Northwestern University Athletics
The Skip Report: Rutgers In Review
2/19/2017 3:12:00 PM | Men's Basketball
By Skip Myslenski
NUsports.com Special Contributor
Gavin Skelly, backing in down low, gets called for the offensive foul, and then the buzzer sounds for the under-eight time out. This is Saturday night at Welsh-Ryan and now the 'Cats, down six to Rutgers with 7:46 remaining, gather in front of Chris Collins. Around them, in their sold-out playpen, there is a palpable tension and a growing frustration and a not-uncertain sense of unease. But among them the atmosphere is different. "That was a time we could have seen a lot of panic. We could have really gotten down. But we just hung in there," Collins will later say.
"I tried to be really calm. I'm an emotional guy, so I can get excited, sometimes maybe to the detriment to the team. I tried to be very calm with the guys to keep our composure. I didn't want us to panic. There were still eight minutes to go and it was just a six-point game. So even though we were struggling and we had only nine points I think in the first 12 minutes of the half (actually, only seven), we just kept saying in the huddle, 'Let's find a way. Let's figure this out. Let's grind this out.' I thought we just really leaned on each other. I was leaning on them, they were leaning on me, and we just had to dig down."
"It was more, 'We're going to find out what we're all about,'" point Bryant McIntosh will say when asked the mood at that moment. "It sounds real simple. But there were times in the past, in that situation, we would fold, we would lose that game. We wouldn't win a game like this in the past, especially with things not going our way. But we're older. We're more mature. We just believe we should win. That goes a long way, when you have that confidence.
"We felt we shouldn't lose this game. That's something that's changed in the past year, year-and-a-half. We felt that game belonged to us, that we were going to find a way to win no matter what. There's a bit of resolve in our team."
••••••••••
Rutgers arrived at Welsh-Ryan as the Big Ten cellar dweller, but rarely this season had it been an easy out. The Scarlet Knights, in fact, had been feisty enough to carry Wisconsin into overtime before falling by seven, and that is just the kind of character they would display this night at Welsh-Ryan. They were the conference's leader in offensive rebounds, and here they would grab 18 to the 'Cats nine. They were ranked number two in conference in three-point field goal percentage defense, and here the 'Cats went just seven-of-22 (31.8 percent) from distance.
They were respected for the intensity of their effort, and here they very much recalled a production recently seen in the 'Cats home. "You look at Rutgers, they've played people tough all year. They actually remind me of where we've been in the last couple years," Collins will note. "Fighting and scrapping and playing hard and maybe not getting the results with the wins, but on the right track. I love how hard they play. They caused us a lot of problems today."
They did that not only with their defense, which staked them to their lead by forcing the 'Cats into that long drought through the second half's first 12 minutes. They did it too with their offense, which arrived here as the league's worst in scoring (59.4 percent) and field goal percentage (37.8) and three-point field goal percentage (28.7). But this night it would put up 65 points and shoot better overall (42.9) and from distance (29.4), and at 6:46 the Knights are again up six after a layup by their freshman forward Eugene Omoruyi.
Now, for the first time this evening, they show a soft press, but the 'Cats move through it easily and soon enough McIntosh finds Skelly alone at the top of the circle. The forward has missed his previous nine three-point attempts, has not dropped a three since he made one against Ohio State seven games ago. But after Saturday's practice, while working with McIntosh and assistant Armon Gates, he had made a bunch, and so here he goes up fearlessly and delivers a dagger that halves the 'Cats deficit to three. "I'm just proud of him for having the courage to step up as much as he's been struggling," Collins will later say. "He gave us huge minutes tonight."
"You put the work in, it generally happens. The ball finds you in a situation to make a play," McIntosh will add. "As coach says all the time, it's the basketball gods. It's a credit to him and his work."
"My confidence started going down, but I think I made about 20 threes in a row yesterday," Skelly himself will conclude. "That's how I ended my shooting. Then today (before the game), the same thing. I was making a bunch. So they said today, 'Just let it fly.' Giving me that confidence helps me be a better player."
That basket at 6:25, it sends a charge through Welsh-Ryan, and it rocks even more when McIntosh answers a layup by Knight star Corey Sanders with a three of his own. Now, as Holmes would say, the game is truly afoot, and here Dererk Pardon pulls the 'Cats to within one at 4:30 with a pair of free throws. But Rutgers responds and is back up four when the young freshman Isiah Brown whips a pass to Skelly in the right corner, and again Skelly is cold-blooded, calmly dropping this three and then encouraging the crowd to get even louder.
Now, on defense, Skelly picks up Sanders on a switch and forces him into a missed three, and there is Brown for the rebound, and there is Brown collecting the ball again after Vic Law's missed three is tipped out long by Skelly. Then, as the clock clicks down to a minute, the ball finds McIntosh and he goes up out high over Knight guard Nigel Johnson. "I had a little bit of space," he will recall. "That's a shot I work on a lot, and I took it with confidence. As soon as I gathered the ball, I knew I'd hit it. That's how confident I was in it.
"Just the feel of the ball in my hands, I knew I'd hit it."
••••••••••
McIntosh's three gives the 'Cats their first lead in 16 minutes and, when they close out their 69-65 win 58 seconds later, the telling facts are these. They have, over the final 6:46, outscored the Knights by 10 (21-11). They have, in that stretch, gotten points from McIntosh (10) and Skelly (six), Pardon (two) and Brown (two) and Law (one). They have, most impressively, secured their victory, by calmly going 12-of-14 from the line. "They've learned how to win," Knights' coach Steve Pikiell will later say. "It's a process, and they're well on their way to learning all their lessons from their earlier days."
"It's the experience we've gone through. There's no other way," Collins will soon agree. "You get to that point going through tough times, getting angry about it and then learning how to fight out of it and become successful. That's what this group has done. We've had a lot of games like this, like Rutgers had today. A lot of them in the past. We've gotten tough from it, we've gotten better, and we've figured out how to win close games, which is huge."
And is that why there was no panic?
"Yeah," Chris Collins finally says. "We're getting older now. I thought in the past, when it wasn't going well, we started panicking. We'd take bad shots. Our defense would disintegrate and there would go the game. But we're a little bit more hardy now. We're more experienced. We know it's a long game."
NUsports.com Special Contributor
Gavin Skelly, backing in down low, gets called for the offensive foul, and then the buzzer sounds for the under-eight time out. This is Saturday night at Welsh-Ryan and now the 'Cats, down six to Rutgers with 7:46 remaining, gather in front of Chris Collins. Around them, in their sold-out playpen, there is a palpable tension and a growing frustration and a not-uncertain sense of unease. But among them the atmosphere is different. "That was a time we could have seen a lot of panic. We could have really gotten down. But we just hung in there," Collins will later say.
"I tried to be really calm. I'm an emotional guy, so I can get excited, sometimes maybe to the detriment to the team. I tried to be very calm with the guys to keep our composure. I didn't want us to panic. There were still eight minutes to go and it was just a six-point game. So even though we were struggling and we had only nine points I think in the first 12 minutes of the half (actually, only seven), we just kept saying in the huddle, 'Let's find a way. Let's figure this out. Let's grind this out.' I thought we just really leaned on each other. I was leaning on them, they were leaning on me, and we just had to dig down."
"It was more, 'We're going to find out what we're all about,'" point Bryant McIntosh will say when asked the mood at that moment. "It sounds real simple. But there were times in the past, in that situation, we would fold, we would lose that game. We wouldn't win a game like this in the past, especially with things not going our way. But we're older. We're more mature. We just believe we should win. That goes a long way, when you have that confidence.
"We felt we shouldn't lose this game. That's something that's changed in the past year, year-and-a-half. We felt that game belonged to us, that we were going to find a way to win no matter what. There's a bit of resolve in our team."
••••••••••
Rutgers arrived at Welsh-Ryan as the Big Ten cellar dweller, but rarely this season had it been an easy out. The Scarlet Knights, in fact, had been feisty enough to carry Wisconsin into overtime before falling by seven, and that is just the kind of character they would display this night at Welsh-Ryan. They were the conference's leader in offensive rebounds, and here they would grab 18 to the 'Cats nine. They were ranked number two in conference in three-point field goal percentage defense, and here the 'Cats went just seven-of-22 (31.8 percent) from distance.
They were respected for the intensity of their effort, and here they very much recalled a production recently seen in the 'Cats home. "You look at Rutgers, they've played people tough all year. They actually remind me of where we've been in the last couple years," Collins will note. "Fighting and scrapping and playing hard and maybe not getting the results with the wins, but on the right track. I love how hard they play. They caused us a lot of problems today."
They did that not only with their defense, which staked them to their lead by forcing the 'Cats into that long drought through the second half's first 12 minutes. They did it too with their offense, which arrived here as the league's worst in scoring (59.4 percent) and field goal percentage (37.8) and three-point field goal percentage (28.7). But this night it would put up 65 points and shoot better overall (42.9) and from distance (29.4), and at 6:46 the Knights are again up six after a layup by their freshman forward Eugene Omoruyi.
Now, for the first time this evening, they show a soft press, but the 'Cats move through it easily and soon enough McIntosh finds Skelly alone at the top of the circle. The forward has missed his previous nine three-point attempts, has not dropped a three since he made one against Ohio State seven games ago. But after Saturday's practice, while working with McIntosh and assistant Armon Gates, he had made a bunch, and so here he goes up fearlessly and delivers a dagger that halves the 'Cats deficit to three. "I'm just proud of him for having the courage to step up as much as he's been struggling," Collins will later say. "He gave us huge minutes tonight."
"You put the work in, it generally happens. The ball finds you in a situation to make a play," McIntosh will add. "As coach says all the time, it's the basketball gods. It's a credit to him and his work."
"My confidence started going down, but I think I made about 20 threes in a row yesterday," Skelly himself will conclude. "That's how I ended my shooting. Then today (before the game), the same thing. I was making a bunch. So they said today, 'Just let it fly.' Giving me that confidence helps me be a better player."
That basket at 6:25, it sends a charge through Welsh-Ryan, and it rocks even more when McIntosh answers a layup by Knight star Corey Sanders with a three of his own. Now, as Holmes would say, the game is truly afoot, and here Dererk Pardon pulls the 'Cats to within one at 4:30 with a pair of free throws. But Rutgers responds and is back up four when the young freshman Isiah Brown whips a pass to Skelly in the right corner, and again Skelly is cold-blooded, calmly dropping this three and then encouraging the crowd to get even louder.
Now, on defense, Skelly picks up Sanders on a switch and forces him into a missed three, and there is Brown for the rebound, and there is Brown collecting the ball again after Vic Law's missed three is tipped out long by Skelly. Then, as the clock clicks down to a minute, the ball finds McIntosh and he goes up out high over Knight guard Nigel Johnson. "I had a little bit of space," he will recall. "That's a shot I work on a lot, and I took it with confidence. As soon as I gathered the ball, I knew I'd hit it. That's how confident I was in it.
"Just the feel of the ball in my hands, I knew I'd hit it."
••••••••••
McIntosh's three gives the 'Cats their first lead in 16 minutes and, when they close out their 69-65 win 58 seconds later, the telling facts are these. They have, over the final 6:46, outscored the Knights by 10 (21-11). They have, in that stretch, gotten points from McIntosh (10) and Skelly (six), Pardon (two) and Brown (two) and Law (one). They have, most impressively, secured their victory, by calmly going 12-of-14 from the line. "They've learned how to win," Knights' coach Steve Pikiell will later say. "It's a process, and they're well on their way to learning all their lessons from their earlier days."
"It's the experience we've gone through. There's no other way," Collins will soon agree. "You get to that point going through tough times, getting angry about it and then learning how to fight out of it and become successful. That's what this group has done. We've had a lot of games like this, like Rutgers had today. A lot of them in the past. We've gotten tough from it, we've gotten better, and we've figured out how to win close games, which is huge."
And is that why there was no panic?
"Yeah," Chris Collins finally says. "We're getting older now. I thought in the past, when it wasn't going well, we started panicking. We'd take bad shots. Our defense would disintegrate and there would go the game. But we're a little bit more hardy now. We're more experienced. We know it's a long game."
••••••
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