Win Over Illinois is Big for NU

Northwestern’s win over Illinois gives them bragging rights which is nice, but perhaps more important it gives the team and its fans so hope for the future. I’ve got confidence in what Chris Collins is trying to do, but as I wrote about last weekend it seemed NU just couldn’t catch a break. NU still hasn’t had multiple players really shoot well at one time, but they did catch a break in terms of Illinois having a very off day shooting the ball. As a result the ‘Cats pulled out a hard fought 49-43 victory over the #23 team in the nation.

While Illinois did have an off day shooting you have to give some credit to Northwestern for that result. I honestly felt this was one of the most hard-working defensive efforts I’d seen from NU in a long time. I was particularly impressed with how NU’s perimeter players fought over the top of screens (something they struggled with earlier in the year) and how Alex Olah helped when needed. If NU gets similar efforts in the future they’ll continue to compete. They might need more offensive production than they got last night, though, Tre Demps run of three straight threes was about as clutch as you can get, it’ll take more than 49 points to win most Big Ten games. At least I think it will, but I’d fine if NU could hold down opponents and win 39-33. The end result is the team wants to get W’s and it doesn’t matter how those occur.

Aside from Demps and his clutch play, you have to respect the efforts of JerShon Cobb who stepped into the role of starting point guard and really seemed to ignite the NU offense from that spot. I like Cobb’s ability to score off the dribble and as he plays more and more I expect to see him generate even more offense. I’m still waiting for a huge game from Drew Crawford, but his 13 points did lead the team and he also tied for the team lead with eight rebounds. Crawford needs to make sure his feet are set when he shoots threes and not fade-away on some many shots, but at least he showed some signs of his old shooting touch on Sunday night. Hopefully he’ll completely regain that touch as NU takes on tough matchups with Michigan State and Indiana this week. 

The other area NU needs to improve in before this week's games is free throw shooting. At least Crawford made the clutch free throws at the end of the game, but overall the team did not shoot free throws well. Making free throws seems at times to be a skill which isn't nearly as common as it was in years past, but if you're a team that is an underdog in nearly every game you need to get any points you can free throws are by their name "free" points. I'll be looking and hoping the 'Cats are cashing in from the line in other close games this season. 

Northwestern Needs to Find Some Consistency

A lot of people say Northwestern doesn’t have good basketball players. Maybe that is true, but at various times Northwestern’s “bad” players have been pretty good. The problem is that they lack any sort of consistency in terms of when they play well. Even worse they don’t seem to play well at the same time. For example, Tre Demps scored 23 points in NU’s loss to DePaul. In that game he consistently hit three point shots. Today, he couldn’t hit multiple open three early in the game. Those threes were created because Drew Crawford was having a good half and he ended up scoring 13 first half points. If Demps has hit his open threes in the first half Northwestern could very well have established an early lead and changed the whole course of the game. It might even have created open looks for a third Wildcat player.

Alex Olah is another example of inconsistency. Olah posted a career high 22 points against Wisconsin a game after he scored zero (0) versus DePaul. If Olah had only scored half of what he scored versus Wisconsin versus DePaul NU would have won that game easily.

JerShon Cobb is another player who has had big games in the past, but who doesn’t seem to have his big games when other players play well. If Cobb could have posted a double-figure game versus Wisconsin to support Olah then perhaps NU could have hung around in that game but he did not play well.

Dave Sobolewski scored a career high 25 points against UIC early in this season. He hasn’t come close to that since. If Sobo could have exceeded 20 points in any number of games since then NU might have come away with a victory, but he hasn’t so NU has lost several games where they needed production from the point guard position.

I’m hesitant even to bring up Drew Crawford as we’ve discussed for years his inconsistent play. Crawford has never been a consistent player and that lack of consistency has been magnified this year as he’s supposed to be NU’s best offensive weapon, but has struggled to ever reach the 20-point mark. Part of that is because teams focus defense on him but part of it is that Crawford tends to disappear in the offense. Still, if Crawford could consistently get some support from his teammates he might be able to lead NU to some victories before the season ends. 

Back on Winning Track at Home

I don't really know what to say about this game. Northwestern clearly still hasn't found any sort of rhythm on offense but at least they found a way to play good defense. I liked the fact Coach Collins changed up the starting lineup and that seemed to ignite a fire in some of the Wildcats. At least Alex Olah responded to his benching with some intensity. He scored early and actually looked pretty good on the glass vs 6-11 opponent which really impressed me.

Dave Sobolewski still doesn't seem to have put things together. He was also pulled from the starting lineup, but actually played a lot. Unfortunately, not much of his play was particularly good. He still seems very uncomfortable in the new offense and simply can't seem to hit a three. I can't figure it out because he's clearly a guy who has worked on shooting his whole life, but the ball just doesn't go in when he shoots at this point.

I did like the play of JerShon Cobb at the point guard position. He's also a great free throw shooter and needs to be more aggressive going to the basket in an effort to draw fouls and get to the line. I'm still waiting for a truly big game from Drew Crawford. Probably not getting two early fouls every game would help with that. Maybe Collins shouldn't automatically sit Drew when he picks up a foul, though, I'd say Drew as a 5th year senior needs to be smarter defensively and pickup so many fouls.

Alex Olah Leads NU to Victory

I think the two most important spots on the court for Northwestern this year are center and point guard. The point guard spot remains somewhat unsettled as Dave Sobolewski county he's to try to find his way in the new offense, but I was pleased to see Alex Olah step up in a big way tonight. While Olah be consistent or will he be maddeningly inconsistent like Sobo who scored 25 vs UIC and hasn't approached that since? I have no idea but I'm currently very pleased with what I thought was Alex Olah's best game at Northwestern.

I think part of what made Olah so effective is that once he showed he could score on Gardner-Webb's post players his teammates kept feeding him the ball. This was huge on a night when three pointers weren't falling NU understand they has an advantage inside and they did all they could to exploit the favorable matchup. In the past I think sometimes NU has ignored their centers even when they had an advantage and just settled for threes.

I also liked the way NU seemed to just play with more aggression in the second half. The first half seemed kind of lazy and deliberate but in the second half it looked like NU was having more fun and really attacking the rim. That led to some nice dunks from Olah and Nate Taphorn and got JerShon Cobb really involved both scoring and passing.

As NU moves on to play two quality teams in Mizzou and UCLA it will be essential Cobb keep getting into the lane and making things happen. NU will also need Drew Crawford to play two good halves of basketball which doesn't seem to have happened since the Eastern Illinois game but I think we all know NU won't beat a top-20 team unless Drew posts around 25 points.

NU Survives IUPUI's Best Effort

I think one major takeaway I from tonight's game is that IUPUI gave a great effort at Welsh-Ryan Arena this evening. Drew Crawford said NU coach Chris Collins challenged his team at halftime because he felt IUPUI was out working the Wildcats and honestly they may have out worked them in the second half as well, but thankfully some creative defensive game planning by Collins and a late runner by JerShon Cobb kept NU in the game and gave the 'Cats an important W.

Drew Crawford led a balanced NU attack with 12 points all of which came in the second half. I'm not sure Crawford is yet aggressive enough in his role as NU's go-to scorer as he tends to disappear at times. He should never take less shots than guys like Dave Sobolewski and Sanjay Lumpkin. If I wanted to be positive I'd say he'll learn that soon but time is running out on him learning that. The only way NU upsets UCLA and Mizzou would be huge day from Crawford and those games are less than a week away.

Sanjay Lumpkin was once again really good on the glass and actually got some inside scoring help from Alex Olah. It's been stated by Collins that Olah is the key to NU's success and scary as that might be for fans to hear it is probably true. Everything works better for NU when Olah is a presence inside both on offense and defense. The other key to NU's success is Dave Sobolewski. He didn't make shots tonight like he did vs UIC on Wednesday but he ended up as NU's second leading scorer and sank some key free throws. If he can make 40% of his three point shots (which I know would be double what he did tonight) I think he and NU have a pretty good year. Is that realistic? I don't know but I'm going to pay close attention to Sobolewski on Monday.

Dear Chris Collins,

Welcome to being a head coach.

Sincerely,

Everyone Who's Been One

That pretty much sums up my thoughts on tonight. Northwestern's young head coach has to learn that once you're in charge the job is a lot harder than you ever though it would or could have been. Making matters even worse for Collins he's in a job in which really no coach has ever been successful. In fact, the most successful one got fired and replaced by him.

What we know for sure is that this game showed why NU ran the Princeton Offense and the 1-3-1 in years past. Virtually every ISU player was more athletic than anyone on the NU roster and they're a weak D1 team. The future success Chris Collins will (or could have) is dependent on upgrading NU's athletic skill. He's making strides in that area. Are those big enough strides? We won't know for a couple years.

The positive from this game is Northwestern never quit giving effort. The negative is it is hard to imagine even with effort that is team is going to be very successful. I'd put the over under on wins at 10.

NU Era starts with a W

So here we go again. Another season with high hopes for NU hoops. This time things are a little different as the so called "NU Era" has begun under new coach Chris Collins. I was a little nervous about a guy with no head coaching experience taking over a Big Ten job (and I guess to some extent I still am) but Collins seems very popular with players and other NU students and the team certainly played hard. Plus, the students showed up for a non conference game vs a directional school most couldn't even locate on a map. So outside of basketball a ton of good things happened today.

In regards to basketball some good things happened as well. Most importantly we saw the return of Drew Crawford. He led NU in scoring and rebounding with 25 points and 11 rebounds. That's a great night, but it's also the type of night Crawford is more than capable of putting up on any given night and NU will need such nights if they're going to win consistently this year.

Three other returnees made big impacts for NU as well. JerShon Cobb had at least eight assists and seemed to consistently find open shooters as he drove into the lane. That ability to get into the lane and pass out to a shooter will be a staple of the NU Era's offense so the fact Cobb is so adapt at it is huge. One of the guys Cobb passed to several times was Sanjay Lumpkin. He's not known as a shooter but he knocked down several shots today. Plus, it's hard to know all that much about a guy who sat out all but four game last season. Nikola Cerina also saw more time on the court tonight than it seemed like he did all of last year after an early season ankle injury. I think his size and physical play and think it'll be a huge factor vs power-conference teams.