Jason Burke brings the ball up the floor, calls an offensive play and leads a teammate to the hoop perfectly for a backdoor layup. Sounds like a point guard, right?
But Burke then hustles back on defense, where the Northwestern senior positions himself in the paint to guard the other team’s best low-post scorer.
While the 6-foot-8 Burke is listed as a forward, he has done it all for the Wildcats this season. And Burke has come on strong recently to play some of the best basketball in his four years at NU — he’s scored in double figures in each of the past four games while continuing his role as the Cats’ jack of all trades.
“Jason’s our Mr. Versatile,” guard Jitim Young said.
Burke has averaged 13 points in the past four contests, the best scoring stretch of his career. The surprising offensive outburst has been the final piece to Burke’s all-around game.
“He usually plays solid defense, and he’s a good rebounder, so when he gets in double figures (in scoring) it’s a good sign for us,” NU coach Bill Carmody said.
Burke’s classmate Winston Blake said he knew Burke could score if needed.
“We’ve been telling him for the last three years that he needs to do this, and he’s capable of it,” Blake said. “I don’t know if it was a confidence thing, but now he’s shown what he can do.”
But Burke’s contributions to the Cats have gone far beyond putting the ball in the basket. He has been NU’s best defender in the post, sometimes mixing it up with bruisers outweighing him by 30 pounds. Burke also leads the Cats with 2.8 assists per game and has held his own on the boards.
Burke said he’s always done whatever it takes to help the team, but he doesn’t hesitate when talking about his favorite position.
“I love point guard,” he said. “When I was in third grade that was my favorite position. I was the tallest person on the team, but I told the coach I wanted to bring the ball up every time. I love passing the ball, finding guys, getting guys shots.”
Both natives of Plano, Texas, Burke and Blake came to NU four years ago expecting to see the program develop under coach Kevin O’Neill. But O’Neill resigned after their freshman year, and the duo watched as five players transferred from the program in two seasons.
But Burke said he never considered leaving NU, and now he’s been a major part of Carmody’s rebuilding effort that resulted in a 16-13 record last season and a 10-14 record, including a 2-11 mark in the Big Ten, so far this year — both huge improvements over Burke’s 5-25 freshman year. The senior said he’s tried to convey his four years of experience to NU’s younger players.
“I just try to pass some of that down to our freshmen now,” Burke said. “I show them that people are watching them outside the court, that grades and a good social life are important as well as doing well on the basketball court.”
While Burke would like to fulfill his childhood dream of playing basketball for a living, he said his future is “up in the air” right now, although he hopes to attend law school. But with only three regular season games left in his career, Burke’s focused on Saturday’s game against Penn State (6-18, 1-12) at Welsh-Ryan Arena.
“I just want to go out with a bang,” he said. “I just want to get as much of the experience as I can before moving on to the next part of my life.”
NU (10-14, 2-11 Big Ten) vs Penn State (6-18, 1-12)
1p.m., Saturday
Welsh-Ryan Arena
Player to Watch: Penn State guard Sharif Chambliss scores 14.8 points per game.
