Jan. 1, 2014
NUSports.com Special Contributor offers up a preview of the Northwestern men's basketball team's Big Ten season opener against undefeated No. 4/5 Wisconsin on Thursday at Welsh-Ryan Arena.
THE NEW DEAL: Now comes conference play for the `Cats, who kick off the Big Ten portion of their schedule Thursday night at Welsh-Ryan against undefeated and fourth-ranked Wisconsin. These games, these family feuds, are different from all others. Any coach will tell you that, and so it is only appropriate that Chris Collins suggests his team's approach in them will be different from their approach in the calendar year just passed.
"I think as we get into the league, especially with the teams we play, we have to be smart about playing at the right tempo," he says.
"We're not going to win a game with a-thousand possessions in it. That's not who we are. We have to be smart. We have to run good offense. We have to play a game at our tempo and try to keep the game at a manageable spot and hopefully give ourselves a chance to win as we go down the stretch. That's what we're trying to do as we get into the league."
"We're actually prepping a little bit differently for Wisconsin than we have for all the other teams up to this point," point Dave Sobolewski will add minutes later. "We're going to need a different scheme to beat Wisconsin. We're going to need a more efficient offense than we've had in the past, as well as tough defense. So we've been working on some schemes there."
So you're going to milk the clock, we suggest.
"I don't know if milking is the right word," Sobolewski demurs. "Making sure we're patient and we get good shots is what we're focusing on. We're definitely not coming down and trying to milk time off the clock. We're just trying to be opportunistic and get the best shot we can within the 35 second shot clock."
THE MATCHUP: The key to the `Cat offense, of course, is forward Drew Crawford, who's averaging a team-best 16.4 points-per-game. But Thursday night he will bump up against Badger Josh Gasser, who two seasons ago was voted onto the Big Ten's All-Defensive team. (He, like Crawford, was a medical redshirt last year.) "He's definitely a tough player," Crawford says of him. "I remember him, he visited here at Northwestern, and I remember meeting him then. He's just a tough-minded kid, a good defender. He'll probably try to take us out of the normal stuff we do. He's one of those guys, he'll get up into you. So I have to be ready for it and be able to take care of the ball, not turn it over and run the team smoothly."
"He's very smart. He's a veteran guy," adds Collins. "It's not so much what he does athletically as it is what he does with his mind. He's tough-minded. He's physical with you. He knows where his help is. He knows how to get guys off their sweet spots. He's just determined. A lot of times with really good defenders, they take pride in being that kind of a guy. I really respect the way he plays. He's kind of their unsung glue guy."
And how do you counter him and free up Crawford?
"We have to continue to put him different spots," says Collins. "Try to run good offense. Bring him off screens. Try to get him to areas where he can get to his favorite spots. We've had success posting him at times. We've had some success getting him in spots where he has space to make moves. Drew's a good player as well. I want Drew to be in a position to take good shots, to be aggressive. Anytime you have that kind of a matchup where there's a really good defender against an offensive player, you have to work hard as a team to get your guy the shots you need to get him. That's what these last couple days (of practice) have been about."
ON THE FLIP SIDE: The `Cats calling card through the preseason has been their own defense, which has limited opponents to just 40.5 percent shooting and 63.2 points-per-game. But Thursday it must contend with a Badger offense so varied that its seven-foot center, Frank Kaminsky, has converted 43.2 percent of his three-point attempts (16-of-37). "That puts more pressure on our centers," says Crawford, explaining the conundrum that causes. "They're not able to help as much around the basket and on screens. That means our help defense has to be great when he's picking and popping to the three-point line. The guys on the weak side have to be ready to get over there and make his three-point shots tougher."
"That puts a lot of pressure on you," echoes Collins. "You look at them, for a Wisconsin team to be averaging 75 points a game shows how potent they are. The thing that impresses you most about their team, you look at the games they've won, they've won games where it's 48-38, and they've won games 95-85. So they can win any which way. They spread you out. They're so smart. (Badger) Coach (Bo) Ryan's one of the best in the business, has been for a long time. They're very disciplined. They don't beat themselves. They don't turn the ball over. And they have a lot of guys who can shoot the ball. You don't have a lot of areas where you can give help. It makes it tough. So you have to be really locked in. You have to try and make them take as tough a shot as possible. Then you have to rebound. Those will be some of our goals going into the game."
QUICKLY NOTED: Kaminsky is not the only Badger shooting better than 40 percent from distance. That is true too of 6-foot-1 senior guard Ben Brust (44 percent on 37-of-84 shooting) and defensive-specialist Gasser (40.6 percent on 13-of-32 shooting). . . Kaminsky's a local product from Lisle. "I've known him my whole life. He was a close family friend growing up," says Crawford. He then played at Benet Academy, where he was a teammate of Sobolewski. "He was 6-6 as a freshman, something like that, and being able to play outside definitely has helped him," the `Cat recalls, explaining the Badgers' outside touch. "You shoot up six inches, you don't lose those skills. So it's definitely been good for him.". . . Brust is another local product who grew up in Hawthorn Woods and attended Mundelein High School. . . The Badgers' stud is 6-foot-8 sophomore forward Sam Dekker, who leads them in both scoring (14.5 ppg) and rebounding (6.2). . . The 13-0 Badgers are just one of eight undefeated teams in the country and off to their best start in a century. Their 1913-14 edition won 15 straight to open that season. . . It's significant to note that the Badgers have succeeded while playing the seventh-toughest schedule in the country. Their opponents are a combined 100-47 (.680) in their other games. . . A couple notable stats: The Badgers average a mere 8.54 turnovers per-game, which is tops in the country. They also average just 14.4 fouls per-game, which is also the nation's best. . . The Badgers have not only won their last 10 Big Ten openers. They have also topped the `Cats in 11 of their last 12 meetings.
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