Northwestern University Athletics
The Skip Report: Wisconsin Primer
1/11/2016 5:37:00 PM | Men's Basketball
By Skip Myslenski
NUsports.com Special Contributor
TRE DEMPS radiated a different aura last Saturday in Minnesota than he had the previous week in the 'Cats losses to Maryland and Ohio State. "I didn't think he was as anxious in his pressing," Chris Collins said Monday, explicating what he saw. "He let the game come to him. He just played, and made the plays, and took the shots that were there, and was very effective because of it."
"I felt more free," said Demps himself. "I didn't really focus on making offensive plays, or making shots. It worked out. Every game's different, and you have to have a different game plan to try and help your team win. That game I just tried to focus on the defensive end and let the shots kind of come."
TRE DEMPS was not free in those losses to the Terps and the Buckeyes, where he totaled just 16 points while going seven-of-33 (21.5 percent) from the field. He was instead hindered by the pressure he put on himself, a fact Collins alluded to after the second of those defeats. "I think I was (putting too much pressure on myself)," Demps agreed Monday when asked just that. "Sometimes you want it so bad, and you want to help the team so bad, that you just keep making the same mistakes without thinking. I think that's what happened to me those two games. The main thing I wanted to focus on at Minnesota was just relaxing, and focus on the defensive end and let my offense come to me."
TRE DEMPS, despite being a fifth-year senior, was not surprised that he fell into this trap. "No. That's my personality," he explained. "I like to go, go, go and do, do, do. Sometimes you've to be careful when you have that personality. You let the game become bigger than it is."
TRE DEMPS and Collins talked about this as the 'Cats prepared for their trip to Minnesota, where he scored 13 on five-of-11 shooting (45.5 precent) during the 'Cats 25-point rout of the Gophers. "I can't share all the details," he said of their talk. "But it was just finding joy doing other things, focusing on other things beside my shot. That's what I tried to focus on in practice (before that game), and hopefully it'll keep carrying over."
TRE DEMPS was not alone in inflicting himself with pressure in that Buckeye loss. Point Bryant McIntosh did it too as the game roared toward its conclusion. "We have to let the game come to us," he reflected on Monday. "We're both capable scorers. We just want to do everything we can to help this team win. I think we forced it a little bit trying to find a way for us to make shots and kind of do it ourselves. We need to rely on our teammates. . . . (But) I didn't see anybody else having success, and I had scored it a little bit, and so I was trying to keep going, trying to keep us in the game, and hope that somebody would eventually help us out. It wasn't a selfish intent. It was trying to find a way to get the win."
TRE DEMPS AND BRYANT McINTOSH possess high basketball IQs, yet Collins was not surprised they had imposed all that pressure on themselves. "I think that's human nature at every level," he said Monday. "You see it in the pros. You see it in college. Guys that are competitive, if your team is struggling, you fight human nature a little bit. 'I can do it.' That's when you really have to keep your poise, you have to stay within our offense. Especially when we have some guys down. They know two of our best players are out. If you come into the year, you're projecting two of our top four guys are going to be (forward Vic) Law and (center Alex) Olah. So those two guys (Demps and McIntosh) are saying, 'We don't have those two guys, it's not going so well, we've got to try and do more.' I thought that hurt us a little bit in the Ohio State game. The Maryland game, we ran into a buzz saw. But I thought in the Ohio State game, that was not indicative of how we played. That was out of character. It was good to see us get back into the character of who we were against Minnesota."
CHRIS COLLINS, looking to remind his team of its character, had a cutup of its successful plays put together, and showed that tape to his 'Cats the night before they faced Minnesota. "Sometimes when it's not going so well, you lose sight of what it was like when it was going well," he explained. "So we actually showed a bunch of clips of us playing well. Being the team we've been was sharing the ball, and getting a lot of assists, and making the extra pass, and playing with emotion, and having each others' backs. I thought that actually helped a lot. When you're going through a tough time and trying to regain it, being able to see yourself doing positive things can help. I thought that gave us a little life going into the game."
Then, when asked its effect of his two guards, he added, "Those are the two guys who have the ball all the time, and. . .I was proud of the way they played the other night. I thought they both played really good games where they took what was there for them, but had a hand in getting other guys shots as well."
QUICKLY NOTED: Notable too in the Gopher game were the eight minutes logged by freshman guard Jordan Ash, who is coming back from a staph infection in his leg. That gave some needed rest to McIntosh, who logged only 32 after going for 39 against both the Terps and the Buckeyes. "It's a great difference just from the fact that I can sit down and rest a little bit," said McIntosh. "They were putting full court pressure on me. Just being able to sit down and kind of catch my breath for just a couple minutes was huge." Added Collins, referring to the Ohio State game: "As poorly as we played for much of the game, with eight minutes to go it was a one-point game. The problem was Bryant had nothing left. We hadn't been able to get him any rest, and he wasn't at his best down the stretch, and that hurt us. I thought it (Ash's return) helped, Bryant getting 32 minutes versus 40. It's a big difference.". . . Alex Olah will miss his sixth straight game Tuesday night when the 'Cats face Wisconsin at Welsh-Ryan. But, said Collins, "He's going to the doctor tomorrow. It's three weeks tomorrow (since he was shut down) and that was kind of the target date. So we're hoping, after the game tomorrow, we can get him out there (in practice), and then it'll just be how he's coming along."
AND FINALLY, COLLINS, on the victory at Minnesota: "It was a feel good win. When you suffer two straight losses, especially at home, you can lose a little confidence. In our league, it's so important to stay away from extended losing streaks. Look, you're going to lose some games. The teams are good. So for us it was very important to go to the game in Minnesota and find a way to win."
NUsports.com Special Contributor
TRE DEMPS radiated a different aura last Saturday in Minnesota than he had the previous week in the 'Cats losses to Maryland and Ohio State. "I didn't think he was as anxious in his pressing," Chris Collins said Monday, explicating what he saw. "He let the game come to him. He just played, and made the plays, and took the shots that were there, and was very effective because of it."
"I felt more free," said Demps himself. "I didn't really focus on making offensive plays, or making shots. It worked out. Every game's different, and you have to have a different game plan to try and help your team win. That game I just tried to focus on the defensive end and let the shots kind of come."
TRE DEMPS was not free in those losses to the Terps and the Buckeyes, where he totaled just 16 points while going seven-of-33 (21.5 percent) from the field. He was instead hindered by the pressure he put on himself, a fact Collins alluded to after the second of those defeats. "I think I was (putting too much pressure on myself)," Demps agreed Monday when asked just that. "Sometimes you want it so bad, and you want to help the team so bad, that you just keep making the same mistakes without thinking. I think that's what happened to me those two games. The main thing I wanted to focus on at Minnesota was just relaxing, and focus on the defensive end and let my offense come to me."
TRE DEMPS, despite being a fifth-year senior, was not surprised that he fell into this trap. "No. That's my personality," he explained. "I like to go, go, go and do, do, do. Sometimes you've to be careful when you have that personality. You let the game become bigger than it is."
TRE DEMPS and Collins talked about this as the 'Cats prepared for their trip to Minnesota, where he scored 13 on five-of-11 shooting (45.5 precent) during the 'Cats 25-point rout of the Gophers. "I can't share all the details," he said of their talk. "But it was just finding joy doing other things, focusing on other things beside my shot. That's what I tried to focus on in practice (before that game), and hopefully it'll keep carrying over."
TRE DEMPS was not alone in inflicting himself with pressure in that Buckeye loss. Point Bryant McIntosh did it too as the game roared toward its conclusion. "We have to let the game come to us," he reflected on Monday. "We're both capable scorers. We just want to do everything we can to help this team win. I think we forced it a little bit trying to find a way for us to make shots and kind of do it ourselves. We need to rely on our teammates. . . . (But) I didn't see anybody else having success, and I had scored it a little bit, and so I was trying to keep going, trying to keep us in the game, and hope that somebody would eventually help us out. It wasn't a selfish intent. It was trying to find a way to get the win."
TRE DEMPS AND BRYANT McINTOSH possess high basketball IQs, yet Collins was not surprised they had imposed all that pressure on themselves. "I think that's human nature at every level," he said Monday. "You see it in the pros. You see it in college. Guys that are competitive, if your team is struggling, you fight human nature a little bit. 'I can do it.' That's when you really have to keep your poise, you have to stay within our offense. Especially when we have some guys down. They know two of our best players are out. If you come into the year, you're projecting two of our top four guys are going to be (forward Vic) Law and (center Alex) Olah. So those two guys (Demps and McIntosh) are saying, 'We don't have those two guys, it's not going so well, we've got to try and do more.' I thought that hurt us a little bit in the Ohio State game. The Maryland game, we ran into a buzz saw. But I thought in the Ohio State game, that was not indicative of how we played. That was out of character. It was good to see us get back into the character of who we were against Minnesota."
CHRIS COLLINS, looking to remind his team of its character, had a cutup of its successful plays put together, and showed that tape to his 'Cats the night before they faced Minnesota. "Sometimes when it's not going so well, you lose sight of what it was like when it was going well," he explained. "So we actually showed a bunch of clips of us playing well. Being the team we've been was sharing the ball, and getting a lot of assists, and making the extra pass, and playing with emotion, and having each others' backs. I thought that actually helped a lot. When you're going through a tough time and trying to regain it, being able to see yourself doing positive things can help. I thought that gave us a little life going into the game."
Then, when asked its effect of his two guards, he added, "Those are the two guys who have the ball all the time, and. . .I was proud of the way they played the other night. I thought they both played really good games where they took what was there for them, but had a hand in getting other guys shots as well."
QUICKLY NOTED: Notable too in the Gopher game were the eight minutes logged by freshman guard Jordan Ash, who is coming back from a staph infection in his leg. That gave some needed rest to McIntosh, who logged only 32 after going for 39 against both the Terps and the Buckeyes. "It's a great difference just from the fact that I can sit down and rest a little bit," said McIntosh. "They were putting full court pressure on me. Just being able to sit down and kind of catch my breath for just a couple minutes was huge." Added Collins, referring to the Ohio State game: "As poorly as we played for much of the game, with eight minutes to go it was a one-point game. The problem was Bryant had nothing left. We hadn't been able to get him any rest, and he wasn't at his best down the stretch, and that hurt us. I thought it (Ash's return) helped, Bryant getting 32 minutes versus 40. It's a big difference.". . . Alex Olah will miss his sixth straight game Tuesday night when the 'Cats face Wisconsin at Welsh-Ryan. But, said Collins, "He's going to the doctor tomorrow. It's three weeks tomorrow (since he was shut down) and that was kind of the target date. So we're hoping, after the game tomorrow, we can get him out there (in practice), and then it'll just be how he's coming along."
AND FINALLY, COLLINS, on the victory at Minnesota: "It was a feel good win. When you suffer two straight losses, especially at home, you can lose a little confidence. In our league, it's so important to stay away from extended losing streaks. Look, you're going to lose some games. The teams are good. So for us it was very important to go to the game in Minnesota and find a way to win."
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