Wow was that fun

[ricko654321]

It’s hard to find things to say I’m a bit ecstatic right now. But…
1) Boo was incredible he just found the basket every time we needed him. They dared him to go left and he threw up a ridiculous finger roll. And then backed it up with one of the best floaters in our team’s history
2) our defense was fantastic. Woodson eventually adjusted to give TJD the ball out at the 3 pt line cause he could create better from there and it’s harder to double from that position. But it’s a bit wild to watch how good our low post defense was that it forced that and completely took them out of their game plan in the first half
3) it makes total sense to double post when 23 gets it…. But I didn’t love the doubles on 5 etc (sometimes 25 though he barely touched it in the post), for future opponents I think it might not be necessary to double literally every person that touches the ball down there.. but what do I know trying to criticize our great defense this year
4) I didn’t come into town expecting to win tonight. But our players did expect to follow up the Purdue game with another win. I loved the philosophy and the fight. What an incredible W. On to the next one.

 

[clarificationcat]

It’s hard to find things to say I’m a bit ecstatic right now. But…
1) boo was incredible he just found the basket every time we needed him. They dared him to go left and he threw up a ridiculous finger roll. And then backed it up with one of the best floaters in our team’s history
2) our defense was fantastic. Woodson eventually adjusted to give TJD the ball out at the 3 pt line cause he could create better from there and it’s harder to double from that position. But it’s a bit wild to watch how good our low post defense was that it forced that
3) it makes total sense to double post when 23 gets it…. But I didn’t like the doubles on 5 etc and future opponents we will find
4) I didn’t come into town expecting to win tonight. But our players did. I loved the philosophy and the fight. What an incredible W

Great win. Buie has so much confidence right now. Got where he needed to get on the floor and he has made a huge weakness. (finishing at the rim) a huge asset.

But what really stuck out to me is how tough this team is. Did anyone ever think we would bully a very good IU team or be accused of being overly physical by Purdue fans? I was raised to believe that most of our players were inferior athletically and we had to be extra clever to win. We are just punching teams in the mouth right now. Audige and Nicholson are a big part of that. But clearly everybody on the team buys in.

And agree with most on this board on the Kopp chant. Not cool from my perspective but I am old. Definitely don’t want it to become a habit. Students are still learning how to root for a winning team. But great energy so I will accept a few bad decisions.

Audige took a lot of bad shots in the 2nd half. But I really think several of them were because Kopp was guarding him and he felt like he could score on him whenever he wanted. I am guessing that’s what happened in practice. Buie’s eyes got big whenever Kopp switched on him. I give Kopp some credit. His defense has improved.

 

[ricko654321]

Great win. Buie has so much confidence right now. Got where he needed to get on the floor and he has made a huge weakness. (finishing at the rim) a huge asset.

But what really stuck out to me is how tough this team is. Did anyone ever think we would bully a very good IU team or be accused of being overly physical by Purdue fans? I was raised to believe that most of our players were inferior athletically and we had to be extra clever to win. We are just punching teams in the mouth right now. Audige and Nicholson are a big part of that. But clearly everybody on the team buys in.

And agree with most on this board on the Kopp chant. Not cool from my perspective but I am old. Definitely don’t want it to become a habit. Students are still learning how to root for a winning team. But great energy so I will accept a few bad decisions.

Audige took a lot of bad shots in the 2nd half. But I really think several of them were because Kopp was guarding him and he felt like he could score on him whenever he wanted. I am guessing that’s what happened in practice. Buie’s eyes got big whenever Kopp switched on him. I give Kopp some credit. His defense has improved.

Oh the Indiana fans were whining just as much in the stands about our defense being too physical. It was absolutely hilarious and I loved it. Never thought I’d hear the day that little old Northwestern was too physical for both Purdue and Indiana to handle. I might have said a couple of aside words to that effect toward those in red in my vicinity. They were all respectful though. Thanks for coming to Evanston. Sorry not sorry you didn’t leave with a W.

 

[ricko654321]

It’s hard to find things to say I’m a bit ecstatic right now. But…
1) boo was incredible he just found the basket every time we needed him. They dared him to go left and he threw up a ridiculous finger roll. And then backed it up with one of the best floaters in our team’s history
2) our defense was fantastic. Woodson eventually adjusted to give TJD the ball out at the 3 pt line cause he could create better from there and it’s harder to double from that position. But it’s a bit wild to watch how good our low post defense was that it forced that
3) it makes total sense to double post when 23 gets it…. But I didn’t love the doubles on 5 etc (sometimes 25 though he barely touched it in the post), future opponents we will find that might not be necessary to double literally every person that touches the ball down there.. but what do I know trying to criticize our great defense this year
4) I didn’t come into town expecting to win tonight. But our players did expect to follow up the Purdue game with another win. I loved the philosophy and the fight. What an incredible W. On to the next one.

One addition. Ty may not have made that many shots last night. But again on D he was great. It looked to me like his assignment was #1 (Hood Schafino) and he did a pretty darned good job. He was going over screens more than we usually do (rather than switching) and chasing him all over the court. 1 is a great player and he still ended up with 13 points, but 6-16 from the field and Ty made him work hard for every look. The 3 Ty made in the second half was big but I thought his defensive contributions were bigger. Also Ty covering him and chasing over screens almost the entire game (until the last minute or two we put Chase on him) intentionally enabled Chase and Boo to save more energy for offense - smart coaching by CC.

Robbie Beran also played great individual and team defense. We need those guys. I have a bit of a feeling they will both make a clutch 3 or two down the stretch of this season. And cross your fingers, into the postseason too.

 

[GatoLouco]

Woodson eventually adjusted to give TJD the ball out at the 3 pt line cause he could create better from there and it’s harder to double from that position. But it’s a bit wild to watch how good our low post defense was that it forced that

He also put another big in so there was a closer way out of the double team. And they probably scored at least 10 points on a big to big out of the double team.

 

[ricko654321]

He also put another big in so there was a closer way out of the double team. And they probably scored at least 10 points on a big to big out of the double team.

They had 2 bigs in most of the 1st half too. But yes they started having the other big (5 or 25) dive cut toward the basket once the double team happened which was smart and TJD made a few nice passes in the 2H (or the other way around when we doubled the other big, which didn't seem necessary to me).

 

[DaCat]

They had 2 bigs in most of the 1st half too. But yes they started having the other big (5 or 25) dive cut toward the basket once the double team happened which was smart and TJD made a few nice passes in the 2H (or the other way around when we doubled the other big, which didn't seem necessary to me).

Collins also said we were running out of gas towards the end of the game, making our defense a little less effective. We just beat the two best centers in the B1G back-to-back, that's an amazing feat.