At halftime of Wednesday night’s rectal exam, a small boy wearing a Damien Anderson jersey walked onto the court to participate in a promotion. His name was Sam. He came up to NU center Aaron Jennings’ waist. As the public address announcer babbled on about the prizes Sam could win, Sam did several pump fakes. He was so excited just to be on the court.
Sam had a wristy jump shot. Sometimes he forgot to bend his knees. He didn’t use the glass as much as he should have, but his soft touch was impeccable. With the crowd standing for the first time since the national anthem, Sam got hot, bagging gift certificates and free dinners with every basket. When he missed a shot, he hustled after the loose ball.
He did the little things.
Northwestern and Minnesota could learn from Sam. Fittingly, both teams weren’t there to see his performance.
During my freshman year, I got stood up for a date. To ease the pain, I hopped on the Welsh-Ryan shuttle to go see the NU-Illinois game. I didn’t know college basketball teams could score only six points in a half. Then again, I hadn’t seen more than a handful of Wildcats games. I thought it was a fluke, a 20-minute brain freeze.
Never again, right? Nope.
Watching NU in the first half Wednesday night brought back those seemingly forgotten memories.
Jennings has more years of organized basketball under his belt than Sam has of life. Coaches at every level have told the senior to follow his shot. It should be second nature by now.
But midway through the first half, Jennings launched a 3-pointer, then took off running to get back on defense. The shot, as many do, caromed right back toward where Jennings had stood.
No wonder the Cats got two offensive rebounds in the first half.
Earlier in the game, T.J. Parker chased down a loose ball at midcourt, only to be cornered by Minnesota players. In an age where any hand signal resembling a ‘T’ will get a time-out, Parker chose instead to whip a pass across his body. No-no in football, no-no in basketball. Turnover. Walk-in layup.
“You’re basically embarrassed,” NU coach Bill Carmody said. “And they’re embarrassed. And so we’re all embarrassed.”
Minnesota coach Dan Monson had an easier time skirting queries about his team, which gave the ball away seven times in as many minutes.
“This team’s never been up 27 points on the road,” he said. “We’re delighted to get outta here.”
Yeah, delighted to the tune of 17 turnovers and only six offensive boards in the second half.
Then again, a fundamental fumble is not habitual for Minnesota.
The Cats were coming off a rough game at Michigan State in which they had 20 turnovers. But they were back home, where they had dominated Purdue and Indiana. Moreover, they knew what to expect from Minnesota — lots of pressing and physical play.
NU is the little guy of the Big Ten. Kind of like Sam.
But when the Cats do the little things — following shots, battling for boards, securing the basketball — they can compete.
Gaining consistency is tough. Having solid fundamentals is not.
Maybe next time the team will watch the halftime show.
