Northwestern University Athletics
The Skip Report: Big Ten Tournament
2/28/2018 1:48:00 PM | Men's Basketball
By Skip Myslenski
NUSports.com Special Contributor
Ten things as the 'Cats head off for New York City and the world's most-famous arena, Madison Square Garden, where Thursday they face Penn State in a second-round game of the Big Ten Tournament. . .
1. Vic Law will sit for the third consecutive game with a right foot injury. "It's tough," Chris Collins says of his absence. "He brings a lot to our team. He's a guy who brings a little bit of everything. He's a veteran guy. He's played in big games. There's not one guy who's going to take that load. The one thing that's been a positive for us is the ability to get (the first year guard) Anthony Gaines a lot more experience. "He's getting better. It's been exciting to watch his growth."
2. Then there is Bryant McIntosh, who damaged his shoulder against Rutgers; missed two games; played 38 minutes against Wisconsin, but then only seven in the regular-season finale at Iowa. "Questionable," Collins says of him early Tuesday afternoon. "We're hoping to have him ready. But not sure yet. A lot depends on how he handles getting treatment and rehab over the next couple days. He gutted it out in the Wisconsin game. I think his adrenalin got him through that, Senior Night. Then he was not able to go against Iowa. So a lot is going to depend on how he's feeling."
Asked about that minutes just later, McIntosh would bluntly and unhesitatingly avow, "I'm going to play."
3. Here is why McIntosh, who is confronting the conclusion of his Northwester career, is so determined to play. "It's the last-game thing," he says. "It's the last time I'll be able to put on a jersey if something happens and we don't go out and take care of business. So I'm not going to sit on the sidelines and watch that happen. I'm going to try and put my will, my fingerprints on that and give us a chance."
4. But it is not an easy thing to perform when you're damaged goods. "It's frustrating. It's frustrating. Just knowing you don't have a next year, just knowing you don't have another game," McIntosh explains. "There's no tomorrow, especially now. You lose, you're done. That's just how it is. So you're just going to have to gut it out and see what you can do."
5. Gaines, the promising rookie, averaged just 10.8 minutes in the five games before McIntosh's injury at Rutgers. But that night in New Jersey he played 30 and since then, with both McIntosh and Law dinged up, he has put in 37, 38, 31 and 40. That's enough minutes to press him up against that wall so many first years hit, but Collins says, "I think he's okay. He didn't have a huge role (earlier). He was playing role-player minutes. He's fresh."
"I feel good," Gaines himself will soon echo. "A lot of experience for me. . .and the more games I play, the slower the games start to get."
6. McIntosh is a basketball savant and Gaines grew up in Kingston, a town just 90 miles north of New York City. No surprise, then, that both appreciate the experience that awaits them. "It means a lot," says Gaines. "I've never been to Madison Square Garden before. It's always been a dream of mine to play there. So I'm really excited for this opportunity."
"It means a lot. It's the Mecca of basketball, especially NBA basketball," says McIntosh. "I'm really excited to get under the lights. That's the one thing everybody talks about. That's my one big excitement. You've seen so many great performances in there, so just being able to get under the lights and go to battle with these guys is really exciting for me."
7. The 'Cats have split their battles with Penn State this season, losing on the road by 15 on Jan. 5 and winning at Allstate by nine two weeks later.
8. But this whole season, of course, has been a battle for the 'Cats, who entered it draped in superlatives and surrounded by high expectations. This was not only new to them. It was new to their opponents, who now regarded them differently than they had in the past. "I think so. They knew they had to show up," says McIntosh. "Everybody expected so much of us. Having that expectation brought more of a circle from the teams who were playing us. They circled the date. It's something we've never dealt with. When you get everybody's best shot, you're not going to sneak up on anybody. That was something, it was new to us. It was new to us. We'd never had that expectation."
"I think it's part of it," Collins will say when asked if that contributed to his team's season-long struggle. "For so long you are the hunter and I think there were times when teams, not that they inherently do it. But you see a team like Northwestern, you're not going to put in your full preparation and we might be able to catch someone by surprise. That's no longer the case and that's a good thing . . . But it was a myriad of things. That was part of it. We were getting everybody's best shot. Then we weren't in quite the condition we needed to be in. We were a little bit lackadaisical. You couple those things and, all of a sudden, it's a big difference. It's that fine line between being good and losing."
9. The 'Cats, in fact, have lost six straight, and that has had its effect. "We've gotten a little bit beaten down. I think our confidence is low right now," Collins admits. "But I think everybody's excited to go to New York. It's a new atmosphere. None of these guys has ever played in the Garden, which a really cool thing. It's just an opportunity now— it's a fresh start. It really is. The regular season is over. There's nothing we can do to change what did or did not happen in the course of the conference season. Now we've got to go New York and we've just got to take the approach, 'It's a new start.' It's a one-and-done mentality, and let's try to find a way Thursday night to see what we can do, to do whatever it takes, to win a game."
10. The final word here shall go to the estimable McIntosh, who said this on Senior Night when asked about the trip to New York. "I think our mindset just has to be just lay it on the line each and every night," he said. "if we're going to go out, we're going to go out swinging. That's how we've always done it here and I don't see that changing.
"That'll definitely be my message to everybody. If we're going to get beat, they're going to have to take our heart out."
NUSports.com Special Contributor
Ten things as the 'Cats head off for New York City and the world's most-famous arena, Madison Square Garden, where Thursday they face Penn State in a second-round game of the Big Ten Tournament. . .
1. Vic Law will sit for the third consecutive game with a right foot injury. "It's tough," Chris Collins says of his absence. "He brings a lot to our team. He's a guy who brings a little bit of everything. He's a veteran guy. He's played in big games. There's not one guy who's going to take that load. The one thing that's been a positive for us is the ability to get (the first year guard) Anthony Gaines a lot more experience. "He's getting better. It's been exciting to watch his growth."
2. Then there is Bryant McIntosh, who damaged his shoulder against Rutgers; missed two games; played 38 minutes against Wisconsin, but then only seven in the regular-season finale at Iowa. "Questionable," Collins says of him early Tuesday afternoon. "We're hoping to have him ready. But not sure yet. A lot depends on how he handles getting treatment and rehab over the next couple days. He gutted it out in the Wisconsin game. I think his adrenalin got him through that, Senior Night. Then he was not able to go against Iowa. So a lot is going to depend on how he's feeling."
Asked about that minutes just later, McIntosh would bluntly and unhesitatingly avow, "I'm going to play."
3. Here is why McIntosh, who is confronting the conclusion of his Northwester career, is so determined to play. "It's the last-game thing," he says. "It's the last time I'll be able to put on a jersey if something happens and we don't go out and take care of business. So I'm not going to sit on the sidelines and watch that happen. I'm going to try and put my will, my fingerprints on that and give us a chance."
4. But it is not an easy thing to perform when you're damaged goods. "It's frustrating. It's frustrating. Just knowing you don't have a next year, just knowing you don't have another game," McIntosh explains. "There's no tomorrow, especially now. You lose, you're done. That's just how it is. So you're just going to have to gut it out and see what you can do."
5. Gaines, the promising rookie, averaged just 10.8 minutes in the five games before McIntosh's injury at Rutgers. But that night in New Jersey he played 30 and since then, with both McIntosh and Law dinged up, he has put in 37, 38, 31 and 40. That's enough minutes to press him up against that wall so many first years hit, but Collins says, "I think he's okay. He didn't have a huge role (earlier). He was playing role-player minutes. He's fresh."
"I feel good," Gaines himself will soon echo. "A lot of experience for me. . .and the more games I play, the slower the games start to get."
6. McIntosh is a basketball savant and Gaines grew up in Kingston, a town just 90 miles north of New York City. No surprise, then, that both appreciate the experience that awaits them. "It means a lot," says Gaines. "I've never been to Madison Square Garden before. It's always been a dream of mine to play there. So I'm really excited for this opportunity."
"It means a lot. It's the Mecca of basketball, especially NBA basketball," says McIntosh. "I'm really excited to get under the lights. That's the one thing everybody talks about. That's my one big excitement. You've seen so many great performances in there, so just being able to get under the lights and go to battle with these guys is really exciting for me."
7. The 'Cats have split their battles with Penn State this season, losing on the road by 15 on Jan. 5 and winning at Allstate by nine two weeks later.
8. But this whole season, of course, has been a battle for the 'Cats, who entered it draped in superlatives and surrounded by high expectations. This was not only new to them. It was new to their opponents, who now regarded them differently than they had in the past. "I think so. They knew they had to show up," says McIntosh. "Everybody expected so much of us. Having that expectation brought more of a circle from the teams who were playing us. They circled the date. It's something we've never dealt with. When you get everybody's best shot, you're not going to sneak up on anybody. That was something, it was new to us. It was new to us. We'd never had that expectation."
"I think it's part of it," Collins will say when asked if that contributed to his team's season-long struggle. "For so long you are the hunter and I think there were times when teams, not that they inherently do it. But you see a team like Northwestern, you're not going to put in your full preparation and we might be able to catch someone by surprise. That's no longer the case and that's a good thing . . . But it was a myriad of things. That was part of it. We were getting everybody's best shot. Then we weren't in quite the condition we needed to be in. We were a little bit lackadaisical. You couple those things and, all of a sudden, it's a big difference. It's that fine line between being good and losing."
9. The 'Cats, in fact, have lost six straight, and that has had its effect. "We've gotten a little bit beaten down. I think our confidence is low right now," Collins admits. "But I think everybody's excited to go to New York. It's a new atmosphere. None of these guys has ever played in the Garden, which a really cool thing. It's just an opportunity now— it's a fresh start. It really is. The regular season is over. There's nothing we can do to change what did or did not happen in the course of the conference season. Now we've got to go New York and we've just got to take the approach, 'It's a new start.' It's a one-and-done mentality, and let's try to find a way Thursday night to see what we can do, to do whatever it takes, to win a game."
10. The final word here shall go to the estimable McIntosh, who said this on Senior Night when asked about the trip to New York. "I think our mindset just has to be just lay it on the line each and every night," he said. "if we're going to go out, we're going to go out swinging. That's how we've always done it here and I don't see that changing.
"That'll definitely be my message to everybody. If we're going to get beat, they're going to have to take our heart out."
••••••
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