Ho-hum. Another Northwestern victory. Another change of shirts for Wildcats head coach Chris Collins before he joined the media following his team's 72-65 victory over Indiana. It marked the first time Northwestern has won four straight Big Ten games since 1967, when his father, Doug, was playing high school ball in Benton, Ill.
"Indiana is a hard team to prepare for and play against,'' Collins said. "They do a lot of different things at both ends of the court. They hit 9 of 14 three-point shots in the first half, but we stuck to our guns and they started missing some shots they normally make. Both teams were scoring at will in the first half.''
Collins was especially pleased with the performance of Tre Demps in the second half, when the junior guard lit up the Hoosiers for 16 of his 23 points. "Tre can do that,'' Collins said. "Indiana was mixing up its defense on every possession. Tre made some big-time reads and plays. He was fantastic.''
According to Indiana head coach Tom Crean, Demps was "outstanding.'' "Tre Demps did a better job in the second half than we did as a team,'' he said. "His dad (Dell, general manager of the NBA's New Orleans Pelicans) is going to have a tough decision to make next year. He has really improved his game.''
Collins also complimented his wing players (Scottie Lindsey, Vic Law, Nathan Taphorn and Sanjay Lumpkin) in the way they have been playing in the 2-3 zone during this four-game win streak. "They have been flying out to the corners and our rebounding has got much better.'' Northwestern out-rebounded Indiana 39-34 with center Alex Olah pulling down 11 and Law grabbing 8.
Again Collins pointed to the Cats' ability to put the past behind them after their lackluster performance against Michigan State.
"After that loss, I was up all night with the coaches trying to figure out what we could do offensively and defensively,'' he said. "We wiped the slate clean. It would have been easy to say 'Wait until next year,' but all the credit goes to the players for starting fresh. We're playing rap music during our drills in practice and having a lot of fun. We're not even thinking about a postseason, just working in the present.''
Alex Olah set a Northwestern career block record with his 137th in the first half and added another one in the second half to go along with his 17 points and 11 rebounds. "When I came here, Alex told the staff he wanted us to make him a better player. He has been one of our hardest workers.''
"I'm proud to be part of Northwestern's history,'' said Olah, "but I want to make this a record that's impossible to beat. It's just a small thing in the grand scheme of things. Changing to the 2-3 zone has allowed me to stay in the paint and be a rim protector. When we were playing man, teams were taking me out to the perimeter and we had no one to protect the rim.''
Said Crean, "You can tell Olah's growth and work ethic has been outstanding. (Assistant coach) Brian James deserves a lot of credit. Our goal was to get him in foul trouble and make him move, but it didn't happen. Alex has improved every year.''
This post was edited on 2/25 9:57 PM by Lou V
"Indiana is a hard team to prepare for and play against,'' Collins said. "They do a lot of different things at both ends of the court. They hit 9 of 14 three-point shots in the first half, but we stuck to our guns and they started missing some shots they normally make. Both teams were scoring at will in the first half.''
Collins was especially pleased with the performance of Tre Demps in the second half, when the junior guard lit up the Hoosiers for 16 of his 23 points. "Tre can do that,'' Collins said. "Indiana was mixing up its defense on every possession. Tre made some big-time reads and plays. He was fantastic.''
According to Indiana head coach Tom Crean, Demps was "outstanding.'' "Tre Demps did a better job in the second half than we did as a team,'' he said. "His dad (Dell, general manager of the NBA's New Orleans Pelicans) is going to have a tough decision to make next year. He has really improved his game.''
Collins also complimented his wing players (Scottie Lindsey, Vic Law, Nathan Taphorn and Sanjay Lumpkin) in the way they have been playing in the 2-3 zone during this four-game win streak. "They have been flying out to the corners and our rebounding has got much better.'' Northwestern out-rebounded Indiana 39-34 with center Alex Olah pulling down 11 and Law grabbing 8.
Again Collins pointed to the Cats' ability to put the past behind them after their lackluster performance against Michigan State.
"After that loss, I was up all night with the coaches trying to figure out what we could do offensively and defensively,'' he said. "We wiped the slate clean. It would have been easy to say 'Wait until next year,' but all the credit goes to the players for starting fresh. We're playing rap music during our drills in practice and having a lot of fun. We're not even thinking about a postseason, just working in the present.''
Alex Olah set a Northwestern career block record with his 137th in the first half and added another one in the second half to go along with his 17 points and 11 rebounds. "When I came here, Alex told the staff he wanted us to make him a better player. He has been one of our hardest workers.''
"I'm proud to be part of Northwestern's history,'' said Olah, "but I want to make this a record that's impossible to beat. It's just a small thing in the grand scheme of things. Changing to the 2-3 zone has allowed me to stay in the paint and be a rim protector. When we were playing man, teams were taking me out to the perimeter and we had no one to protect the rim.''
Said Crean, "You can tell Olah's growth and work ethic has been outstanding. (Assistant coach) Brian James deserves a lot of credit. Our goal was to get him in foul trouble and make him move, but it didn't happen. Alex has improved every year.''
This post was edited on 2/25 9:57 PM by Lou V