said of this transformation. "The student body, they're calling me all kind of new names I didn't know existed."
• THIS WAS ALSO the 'Cats fifth consecutive conference win, the first time the program has managed that since February of 1966, and pushed their league record to 6-2, their best start since the season of '43-'44. "That was something that they (the players) brought up, that they used as motivation for this game," Collins said of that Big Ten winning streak. "To try to continue to do some things that haven't been done here. I like that they're focused like that."
"It means that this is a different Northwestern. So we're happy," Law later said when asked the meaning of that streak. "Our goal coming into the season was just to be different. We've been saying this is a different Northwestern team, it's a new Northwestern. We're not coming into these games just to compete. We're coming in with the mindset of winning and building our resume and confidence going forward."
• OF COURSE, the one thing that would differentiate this 'Cat team from all its predecessors would be an invite to the NCAA tourney. So it was not insignificant that on this Thursday night Tim Miles would loudly avow, "Those guys are a tournament team. Those guys are a good tournament team. A good tournament team."
NUsports.com Special Contributor
Notes, quotes and observations from the 'Cats 12-point win over Nebraska Thursday night at Welsh-Ryan…
• THIS VICTORY was not a thing of beauty, nor as easily achieved as the final score might indicate. It was instead, Chris Collins later said, "A really workmanlike win for us. Nebraska makes you do that. They're so well-schooled defensively, they make you work really hard to score."
"We kind of made 'em a little ugly for awhile. We switched some stuff and kind of mucked it up the way we wanted to," concurred Husker coach Tim Miles. "But they got us at the end."
• THROUGH ONE EIGHT-MINUTE STRETCH in the first half, the 'Cats managed just six points. That is how ugly Nebraska managed to make this game. But their own defense controlled the Huskers even better and, with just under five minutes remaining, the 'Cats were up four and with the ball. Now, to use Miles' words, is when they got them.
• VIC LAW, in his third year in the program, is now a thoroughbred, but he more resembled a skittish colt back when he was a freshman. "He had a tendency in games to go long stretches with (the viewer) not really knowing if he was out there," Collins said recently when asked the most-significant difference in those two versions of his wing. "I think the biggest thing for him was being a presence at al times. Staying hungry. Staying aggressive. And not having stretches of games where he's kind of floating and not making his impact."
• LAW, until the clock ticked under five, had not made a major impact on this game, but now he darted to rebound a missed three by Scottie Lindsey, got himself fouled and made both ends of a one-and-one to push the 'Cats lead to six. Then, on the ensuing Husker possession, point Bryant McIntosh picked Evan Taylor, led the break and fed Law for a dunk and finally, on the opposite end, Law corralled a defensive rebound that had been tipped by Dererk Pardon. "Second half I was just really trying to be aggressive," he would explain after finishing with a team-high 20 points and five rebounds.
"The first half I was getting to the basket, but wasn't taking good shots. I was trying to get fouled, wasn't getting contact and missed a wide open layup. In the second half I tried to change my mind.I said I was going to finish. The shots I'm going to take, I'm going to take with the conviction that they're going to go in."
• MILES, feeling Pardon was out-of-bounds on that tip to Law, complained dramatically enough to draw a technical, and now McIntosh made two free throws to put the 'Cats up 10 at 4:12. Husker star Tai Webster then made one-of-two from the line. But here, in the next 50 seconds, Pardon put in an offensive rebound and Law made a pair from the line and Sanjay Lumpkin, off a drive and kick out from McIntosh, dropped a three from up top.
With that the 'Cats had scored 13 points in just three minutes, and had opened up a 16-point lead, and had transformed a taut drama into a feel-good laugher.
• IT WAS ONLY APPROPRIATE that Pardon was part of that decisive 'Cat flurry since he himself had been a dynamic force all through this evening. He had 13 rebounds in the first half alone and ended with 22, the most by a 'Cat since Jim Pitts collected 26 against Indiana back in 1966. He finished with 19 points on eight-of-11 shooting, a far cry from his one-of-seven performance against Ohio State last Sunday. He added three blocks and a steal in his 34 minutes of work, and was a constant rim protector who thwarted the Huskers inside. "The story of the game," Miles called him.
"What can you say about Dererk Pardon? He was fantastic," said Collins. "What I will say, and it shows who Dererk is, Dererk did not play his best at Ohio State. He took it personally. For him to come home and put the gym time in the last two days and come out and have this kind of performance is just incredible."
"We knew we had a big advantage inside," said Pardon himself. "That was our big thing that we focused on in our prep, so we just had to capitalize on that."
• SCOTTIE LINDSEY, the 'Cats leading scorer, suffered back spasms near the end of that Ohio State game, and exhibited none of his usual pop and bounce on this night. He would end with just five points. That was one reason Isiah Brown was an important 'Cat piece in this one, and the other was that Husker defense that mucked it up for so long. "He's a weapon," Collins said of his freshman, who ended with 10 points in 17 minutes. "When things are stalled— Nebraska's a really good team. They take you out of your stuff. So you need some guys who can make plays, and I thought he did a great job of that tonight. Breaking people down and getting in the lane and making shots when we needed them."
"When I come in the game, I just want to be aggressive, try to make plays," said Brown himself. "There were a couple opportunities there for me to make some plays, take some shots, so be confident and try to do that. Like (assistant) Coach (Pat) Baldwin always says, 'See the play, make the play.'"
• THIS WIN WAS ACHIEVED in front of the new normal — a raucous Welsh-Ryan crowd pulling for the 'Cats. "It's amazing from earlier in my tenure to what it is now," Miles said of this transformation. "The student body, they're calling me all kind of new names I didn't know existed."
• THIS WAS ALSO the 'Cats fifth consecutive conference win, the first time the program has managed that since February of 1966, and pushed their league record to 6-2, their best start since the season of '43-'44. "That was something that they (the players) brought up, that they used as motivation for this game," Collins said of that Big Ten winning streak. "To try to continue to do some things that haven't been done here. I like that they're focused like that."
"It means that this is a different Northwestern. So we're happy," Law later said when asked the meaning of that streak. "Our goal coming into the season was just to be different. We've been saying this is a different Northwestern team, it's a new Northwestern. We're not coming into these games just to compete. We're coming in with the mindset of winning and building our resume and confidence going forward."
• OF COURSE, the one thing that would differentiate this 'Cat team from all its predecessors would be an invite to the NCAA tourney. So it was not insignificant that on this Thursday night Tim Miles would loudly avow, "Those guys are a tournament team. Those guys are a good tournament team. A good tournament team."
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