Northwestern University Athletics
The Skip Report: Making Gaines
1/29/2018 8:48:00 AM | Men's Basketball
By Skip Myslenski
NUsports.com Special Contributor
Ten things as the 'Cats prepare for their Monday night meeting at the Crisler Center, where Michigan has lost but once this season...
1. "Right now," Bryant McIntosh will say, "as things have been going well, we can see our energy and our pop on defense. We can see our activity. We're engaged and involved. You can see guys talking and pointing, even on film. When things aren't going well you can also see we're not talking, we're not as engaged. Defensively, I think is how you really tell how connected (we are), how our energy is, and that just feeds into the other side of the ball."
2. Just over two weeks ago, back when the 'Cats were 1-3 in the Big Ten and coming off a pair of 15-point defeats, they changed their primary defense, switching from a man to a zone that often featured a press as well. "It kind of gave us new life," says Chris Collins, whose group has gone 3-2 since then. "We were struggling on the defensive end. We were getting hurt at different areas of the floor. We were getting beat on dribble penetration. We were fouling a lot. We were one of the top teams in the league in fouls. Guys were in foul trouble almost every game, putting hands on guys.
"What it's enabled us to do is put a stop sign up in transition, where teams have to take time to get the ball up the floor. It's allowed us to set up our zone defense on the other side. And it's really forced our guys to have to communicate. You cannot play an effective zone defense if you don't talk. We were having problems with communication on the floor. It's forced the guys to talk. It's given us a little life. And, more than anything, the players believe in it. So whether it's a great defense or not a great defense— defense is so much predicated on if you believe in what you're trying to do."
3. That switch from man to zone also hastened the emergence of the freshman guard Anthony Gaines, who (for one example) helped catalyze the 'Cats win last Saturday over Penn State. "I thought Gaines did a great job of sparking them," the Nittany Lions coach Pat Chambers said later. "He played really tough. Played with great energy."
"He's just growing up right in front of our eyes," McIntosh said that same afternoon. "I'm really proud of him. He's really going to be a great defensive stopper, first off. He's a physical guy going to the basket. He's got a very high ceiling. I'm really excited just to see where he ends up and see what he can become."
Did Collins expect Gaines to contribute this much so soon?
"I hoped he would," he said this week. "I think some of the changes we've made have really helped him. For any freshman, sometimes you can get paralyzed by all the thinking you have to do on the floor. With us picking up a little bit defensively, doing more zone, the way we're playing has helped him play more freely. Be a little bit more athletic and use his natural instincts. I think that's why he's played much better the last couple of weeks."
4. Gaines grew up 90 miles north of New York City, on the west bank of the Hudson River in a town called Kingston, and as a high school sophomore averaged 21 points per game while leading its high school to the Class AA title game. But before the next season he transferred to the New Hampton School, which was 285 miles northeast of Kingston and located in the foothills of the White Mountains. "I really wasn't looking to change schools or anything like that. I wasn't really aware of prep school," he says. "But I played AAU with Tyler Lyden, who plays with the Nuggets now. His prep school coach (at New Hampton, Pete Hutchins) came with Tyler to one of the City Rocks' practices and saw me play and he was interested in me. We started talking about prep school and what it could do for me academically and with basketball. I just made the decision to go."
5. The move took him from an urban environment to a rural environment, from a school that busted to a school that was bucolic. "It was different," he recalls. "Where I went to high school, there's thousands of kids. Then when I went to New Hampton, there were only 326 students. (The student-faculty ratio is 5-1.) So it was a huge change. Everybody knew everybody. But it was a good change. You knew everyone. You had relationships with everyone. It was like a small community. It was nice."
6. In his first year at New Hampton he faced off with Northfield Mount Hermon and its star, current Northwestern forward Aaron Falzon. Asked if he has any special memory of that game, Gaines jokingly says, "Aaron couldn't guard me."
7. Days before his graduation from New Hampton, Gaines was one of four seniors who spoke at a Baccalaureate gathering, and here he talked of how the school had changed and benefited him. "I'd grown a lot," he says when asked about that speech. "At a place like New Hampton, everyone is there for a reason. Where I went to high school before, there's people who don't want to go to school. They just go because they have to go. But at New Hampton everyone's there with a purpose. It changed how focused I've been. From the basketball aspect of it, being more locked in. Basketball was a whole other level. Then academically, just being more focused on schoolwork. So when I heard about Northwestern (having an interest in him), it meant a lot because it's such a great academic institution."
8. Collins first spotted Gaines at an AAU tournament, the Nike Peach Jam in Augusta, Georgia. "Unfortunately I wasn't playing Augusta National (the home of the Masters). I was in a hot, sweaty gym," he recalls. "I was actually at a game to see another guy. He (Gaines) was on the other team. It just struck my eye— his athleticism, his ability. I liked his demeanor. I liked how he played, his junkyard dog mentality on the floor. I was enamored with how he played. I thought he would bring a lot of attributes to the team that we were missing, especially with what we were losing with the stuff Sanjay (Lumpkin) brought us."
And what attributes would those be?
"I call it a junkyard dog mentality. His ability to guard all kinds of different players. His ability to compete. I loved his ability to rebound. His athleticism. I just thought he played hard all the time. I thought he was going to have a big ceiling. You could see there were some skills there. He was a little bit raw offensively, but with work that he could become an outstanding player."
9. Early on this season the fourth-year junior Vic Law effectively adopted Gaines. "Being the only freshman on the team is hard, especially when you make freshman-like mistakes," he says. "You're learning everything. Going through the grind, everything's so new. So it's always good to have someone older being there for you. . . . He's got a lot of potential. The sky's the limit for him."
"Having a guy like Vic to watch and learn from, it's been great," says Gaines. "Defensively he's helped me grow. He's obviously one of the top defenders in college basketball. And I think he's one of the best two-way players. He's also one of the hardest workers out here and I just try to make an impact on the team like he does."
10. He is told that his coach and his teammates have said that his ceiling is high, that he is limited only by the sky. "I'm happy that these guys have confidence in me and see great things for me," he says.
Does he see great things for himself?
"I try not to look too far down. I try to focus on what we have going on right now."
But clearly he is achievement-oriented.
"I guess."
C'mon. He moved away from home as a young teenager to go after it.
"Yeah. And now I'm here. So, obviously yes," Anthony Gaines finally says. "Being here is definitely a great accomplishment."
NUsports.com Special Contributor
Ten things as the 'Cats prepare for their Monday night meeting at the Crisler Center, where Michigan has lost but once this season...
1. "Right now," Bryant McIntosh will say, "as things have been going well, we can see our energy and our pop on defense. We can see our activity. We're engaged and involved. You can see guys talking and pointing, even on film. When things aren't going well you can also see we're not talking, we're not as engaged. Defensively, I think is how you really tell how connected (we are), how our energy is, and that just feeds into the other side of the ball."
2. Just over two weeks ago, back when the 'Cats were 1-3 in the Big Ten and coming off a pair of 15-point defeats, they changed their primary defense, switching from a man to a zone that often featured a press as well. "It kind of gave us new life," says Chris Collins, whose group has gone 3-2 since then. "We were struggling on the defensive end. We were getting hurt at different areas of the floor. We were getting beat on dribble penetration. We were fouling a lot. We were one of the top teams in the league in fouls. Guys were in foul trouble almost every game, putting hands on guys.
"What it's enabled us to do is put a stop sign up in transition, where teams have to take time to get the ball up the floor. It's allowed us to set up our zone defense on the other side. And it's really forced our guys to have to communicate. You cannot play an effective zone defense if you don't talk. We were having problems with communication on the floor. It's forced the guys to talk. It's given us a little life. And, more than anything, the players believe in it. So whether it's a great defense or not a great defense— defense is so much predicated on if you believe in what you're trying to do."
3. That switch from man to zone also hastened the emergence of the freshman guard Anthony Gaines, who (for one example) helped catalyze the 'Cats win last Saturday over Penn State. "I thought Gaines did a great job of sparking them," the Nittany Lions coach Pat Chambers said later. "He played really tough. Played with great energy."
"He's just growing up right in front of our eyes," McIntosh said that same afternoon. "I'm really proud of him. He's really going to be a great defensive stopper, first off. He's a physical guy going to the basket. He's got a very high ceiling. I'm really excited just to see where he ends up and see what he can become."
Did Collins expect Gaines to contribute this much so soon?
"I hoped he would," he said this week. "I think some of the changes we've made have really helped him. For any freshman, sometimes you can get paralyzed by all the thinking you have to do on the floor. With us picking up a little bit defensively, doing more zone, the way we're playing has helped him play more freely. Be a little bit more athletic and use his natural instincts. I think that's why he's played much better the last couple of weeks."
4. Gaines grew up 90 miles north of New York City, on the west bank of the Hudson River in a town called Kingston, and as a high school sophomore averaged 21 points per game while leading its high school to the Class AA title game. But before the next season he transferred to the New Hampton School, which was 285 miles northeast of Kingston and located in the foothills of the White Mountains. "I really wasn't looking to change schools or anything like that. I wasn't really aware of prep school," he says. "But I played AAU with Tyler Lyden, who plays with the Nuggets now. His prep school coach (at New Hampton, Pete Hutchins) came with Tyler to one of the City Rocks' practices and saw me play and he was interested in me. We started talking about prep school and what it could do for me academically and with basketball. I just made the decision to go."
5. The move took him from an urban environment to a rural environment, from a school that busted to a school that was bucolic. "It was different," he recalls. "Where I went to high school, there's thousands of kids. Then when I went to New Hampton, there were only 326 students. (The student-faculty ratio is 5-1.) So it was a huge change. Everybody knew everybody. But it was a good change. You knew everyone. You had relationships with everyone. It was like a small community. It was nice."
6. In his first year at New Hampton he faced off with Northfield Mount Hermon and its star, current Northwestern forward Aaron Falzon. Asked if he has any special memory of that game, Gaines jokingly says, "Aaron couldn't guard me."
7. Days before his graduation from New Hampton, Gaines was one of four seniors who spoke at a Baccalaureate gathering, and here he talked of how the school had changed and benefited him. "I'd grown a lot," he says when asked about that speech. "At a place like New Hampton, everyone is there for a reason. Where I went to high school before, there's people who don't want to go to school. They just go because they have to go. But at New Hampton everyone's there with a purpose. It changed how focused I've been. From the basketball aspect of it, being more locked in. Basketball was a whole other level. Then academically, just being more focused on schoolwork. So when I heard about Northwestern (having an interest in him), it meant a lot because it's such a great academic institution."
8. Collins first spotted Gaines at an AAU tournament, the Nike Peach Jam in Augusta, Georgia. "Unfortunately I wasn't playing Augusta National (the home of the Masters). I was in a hot, sweaty gym," he recalls. "I was actually at a game to see another guy. He (Gaines) was on the other team. It just struck my eye— his athleticism, his ability. I liked his demeanor. I liked how he played, his junkyard dog mentality on the floor. I was enamored with how he played. I thought he would bring a lot of attributes to the team that we were missing, especially with what we were losing with the stuff Sanjay (Lumpkin) brought us."
And what attributes would those be?
"I call it a junkyard dog mentality. His ability to guard all kinds of different players. His ability to compete. I loved his ability to rebound. His athleticism. I just thought he played hard all the time. I thought he was going to have a big ceiling. You could see there were some skills there. He was a little bit raw offensively, but with work that he could become an outstanding player."
9. Early on this season the fourth-year junior Vic Law effectively adopted Gaines. "Being the only freshman on the team is hard, especially when you make freshman-like mistakes," he says. "You're learning everything. Going through the grind, everything's so new. So it's always good to have someone older being there for you. . . . He's got a lot of potential. The sky's the limit for him."
"Having a guy like Vic to watch and learn from, it's been great," says Gaines. "Defensively he's helped me grow. He's obviously one of the top defenders in college basketball. And I think he's one of the best two-way players. He's also one of the hardest workers out here and I just try to make an impact on the team like he does."
10. He is told that his coach and his teammates have said that his ceiling is high, that he is limited only by the sky. "I'm happy that these guys have confidence in me and see great things for me," he says.
Does he see great things for himself?
"I try not to look too far down. I try to focus on what we have going on right now."
But clearly he is achievement-oriented.
"I guess."
C'mon. He moved away from home as a young teenager to go after it.
"Yeah. And now I'm here. So, obviously yes," Anthony Gaines finally says. "Being here is definitely a great accomplishment."
••••••
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