Northwestern University Athletics
The Skip Report: Ohio State In Review
1/18/2018 11:15:00 AM | Men's Basketball
By Skip Myslenski
NUsports.com Special Contributor
They had arrived at the junction of Distress Road and Desperation Drive and so now, with just 3:37 remaining in their Wednesday late show with Ohio State, the 'Cats rolled out a frenzied press in hopes of cutting into their nine-point deficit. Gavin Skelly, perpetual motion his own self, would front it, challenging the in-bounder hard, and then there would be constant double teams if the ball did make it into play. "We just put the press in last week," he would later say.
"So as we play with it, figure it out, it will get more effective. Guys have to figure out which spots work, which don't, how to cheat things, how to play guys. But for a lot of teams, they're not used to us doing that. So a lot of teams, we catch them off guard. And for us, it gives us a little more energy. We're more active. I think it gives us a little bit of a boost, a little more energy, a little more hype. We're bouncing around."
Now, in fact, they were bouncing around like the pelota in a jai alai match, and confronted by that the Buckeyes were forced to take a time out. They did, on their next attempt against it, manage to get the ball in, but still that possession resulted in an air mailed three from the right corner by their guard C.J. Jackson. Now came a six-footer from Vic Law, a layup by the Bucks' Jae'Sean Tate and a Law three that left the 'Cats down six at 2:21.
Another Buckeye air ball, a Scottie Lindsey turnover, a Buckeye turnover. That came next, and then there was a Law miss, a Jackson miss and finally the ball is in Lindsey's hands up top. He has not yet made a three-pointer on this evening, has missed all four of his three-point attempts, but still he shot and this time it was good and like that the 'Cats were down just three with 43.2 seconds still remaining.
Now it was a one-possession game.
••••••••••
The 'Cats came into this affair at Allstate off an ugly Sunday loss at Indiana, and after dropping three of their previous four. Still, in their vertiginous season, they have displayed more personalities than a roomful of people, and here they stood up to a Buckeye team that was ranked No. 22 and undefeated in Big Ten play.
They did that even though they failed to make a jump shot through the last 14 minutes of the first half. They did that even though they scored just 13 points over that stretch. They did that even though Bryant McIntosh, their second leading scorer, did not put up his first points until 18:19 of the second half, and they did that even though Aaron Falzon's tweaked back made him a scratch just 20 minutes before tipoff.
They did that with some old-fashioned grit, a characteristic of their historic run a year ago, and they did that with their zone defense, which was especially effective against the Buckeye star Keita Bates-Diop. Earlier this month, in consecutive games, he went for 27 against Iowa and for 32 against Michigan State and for 26 against Maryland, and he entered this one averaging a conference-best 19.8 ppg. But here, Buckeye coach Chris Holtmann later said, "They were really physical with Keita. Not illegal in any way. They were just physical. They made tougher plays than we did at times."
"Against this team we didn't really have great match-ups if we tried to play them man-to-man," said Collins. "So we felt the best way to play these guys was to zone 'em up, try to keep them out of transition. The main key in the zone was to not let him (Bates-Diop) get to his sweet spots. He's such a a great mid-range player. We just wanted him to have to take tough shots. I thought we did a pretty good job. But other guys stepped up."
The 'Cats did better than pretty good against Bates-Diop, limiting him to 10 points on four-of-12 shooting, but other Bucks did indeed step up, staking them to an eight-point halftime lead, allowing them to maintain their lead as the second half unfolded. Never, in this time, did that 'Cats threaten to overtake the Bucks. But, just as significantly, never did they disappear either. "We've been having a hard time in games where we've gotten down a little bit. we've almost caved in four or five times this year," Collins would later say. "We were at that breaking point tonight in the second half and we fought through it. . . .
"But every time we made a push they responded with a big bucket. Or we would come down and have a critical turnover. Or we would miss a wide open shot. We'd execute really well and get a great look. We could never get that momentum run that we needed to get over the hump. But we kept fighting."
They kept fighting, and finally they arrived at the junction of Distress Road and Desperation Drive.
••••••••••
Now, after Lindsey's first three of the night, it was a one-possession game with a 13.2 second difference between the game clock and shot clock. Still, just two seconds later, McIntosh committed the 'Cats sixth foul of the half and now their next one would send the Bucks to the line. "We wanted to be aggressive," Collins would later say when asked about this foul. "We were going to extend the game and try to make them continue to make free throws as long as we could get the right guys at the line. We didn't want Jackson on the line."
But the Bucks, after that foul, called time, and out of it they did get the ball into the hands of Jackson, an 83.1 percent shooter from the line. Still, halfway through this possession, the 'Cats had him trapped at the boundary and half-court line, but here a foul was called on Lindsey and Jackson went to the line. "I thought we had him buried against the sideline and half-court and he did a good job forcing a foul," Collins said of this play.
"As high as it could be," Buck coach Holtmann said when asked his confidence level with Jackson at the line. "I'm 100 percent as confident in him— I told him I wanted the ball in his or Keita's hands. I've got extreme confidence in him as a player, and certainly making those free throws."
Jackson, calmly, rewarded his coach's confidence by dropping a pair, which made this a two-possession game at :26.8, and now Law missed a three and Jackson made another free throw and collected the rebound after missing a second and dribbled out the clock to give the Bucks their 71-65 win. "I can't tell you how much respect I have for Chris, his staff and this Northwestern team," Holtmann soon said. "So for us to come in here, knowing they're coming off a loss and gut this one out— and that's what it was, it was one we gutted out."
"Obviously," Collins soon concluded, "I was disappointed in the result of the game. But actually I was very proud of my team tonight. In a lot of respects, it's as well as we've played in quite a while. I loved our fight. I thought our effort was great. I'm pleased with how we played tonight. . . . If we play with this effort and this spirit, we'll put ourselves in a position to win a lot of games down the stretch."
NUsports.com Special Contributor
They had arrived at the junction of Distress Road and Desperation Drive and so now, with just 3:37 remaining in their Wednesday late show with Ohio State, the 'Cats rolled out a frenzied press in hopes of cutting into their nine-point deficit. Gavin Skelly, perpetual motion his own self, would front it, challenging the in-bounder hard, and then there would be constant double teams if the ball did make it into play. "We just put the press in last week," he would later say.
"So as we play with it, figure it out, it will get more effective. Guys have to figure out which spots work, which don't, how to cheat things, how to play guys. But for a lot of teams, they're not used to us doing that. So a lot of teams, we catch them off guard. And for us, it gives us a little more energy. We're more active. I think it gives us a little bit of a boost, a little more energy, a little more hype. We're bouncing around."
Now, in fact, they were bouncing around like the pelota in a jai alai match, and confronted by that the Buckeyes were forced to take a time out. They did, on their next attempt against it, manage to get the ball in, but still that possession resulted in an air mailed three from the right corner by their guard C.J. Jackson. Now came a six-footer from Vic Law, a layup by the Bucks' Jae'Sean Tate and a Law three that left the 'Cats down six at 2:21.
Another Buckeye air ball, a Scottie Lindsey turnover, a Buckeye turnover. That came next, and then there was a Law miss, a Jackson miss and finally the ball is in Lindsey's hands up top. He has not yet made a three-pointer on this evening, has missed all four of his three-point attempts, but still he shot and this time it was good and like that the 'Cats were down just three with 43.2 seconds still remaining.
Now it was a one-possession game.
••••••••••
The 'Cats came into this affair at Allstate off an ugly Sunday loss at Indiana, and after dropping three of their previous four. Still, in their vertiginous season, they have displayed more personalities than a roomful of people, and here they stood up to a Buckeye team that was ranked No. 22 and undefeated in Big Ten play.
They did that even though they failed to make a jump shot through the last 14 minutes of the first half. They did that even though they scored just 13 points over that stretch. They did that even though Bryant McIntosh, their second leading scorer, did not put up his first points until 18:19 of the second half, and they did that even though Aaron Falzon's tweaked back made him a scratch just 20 minutes before tipoff.
They did that with some old-fashioned grit, a characteristic of their historic run a year ago, and they did that with their zone defense, which was especially effective against the Buckeye star Keita Bates-Diop. Earlier this month, in consecutive games, he went for 27 against Iowa and for 32 against Michigan State and for 26 against Maryland, and he entered this one averaging a conference-best 19.8 ppg. But here, Buckeye coach Chris Holtmann later said, "They were really physical with Keita. Not illegal in any way. They were just physical. They made tougher plays than we did at times."
"Against this team we didn't really have great match-ups if we tried to play them man-to-man," said Collins. "So we felt the best way to play these guys was to zone 'em up, try to keep them out of transition. The main key in the zone was to not let him (Bates-Diop) get to his sweet spots. He's such a a great mid-range player. We just wanted him to have to take tough shots. I thought we did a pretty good job. But other guys stepped up."
The 'Cats did better than pretty good against Bates-Diop, limiting him to 10 points on four-of-12 shooting, but other Bucks did indeed step up, staking them to an eight-point halftime lead, allowing them to maintain their lead as the second half unfolded. Never, in this time, did that 'Cats threaten to overtake the Bucks. But, just as significantly, never did they disappear either. "We've been having a hard time in games where we've gotten down a little bit. we've almost caved in four or five times this year," Collins would later say. "We were at that breaking point tonight in the second half and we fought through it. . . .
"But every time we made a push they responded with a big bucket. Or we would come down and have a critical turnover. Or we would miss a wide open shot. We'd execute really well and get a great look. We could never get that momentum run that we needed to get over the hump. But we kept fighting."
They kept fighting, and finally they arrived at the junction of Distress Road and Desperation Drive.
••••••••••
Now, after Lindsey's first three of the night, it was a one-possession game with a 13.2 second difference between the game clock and shot clock. Still, just two seconds later, McIntosh committed the 'Cats sixth foul of the half and now their next one would send the Bucks to the line. "We wanted to be aggressive," Collins would later say when asked about this foul. "We were going to extend the game and try to make them continue to make free throws as long as we could get the right guys at the line. We didn't want Jackson on the line."
But the Bucks, after that foul, called time, and out of it they did get the ball into the hands of Jackson, an 83.1 percent shooter from the line. Still, halfway through this possession, the 'Cats had him trapped at the boundary and half-court line, but here a foul was called on Lindsey and Jackson went to the line. "I thought we had him buried against the sideline and half-court and he did a good job forcing a foul," Collins said of this play.
"As high as it could be," Buck coach Holtmann said when asked his confidence level with Jackson at the line. "I'm 100 percent as confident in him— I told him I wanted the ball in his or Keita's hands. I've got extreme confidence in him as a player, and certainly making those free throws."
Jackson, calmly, rewarded his coach's confidence by dropping a pair, which made this a two-possession game at :26.8, and now Law missed a three and Jackson made another free throw and collected the rebound after missing a second and dribbled out the clock to give the Bucks their 71-65 win. "I can't tell you how much respect I have for Chris, his staff and this Northwestern team," Holtmann soon said. "So for us to come in here, knowing they're coming off a loss and gut this one out— and that's what it was, it was one we gutted out."
"Obviously," Collins soon concluded, "I was disappointed in the result of the game. But actually I was very proud of my team tonight. In a lot of respects, it's as well as we've played in quite a while. I loved our fight. I thought our effort was great. I'm pleased with how we played tonight. . . . If we play with this effort and this spirit, we'll put ourselves in a position to win a lot of games down the stretch."
••••••
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