Northwestern showed a lot of fight this week. It felt like the rope was being let go of in the Illinois game last week, but the ’Cats bounced back. No wins to show for it (because why would there be) but a legitimately solid performance to lose by just six in Iowa City, where Chris Collins has historically been awful, and then a lead over the No. 2 team in the nation for more than 30 minutes before an utter collapse down the stretch (where have we seen that before?).
Offense
Readers of this column know I
am bullish on Arrinten Page. But he was Northwestern’s best player for most of the game against Michigan. The defense was solid, the offense was timely, but what I was most impressed by was his motor, which has been lacking most of the year.
Genuinely, where has this been all year? Page comes flying in out of nowhere on the initial shot to grab the rebound and reset it. What I love about this possession, though, is how he stays engaged despite not getting a touch. He stays in the dunker spot, steps into a post-up and doesn’t get it, but remains locked in. As Nick Martinelli drives, Page sees the double go and positions himself correctly for the rebound and put-back. He’s been very engaged over the last few games, which is an encouraging sign, even if it is too little, too late.
The other major offensive storyline from this week was Jake West’s emergence against Iowa. West scored 18 points on eight shots, missing just one three-point attempt but making his other four and all three from inside the arc. What stood out was his aggressiveness off the dribble. In both this clip and the next, West sees an off-the-bounce three and lets it rip with no hesitation. He was a phenomenal shooter in high school and is shooting a respectable 35.6% from deep this season.
I love this look for West. Northwestern runs West off a stagger screen going left to right. The intention is to get Martinelli to short roll into his favorite catch spot right inside the free-throw line. But Iowa decides to switch the stagger screen and Bennett Stirtz stays connected to Martinelli’s backside. At the same time, Martinelli’s original defender, Alvaro Folgueiras, stays well inside the three-point line to take away the full roll to the rim for Martinelli. There is no passing lane for West to thread it to his target. There are three mistakes West could make in this situation. He could try to force a pass into Martinelli, which would surely end in a turnover. He could pick up his dribble, which would stagnate the play and force a reset. He also could have shot it one dribble earlier, which would have left Folgueiras in a position to contest the shot. Instead, he takes his time, puts the ball on the floor once more and forces the Hawkeye forward to further retreat before lacing a triple.
Defense
Northwestern’s defense was good for most of the Michigan game, but with limited space here, I am going to focus on a few plays that really hurt them down the stretch as they choked away a 16-point lead in the second half.
This action was run by Michigan a bunch down the stretch. It’s called a ‘Peja’ and is a back screen into a dribble hand off (DHO). Here, LJ Cason is coming to set a rip screen, which is a screen set by a guard for a big. He slips out of it and sprints to the DHO, which confuses Jayden Reid and Angelo Ciaravino. Yaxel Lendeborg cuts backdoor and nobody is home for the easy deuce. The problem here is Reid. In Northwestern’s defense, the guards should be switching everything. And even with the size mismatch between Reid and Lendeborg, that should be an auto-switch. Instead, Reid gets lost on the switch and jumps the Cason DHO, which Ciaravino does as well.
Not to pick on Reid, but this mishap is mostly on him, as well as a bit on Tyler Kropp. Aday Mara ghosts the screen, but for whatever reason, Reid goes into lock-and-trail, which is the way the guard defends a pick-and-roll in drop coverage. The problem is that Mara is far downhill by that point because he never actually set the screen. Kropp gets caught in between two guys and actually does a decent job forcing Cason to pick up the dribble. Cason has to gather himself before throwing the pass and that’s where Kropp needs to recover to his man. Instead, he stumbles a bit and the 7-foot-4 Mara goes untagged through the lane, which will result in a dunk 100 times out of 100.
Coach Collins Clip of the Week
I attached the play here, so if you missed it, you can see what the outrage is about. Collins doesn’t say a word, just stands with his jaw open in disbelief. It was a fun game from a Collins body language perspective. He went from happy and excited and motivating all of his guys for most of the game, which included a very joyous halftime sideline hit, to extremely upset about the Mara technical and quickly very angry about his team’s blown lead. This clip is almost a microcosm of Collins’ game, as he’s both smiling and upset simultaneously, with an unspoken question for the referee written all over his expressive face.
