Northwestern University Athletics
The Skip Report: Growing with the 'Cats
1/12/2020 7:06:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Chris Collins said, "In life it's about pressure. If you want to be good, there's going to be some pressure, and you've got to be tough, and you've got to go out there and get the job done."
Chris Collins also said, "It's new. It's all new. Whenever you're trying to cross bridges and get over the hump, you have to go through it the first time. And you've got to be really tough-minded. And you've got to be together. And you've got to cross that bridge as a unit."
Chris Collins said all that in early 2017, back when his 'Cats were searching out their program's first NCAA tourney bid. But those words applied just as well to the current edition of his 'Cats, which entered its Saturday matinee with Nebraska still searching out its first conference win of the season.
•••••••
Three days earlier, in Bloomington, they were poised to do that with an upset of Indiana, but then their late lead evaporated and they exited with a four-point loss. "I actually feel we've been playing some pretty good basketball the last few games and we just haven't been rewarded," Collins said Saturday. "Obviously the Indiana game was a crusher for all of us. We felt we deserved to win."
That, of course, was not the first close conference loss absorbed by these young 'Cats. They had also suffered similar fates against Michigan State and Purdue. But none of them, they would say, fractured their spine. Instead, when asked the team's mindset entering ifs fray with the Huskers, sophomore forward Miller Kopp said, "We wanted it super bad. That's what the X factor was. We wanted to come out in the game and let everyone know just by watching us that we wanted it really bad."
"Coach talked about, 'Go out there and earn it. Just leave everything on the floor,'" added the rookie forward Robbie Beran. "We learned from previous games. Just trying to make winning plays."
The 'Cats made plenty of winning plays in Saturday's first 20 minutes, going 17-of-33 overall (51.5%) and 8-of-14 on their threes (57.1%) while rolling to a 42-27 halftime lead. "We knew they were going to have urgency today (coming off the Indiana loss) and we didn't match that early in the game," Nebraska coach Fred Hoiberg later lamented. "That opening half, they set the tone. We didn't come out with the intensity we needed on the defensive end. We were closing out short. They were too comfortable early."
The 'Cats shot just 26.7% overall (8-of-30) and 13.3% on their threes (2-of-15) in the second half, but their lead was still a comfortable dozen after center Ryan Young scored from down low with just 3:47 remaining. Immediately Hoiberg called a time out, and now began the stretch that would test the young 'Cats collective mettle.
There was an exchange of misses and then a three-pointer by the Huskers' Matej Kavas that pulled Nebraska to within nine at 3:14. Here the 'Cats, poised, ran their offense and milked the shot clock. But Kopp missed an open three just before it expired, and the Huskers pushed it and got a three from Kevin Cross to close their gap to six at 2:30. Now it was Collins who called a quick time out.
"A lot of times with a young team sometimes you've got to face the music again, so to speak," he would later say. "We got in the same game situation where it was four minutes to go and had a lead. We had to get stops. That's what we haven't been doing is getting stops in the last three minutes of games. Teams have been scoring easily on us."
"We just needed to get stops then," echoed Beran. "If we lock them up, then we don't have to score anymore."
Now Young, the last of the 'Cats to score, is fouled, and he misses the front end of his one-and-one off the back rim. But Beran, a dervish, fights for the rebound and gets the ball to Kopp and, with three seconds on the shot clock, Kopp offers a three and misses once again, the ball going out of bounds to Nebraska. Here the 'Cats get a stop and now it is Kopp, an 86.7% shooter on his free throws, who is going to the line for a one-and-one at 1:40. Yet he too misses his first off the back rim, but again the 'Cats get a stop, A.J. Turner blocking a driving Cam Mack in the paint. Here, once more, the 'Cats milk the clock, and once more they go to the line for a one-and-one, and this time it is Pat Spencer who misses the front end with one minute remaining.
Then, suddenly, NU's margin is down to three, the Huskers' Mack offering up a prayer from beyond the arc that caroms in off the backboard at 50.4. Hoiberg again calls time.
The margin is still three after Pete Nance misses a three, and now the Huskers are pushing the ball up the right boundary, and their Dachon Burke goes up for the tying three, and Spencer flies by him with his arm raised, and Burke flays his legs all akimbo looking for a call. It doesn't come. "Their guy did a good job," Collins will later say of this sequence. "He was crafty. He jumped in, made it look like there was some contact. A lot of times crafty players do that late in games. It was a really good play by Pat to challenge that, to get a hand up."
The shot, way short, is corralled by Kopp, who is immediately fouled. He has, in the last three minutes, missed three consecutive three-point attempts, and he has missed one front end as well. But here he calmly drops a pair and with that the 'Cats have their win. "I felt comfortable," he will later say of this moment, his moment. "I missed the previous one-and-one. That's just part of the game. I knew if I got another chance I was going to knock them down. I was confident."
"He wants the ball. That's what I've always loved about Miller," Collins said. "Everyone knows how much I thought of him in high school because of his competitiveness and because of his courage and wanting to take those big shots. But until you get out there and do it at this level there's still that unknown, 'Can I be that guy?' I love the fact that, he got three open threes in a row and missed them, he missed the front end, yet he still went up there and made the two biggest ones. He's going to be in that situation a lot in his career. Hopefully all the experiences he goes through like today will give him more confidence the next time."
So, at last, this edition of the 'Cats stood up to pressure, proved their toughness and crossed the bridge to their first conference win of the season. "Obviously," Chris Collins would say, "the understatement of the year is it was a big win for us."
Chris Collins also said, "When you put investment into it and don't get to taste some success, it can be hard. So, to see those guys playing music and dancing and throwing water and chest bumping and enjoying being in a 40-minute battle and winning, hopefully that will go a long way toward us moving forward."
Chris Collins also said, "It's new. It's all new. Whenever you're trying to cross bridges and get over the hump, you have to go through it the first time. And you've got to be really tough-minded. And you've got to be together. And you've got to cross that bridge as a unit."
Chris Collins said all that in early 2017, back when his 'Cats were searching out their program's first NCAA tourney bid. But those words applied just as well to the current edition of his 'Cats, which entered its Saturday matinee with Nebraska still searching out its first conference win of the season.
•••••••
Three days earlier, in Bloomington, they were poised to do that with an upset of Indiana, but then their late lead evaporated and they exited with a four-point loss. "I actually feel we've been playing some pretty good basketball the last few games and we just haven't been rewarded," Collins said Saturday. "Obviously the Indiana game was a crusher for all of us. We felt we deserved to win."
That, of course, was not the first close conference loss absorbed by these young 'Cats. They had also suffered similar fates against Michigan State and Purdue. But none of them, they would say, fractured their spine. Instead, when asked the team's mindset entering ifs fray with the Huskers, sophomore forward Miller Kopp said, "We wanted it super bad. That's what the X factor was. We wanted to come out in the game and let everyone know just by watching us that we wanted it really bad."
"Coach talked about, 'Go out there and earn it. Just leave everything on the floor,'" added the rookie forward Robbie Beran. "We learned from previous games. Just trying to make winning plays."
The 'Cats made plenty of winning plays in Saturday's first 20 minutes, going 17-of-33 overall (51.5%) and 8-of-14 on their threes (57.1%) while rolling to a 42-27 halftime lead. "We knew they were going to have urgency today (coming off the Indiana loss) and we didn't match that early in the game," Nebraska coach Fred Hoiberg later lamented. "That opening half, they set the tone. We didn't come out with the intensity we needed on the defensive end. We were closing out short. They were too comfortable early."
The 'Cats shot just 26.7% overall (8-of-30) and 13.3% on their threes (2-of-15) in the second half, but their lead was still a comfortable dozen after center Ryan Young scored from down low with just 3:47 remaining. Immediately Hoiberg called a time out, and now began the stretch that would test the young 'Cats collective mettle.
There was an exchange of misses and then a three-pointer by the Huskers' Matej Kavas that pulled Nebraska to within nine at 3:14. Here the 'Cats, poised, ran their offense and milked the shot clock. But Kopp missed an open three just before it expired, and the Huskers pushed it and got a three from Kevin Cross to close their gap to six at 2:30. Now it was Collins who called a quick time out.
"A lot of times with a young team sometimes you've got to face the music again, so to speak," he would later say. "We got in the same game situation where it was four minutes to go and had a lead. We had to get stops. That's what we haven't been doing is getting stops in the last three minutes of games. Teams have been scoring easily on us."
"We just needed to get stops then," echoed Beran. "If we lock them up, then we don't have to score anymore."
Now Young, the last of the 'Cats to score, is fouled, and he misses the front end of his one-and-one off the back rim. But Beran, a dervish, fights for the rebound and gets the ball to Kopp and, with three seconds on the shot clock, Kopp offers a three and misses once again, the ball going out of bounds to Nebraska. Here the 'Cats get a stop and now it is Kopp, an 86.7% shooter on his free throws, who is going to the line for a one-and-one at 1:40. Yet he too misses his first off the back rim, but again the 'Cats get a stop, A.J. Turner blocking a driving Cam Mack in the paint. Here, once more, the 'Cats milk the clock, and once more they go to the line for a one-and-one, and this time it is Pat Spencer who misses the front end with one minute remaining.
Then, suddenly, NU's margin is down to three, the Huskers' Mack offering up a prayer from beyond the arc that caroms in off the backboard at 50.4. Hoiberg again calls time.
The margin is still three after Pete Nance misses a three, and now the Huskers are pushing the ball up the right boundary, and their Dachon Burke goes up for the tying three, and Spencer flies by him with his arm raised, and Burke flays his legs all akimbo looking for a call. It doesn't come. "Their guy did a good job," Collins will later say of this sequence. "He was crafty. He jumped in, made it look like there was some contact. A lot of times crafty players do that late in games. It was a really good play by Pat to challenge that, to get a hand up."
The shot, way short, is corralled by Kopp, who is immediately fouled. He has, in the last three minutes, missed three consecutive three-point attempts, and he has missed one front end as well. But here he calmly drops a pair and with that the 'Cats have their win. "I felt comfortable," he will later say of this moment, his moment. "I missed the previous one-and-one. That's just part of the game. I knew if I got another chance I was going to knock them down. I was confident."
"He wants the ball. That's what I've always loved about Miller," Collins said. "Everyone knows how much I thought of him in high school because of his competitiveness and because of his courage and wanting to take those big shots. But until you get out there and do it at this level there's still that unknown, 'Can I be that guy?' I love the fact that, he got three open threes in a row and missed them, he missed the front end, yet he still went up there and made the two biggest ones. He's going to be in that situation a lot in his career. Hopefully all the experiences he goes through like today will give him more confidence the next time."
So, at last, this edition of the 'Cats stood up to pressure, proved their toughness and crossed the bridge to their first conference win of the season. "Obviously," Chris Collins would say, "the understatement of the year is it was a big win for us."
Chris Collins also said, "When you put investment into it and don't get to taste some success, it can be hard. So, to see those guys playing music and dancing and throwing water and chest bumping and enjoying being in a 40-minute battle and winning, hopefully that will go a long way toward us moving forward."
Players Mentioned
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