Northwestern University Athletics
The Skip Report: Penn State Review
1/21/2018 11:30:00 AM | Men's Basketball
By Skip Myslenski
NUsports.com Special Contributor
They met just two weeks ago, in that place called Happy Valley, and here Penn State not only beat the 'Cats by 15. It also beat them up in that workplace called The Blocks, where they corralled 40 rebounds to the 'Cats 27, where they collected 48 points in the paint to the 'Cats 18. So now here it is early Saturday afternoon, and these same teams are preparing for their rematch at Allstate Arena. "In warmups," point Bryant McIntosh will later recall, "you kinda look across the floor and judge how a team's feeling. You could tell they were very confident. We used that as a little bit of motivation."
"All I know is, before the game, some of our coaches questioned our energy, (saying) we need to pick it up before the game started," Vic Law soon adds. "The last time they blew us up out there, so we needed to really ramp it up. This was not going to be a game that was the same."
•••••
They met just two weeks ago, in that place called Happy Valley, and here Penn State just shredded the 'Cats man-to-man defense. "We got so badly beaten in dribble penetration," Chris Collins recalled on Saturday. "Pat (Chambers, the Nittany Lions coach) does a really good job of isolating his best players. He gives them space to operate. They torched our man. We didn't have very good match-ups. They got by our guys at will. So what happened was those guys either got shots or our big guys had to help and they dumped it off to (forward Mike) Watkins for dunks. I didn't think we played with nearly the kind of fight or energy or effort that was needed."
And what did he learn from that game?
"Not to play them man-to-man. I learned a hard lesson that way."
•••••
They met just two week ago, in that place called Happy Valley, and here Penn State simply had its way with the 'Cats, who like all accomplished athletes are proud-and-willful individuals. So it was no surprise that, on Saturday, Collins also said, "I think our guys were anxious to play them again. Anytime you play to a level where you're not proud of, almost embarrassed— a lot of us were embarrassed by that performance. Everybody was eager to get a chance to see if we could be better. We weren't overconfident or anything like that. But we wanted to have a chance to see if we could be tough enough to beat a physical team like this."
"They are a tough team," McIntosh was saying minutes later. "They've got some big guys, physical."
And the 'Cats were embarrassed by them the first time?
"That would be correct. I think we all were very disappointed, embarrassed. To be honest, I thought the most embarrassing thing was walking out today and having them look at us. Seeing them again, for me, that was the most embarrassing thing, knowing we didn't play to our capabilities at their place."
•••••
They met just two weeks ago, in that place called Happy Valley, and what happened there colored so much of what unfolded Saturday at Allstate, where their rematch evolved into a game of stare down. But this time the 'Cats refused to blink, not even when the Nittany Lions scampered off to an early nine-point lead, not even after the Nittany Lions led by two at the half after shooting 68.2 percent overall (15-of-22) and 55.6 percent on their threes (five-of-nine).
These 'Cats, on this day, were a different breed, their zone diminishing the effectiveness of Penn State's penetration, their collective work on the boards flipping the script that had been authored out east. This time they would grab more offensive rebounds than the Nittany Lions (16-6). This time they would collect more total rebounds than the Nittany Lions (32-25). This time they would collect more points-in-the-paint than the Nittany Lions (40-24). "We weren't soft. We didn't play soft," Law said when asked the difference between then and now.
"They try to impose their will on other teams," said McIntosh. "I thought today we did an outstanding job being tough, especially on the glass."
Still, as the second half unfolded, the Nittany Lions clung jealously to their lead, and when their forward Lamar Stevens dropped a jumper at 10:47, it stood at four. But then, at 6:16, Dererk Pardon cut that in half with a dunk off a McIntosh feed and then Scottie Lindsey turned over the Nittany Lions' Nazeer Bostick. Now came a Pardon dunk off a Gavin Skelly assist, a Nittany Lions' miss and one more Pardon dunk, this one off a Lindsey assist. "Every coach has a few plays in their back pocket that they know they can go to late to get a basket," McIntosh later said.
"We went to a couple of them back-to-back and he got a couple dunks. When we can throw it in and he can dunk, it energizes the whole offense. It makes the basket seem bigger. That's when we started our run, where we really asserted ourselves."
Now, with the 'Cats so suddenly up two, the Nittany Lions turned it over once more, and then came a sequence that starkly reflected much of what occurred in this affair. There was a McIntosh miss and a Pardon rebound and a Pardon miss. There was a Skelly rebound and a Skelly miss and Skelly, not giving up on the play, tipping it out to Law, who dropped a three to put the 'Cats up five at 4:10. "We were on a little bit of a run there. That was a huge play," Collins said of it.
That play also represented the intensity manifested by the 'Cats on this day, an intensity that limited the Nittany Lions to no field goals and just six points over the last 10:47. Skelly and the blossoming freshman Anthony Gaines, Law and Lindsey, McIntosh and Pardon— each was part of this performance, a performance so different from the one presented just two weeks ago in that place called Happy Valley. There, on that Friday night, they appeared disconnected while falling by 15. Here, while winning by nine in the daylight of a Saturday, they recalled the vision that made history a year ago.
"I hope so," McIntosh would say when asked if this might spark a streak that could resurrect the 'Cats season.
"The thing is, I love this group of guys," Collins said when asked the same. "What these guys have done for me, our program, to make us relevant, to make us respected, to kind of put us in a position to be something as a basketball program are all a result of them. The three seniors (McIntosh, Lindsey and Skelly), I want them in these last 10 games to just play. Don't put any undue pressure on themselves. Whatever's happened has happened. Whether we're not living up to expectations, whether we haven't played as well— we can't control any of that anymore. What we can control is how we finish up the season. Try to make something of this year.
"We still have more than half the league left. We have 10 games left. Crazier things have happened. I've always been an optimist. I'm always a believer. Last year we had a seven game stretch when we were two-and-five, and we still found a way to get to 10 wins and put ourselves in a position to get to the postseason. So I think our goals are still there for us."
NUsports.com Special Contributor
They met just two weeks ago, in that place called Happy Valley, and here Penn State not only beat the 'Cats by 15. It also beat them up in that workplace called The Blocks, where they corralled 40 rebounds to the 'Cats 27, where they collected 48 points in the paint to the 'Cats 18. So now here it is early Saturday afternoon, and these same teams are preparing for their rematch at Allstate Arena. "In warmups," point Bryant McIntosh will later recall, "you kinda look across the floor and judge how a team's feeling. You could tell they were very confident. We used that as a little bit of motivation."
"All I know is, before the game, some of our coaches questioned our energy, (saying) we need to pick it up before the game started," Vic Law soon adds. "The last time they blew us up out there, so we needed to really ramp it up. This was not going to be a game that was the same."
•••••
They met just two weeks ago, in that place called Happy Valley, and here Penn State just shredded the 'Cats man-to-man defense. "We got so badly beaten in dribble penetration," Chris Collins recalled on Saturday. "Pat (Chambers, the Nittany Lions coach) does a really good job of isolating his best players. He gives them space to operate. They torched our man. We didn't have very good match-ups. They got by our guys at will. So what happened was those guys either got shots or our big guys had to help and they dumped it off to (forward Mike) Watkins for dunks. I didn't think we played with nearly the kind of fight or energy or effort that was needed."
And what did he learn from that game?
"Not to play them man-to-man. I learned a hard lesson that way."
•••••
They met just two week ago, in that place called Happy Valley, and here Penn State simply had its way with the 'Cats, who like all accomplished athletes are proud-and-willful individuals. So it was no surprise that, on Saturday, Collins also said, "I think our guys were anxious to play them again. Anytime you play to a level where you're not proud of, almost embarrassed— a lot of us were embarrassed by that performance. Everybody was eager to get a chance to see if we could be better. We weren't overconfident or anything like that. But we wanted to have a chance to see if we could be tough enough to beat a physical team like this."
"They are a tough team," McIntosh was saying minutes later. "They've got some big guys, physical."
And the 'Cats were embarrassed by them the first time?
"That would be correct. I think we all were very disappointed, embarrassed. To be honest, I thought the most embarrassing thing was walking out today and having them look at us. Seeing them again, for me, that was the most embarrassing thing, knowing we didn't play to our capabilities at their place."
•••••
They met just two weeks ago, in that place called Happy Valley, and what happened there colored so much of what unfolded Saturday at Allstate, where their rematch evolved into a game of stare down. But this time the 'Cats refused to blink, not even when the Nittany Lions scampered off to an early nine-point lead, not even after the Nittany Lions led by two at the half after shooting 68.2 percent overall (15-of-22) and 55.6 percent on their threes (five-of-nine).
These 'Cats, on this day, were a different breed, their zone diminishing the effectiveness of Penn State's penetration, their collective work on the boards flipping the script that had been authored out east. This time they would grab more offensive rebounds than the Nittany Lions (16-6). This time they would collect more total rebounds than the Nittany Lions (32-25). This time they would collect more points-in-the-paint than the Nittany Lions (40-24). "We weren't soft. We didn't play soft," Law said when asked the difference between then and now.
"They try to impose their will on other teams," said McIntosh. "I thought today we did an outstanding job being tough, especially on the glass."
Still, as the second half unfolded, the Nittany Lions clung jealously to their lead, and when their forward Lamar Stevens dropped a jumper at 10:47, it stood at four. But then, at 6:16, Dererk Pardon cut that in half with a dunk off a McIntosh feed and then Scottie Lindsey turned over the Nittany Lions' Nazeer Bostick. Now came a Pardon dunk off a Gavin Skelly assist, a Nittany Lions' miss and one more Pardon dunk, this one off a Lindsey assist. "Every coach has a few plays in their back pocket that they know they can go to late to get a basket," McIntosh later said.
"We went to a couple of them back-to-back and he got a couple dunks. When we can throw it in and he can dunk, it energizes the whole offense. It makes the basket seem bigger. That's when we started our run, where we really asserted ourselves."
Now, with the 'Cats so suddenly up two, the Nittany Lions turned it over once more, and then came a sequence that starkly reflected much of what occurred in this affair. There was a McIntosh miss and a Pardon rebound and a Pardon miss. There was a Skelly rebound and a Skelly miss and Skelly, not giving up on the play, tipping it out to Law, who dropped a three to put the 'Cats up five at 4:10. "We were on a little bit of a run there. That was a huge play," Collins said of it.
That play also represented the intensity manifested by the 'Cats on this day, an intensity that limited the Nittany Lions to no field goals and just six points over the last 10:47. Skelly and the blossoming freshman Anthony Gaines, Law and Lindsey, McIntosh and Pardon— each was part of this performance, a performance so different from the one presented just two weeks ago in that place called Happy Valley. There, on that Friday night, they appeared disconnected while falling by 15. Here, while winning by nine in the daylight of a Saturday, they recalled the vision that made history a year ago.
"I hope so," McIntosh would say when asked if this might spark a streak that could resurrect the 'Cats season.
"The thing is, I love this group of guys," Collins said when asked the same. "What these guys have done for me, our program, to make us relevant, to make us respected, to kind of put us in a position to be something as a basketball program are all a result of them. The three seniors (McIntosh, Lindsey and Skelly), I want them in these last 10 games to just play. Don't put any undue pressure on themselves. Whatever's happened has happened. Whether we're not living up to expectations, whether we haven't played as well— we can't control any of that anymore. What we can control is how we finish up the season. Try to make something of this year.
"We still have more than half the league left. We have 10 games left. Crazier things have happened. I've always been an optimist. I'm always a believer. Last year we had a seven game stretch when we were two-and-five, and we still found a way to get to 10 wins and put ourselves in a position to get to the postseason. So I think our goals are still there for us."
••••••
Be the first to know what's going on with the 'Cats -- Follow @NU_Sports on Twitter, become a fan of Northwestern Athletics on Facebook, check us out on Instagram, visit our Social Media page and download our mobile app from the Apple Store and Google Play! To get involved with the #B1GCats, become a season-ticket holder or join the Wildcat Fund!
Players Mentioned
G
/ Men's Basketball
F
/ Men's Basketball
G/F
/ Men's Basketball
G
/ Men's Basketball
C
/ Men's Basketball
F
/ Men's BasketballMen's Basketball - Purdue Postgame Press Conference (3/12/26)
Friday, March 13
Men's Basketball - Wildcats Fall to Boilermakers in Big Ten Tournament (3/12/26)
Friday, March 13
Men's Basketball - 'Cats Advance in Big Ten Tournament with 74-61 Win Over Indiana (3/11/26)
Thursday, March 12
Men's Basketball - Indiana Postgame Press Conference (3/11/26)
Thursday, March 12
