Northwestern University Athletics
The Skip Report: Minnesota Primer
1/10/2018 1:06:00 PM | Men's Basketball
By Skip Myslenski
NUsports.com Special Contributor
Ten things as the 'Cats look to snap their two-game losing streak Wednesday night when they host Minnesota at Allstate Arena. . .
1. The senior point Bryant McIntosh thought the worst that Saturday afternoon his left knee was rolled in a scramble by Brown guard Zach Hunsaker. "It was really scary. I thought my career was over here," he recalled Tuesday afternoon. "When I'm back there (in the locker room) I couldn't help but continue to look at my jersey as if it was the last time I was ever going to wear it. It taught me a lot. It taught me how special this place is. You know that. But maybe you don't appreciate it as much. Now I'm just trying to take advantage of it."
2. That appreciation was only heightened when the former 'Cat Sanjay Lumpkin dropped in after that game to see how he was doing. "We talked a little bit," McIntosh remembered. "It was how he wishes he could be back here putting on the jersey with us. It's something I understand now. You hear the guys say that, but you don't really understand until you think it's taken away from you or you're done."
3. That injury, this new understanding, not only reignited his love of basketball. "It reignited too my love of teammates, my love of the coaches, my love of this program," he said. "It's really easy to get caught up in the day-to-day process, and maybe lose sight of how special this place is. So it just reignited not only the passion I have for the game, but also the guys in the gym."
4. It was just the day before the 'Cats game at Penn State last Friday that McIntosh went through his first full practice since the injury. "I wasn't going to play him unless I saw him do things at full speed," Chris Collins explained on Tuesday. "He was able to get through practice and hasn't missed any time since. So he's feeling pretty good."
5. Three days after his injury, the 'Cats played without McIntosh and fell at home to Nebraska by 15. Now, even with his return, they fell at Penn State by 15, and so it was no wonder that their weekend would be filled with meetings. "We had to have our Come to Jesus moment," McIntosh said. "Now we'll see how it works out for us."
6. The 'Cats, in fact, have had two of those moments since their loss to the Nittany Lions. The first was a players-only meeting where, said McIntosh, "Everybody talked. Everybody. We talked about our strengths. We wanted to get back to playing to our strengths, so we talked about what each player's strength was and how we could help them play to their strengths."
But in the other, all the talking was done by Collins. "It was insightful. It was needed. It was the truth. And I think we took it and responded really well," McIntosh said of his coach's words. And what was his message? "It was everything we needed to hear," McIntosh said with a smile.
7. But Collins, while answering a question unrelated to those meetings, certainly gave a hint to his message. "Anytime you're going through a tough stretch and not playing the way you feel you should be, there's a tendency for everybody to kind of figure out what can they do to be better," he said here. "The formula for us has always been all of us coming together. We've been at our best when we've had chemistry, when we've moved the ball, when we've played team defense. Then we've played pretty good. When we branch out on our own and take more on is when we struggle. That's not how we're built. I don't think it's any one guy, I don't think it's any two guys. Everyone's taking responsibility for where we're at."
Is he saying some guys are trying to do too much?
"At times. At times. But, look, I think it's human nature. I'm not blaming them. All of the guys want to win. They all want us to play better. When you're like that, at times, it's, 'Man, I'm going to do it. I'm going to do this' instead of 'We're going to do it.' That's what we've got to get back to— all of us doing it together. When we do that, I think there's still good basketball in this team."
8. Last year's 'Cats, of course, constantly did it together on their way to their historic tournament bid, and all of that group is back except for Lumpkin and Nate Taphorn. "But one thing I learned being with Coach K (Mike Krzyzewski) all those years is even if the names remain the same, every team is different," Collins said, and that is certainly true. Attitudes change, as do roles and aims and ambitions, and that makes each edition different. But, after noting that, it is not unimportant that Collins went on to add, "The one thing about last year's team, they were just so connected in every sense of the word.
"We knew we needed each other. We played for one another. They were so unselfish. They were connected on the defensive end. That's a formula for this program. I still think we have great attitudes. I think guys want to win. But the teams are different and we've got to figure out, with this team, how to win and not keep going back to last year because this is a new group."
9. This new group, again of course, entered the season ranked and draped in outsized expectations, but now it is 10-7 overall and 1-3 in the Big Ten and at a tipping point. So, said Collins, "Right now it's not about a long-term view of the season or the conference or anything like that. When you lose a couple games in a row in the league you've got to stop the bleeding. So for us our whole focus is how can we figure out a way to win our next game. Since Penn State that's been our whole focus."
10. That is their focus. And their attitude? "It's frustration. It's disappointment. Which are fine emotions to have," said Collins. "But then you've got to change it. You've got to go out there, we have to play with tremendous spirit. We have to play with great passion. We need everybody. We're not going to do it with a couple guys. We need our main guys to play well, we need our bench guys to come in, give us great minutes, play with energy. That's the only way it's going to turn around. I think everyone's frustrated. I think everyone's disappointed, hopefully a little angry. . .hopefully, a hight level of urgency. We're at a stage now, extended losing streaks in-league kill you. When you're bleeding a little bit, you've got to stop the bleeding. That puts even more urgency on tomorrow for our guys to come out and find a way to win."
"There is a sense of urgency," McIntosh would finally say just minutes later, "and I think you're going to see that. How we're going to play with our passion."
NUsports.com Special Contributor
Ten things as the 'Cats look to snap their two-game losing streak Wednesday night when they host Minnesota at Allstate Arena. . .
1. The senior point Bryant McIntosh thought the worst that Saturday afternoon his left knee was rolled in a scramble by Brown guard Zach Hunsaker. "It was really scary. I thought my career was over here," he recalled Tuesday afternoon. "When I'm back there (in the locker room) I couldn't help but continue to look at my jersey as if it was the last time I was ever going to wear it. It taught me a lot. It taught me how special this place is. You know that. But maybe you don't appreciate it as much. Now I'm just trying to take advantage of it."
2. That appreciation was only heightened when the former 'Cat Sanjay Lumpkin dropped in after that game to see how he was doing. "We talked a little bit," McIntosh remembered. "It was how he wishes he could be back here putting on the jersey with us. It's something I understand now. You hear the guys say that, but you don't really understand until you think it's taken away from you or you're done."
3. That injury, this new understanding, not only reignited his love of basketball. "It reignited too my love of teammates, my love of the coaches, my love of this program," he said. "It's really easy to get caught up in the day-to-day process, and maybe lose sight of how special this place is. So it just reignited not only the passion I have for the game, but also the guys in the gym."
4. It was just the day before the 'Cats game at Penn State last Friday that McIntosh went through his first full practice since the injury. "I wasn't going to play him unless I saw him do things at full speed," Chris Collins explained on Tuesday. "He was able to get through practice and hasn't missed any time since. So he's feeling pretty good."
5. Three days after his injury, the 'Cats played without McIntosh and fell at home to Nebraska by 15. Now, even with his return, they fell at Penn State by 15, and so it was no wonder that their weekend would be filled with meetings. "We had to have our Come to Jesus moment," McIntosh said. "Now we'll see how it works out for us."
6. The 'Cats, in fact, have had two of those moments since their loss to the Nittany Lions. The first was a players-only meeting where, said McIntosh, "Everybody talked. Everybody. We talked about our strengths. We wanted to get back to playing to our strengths, so we talked about what each player's strength was and how we could help them play to their strengths."
But in the other, all the talking was done by Collins. "It was insightful. It was needed. It was the truth. And I think we took it and responded really well," McIntosh said of his coach's words. And what was his message? "It was everything we needed to hear," McIntosh said with a smile.
7. But Collins, while answering a question unrelated to those meetings, certainly gave a hint to his message. "Anytime you're going through a tough stretch and not playing the way you feel you should be, there's a tendency for everybody to kind of figure out what can they do to be better," he said here. "The formula for us has always been all of us coming together. We've been at our best when we've had chemistry, when we've moved the ball, when we've played team defense. Then we've played pretty good. When we branch out on our own and take more on is when we struggle. That's not how we're built. I don't think it's any one guy, I don't think it's any two guys. Everyone's taking responsibility for where we're at."
Is he saying some guys are trying to do too much?
"At times. At times. But, look, I think it's human nature. I'm not blaming them. All of the guys want to win. They all want us to play better. When you're like that, at times, it's, 'Man, I'm going to do it. I'm going to do this' instead of 'We're going to do it.' That's what we've got to get back to— all of us doing it together. When we do that, I think there's still good basketball in this team."
8. Last year's 'Cats, of course, constantly did it together on their way to their historic tournament bid, and all of that group is back except for Lumpkin and Nate Taphorn. "But one thing I learned being with Coach K (Mike Krzyzewski) all those years is even if the names remain the same, every team is different," Collins said, and that is certainly true. Attitudes change, as do roles and aims and ambitions, and that makes each edition different. But, after noting that, it is not unimportant that Collins went on to add, "The one thing about last year's team, they were just so connected in every sense of the word.
"We knew we needed each other. We played for one another. They were so unselfish. They were connected on the defensive end. That's a formula for this program. I still think we have great attitudes. I think guys want to win. But the teams are different and we've got to figure out, with this team, how to win and not keep going back to last year because this is a new group."
9. This new group, again of course, entered the season ranked and draped in outsized expectations, but now it is 10-7 overall and 1-3 in the Big Ten and at a tipping point. So, said Collins, "Right now it's not about a long-term view of the season or the conference or anything like that. When you lose a couple games in a row in the league you've got to stop the bleeding. So for us our whole focus is how can we figure out a way to win our next game. Since Penn State that's been our whole focus."
10. That is their focus. And their attitude? "It's frustration. It's disappointment. Which are fine emotions to have," said Collins. "But then you've got to change it. You've got to go out there, we have to play with tremendous spirit. We have to play with great passion. We need everybody. We're not going to do it with a couple guys. We need our main guys to play well, we need our bench guys to come in, give us great minutes, play with energy. That's the only way it's going to turn around. I think everyone's frustrated. I think everyone's disappointed, hopefully a little angry. . .hopefully, a hight level of urgency. We're at a stage now, extended losing streaks in-league kill you. When you're bleeding a little bit, you've got to stop the bleeding. That puts even more urgency on tomorrow for our guys to come out and find a way to win."
"There is a sense of urgency," McIntosh would finally say just minutes later, "and I think you're going to see that. How we're going to play with our passion."
••••••
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