Collins’ Classroom: A fourth-down blitz

The ‘Cats found success defensively in the press and offensively by using Ty Berry as their pressure point.

With pipe dreams of the NCAA Tournament still in the minds of the most optimistic ‘Cats fans and realistic hopes of the Big Ten Tournament the focus of everyone else, Northwestern needed to dial up its intensity and pick up some wins. That’s exactly what they did, taking a dominant victory over Ohio State and turning it into a three-game win streak that came to an unfortunate halt during Monday’s defeat at the hands of UCLA.

The theme of this week’s column is pressure. NU nearly pulled off the most improbable comeback of the season with their full-court press in the final two minutes of Monday’s contest. A 13-0 run in less than two minutes brought the Wildcats back from the grave before ultimately coming up just short.

Offensively, a number of different players starred. In last Tuesday’s win over Minnesota, Nick Martinelli scored 29 en route to earning Big Ten Player of the Week honors. Friday’s star was K.J. Windham and his second career 20-point game. On senior night, Ty Berry flashed with 22 points, seven rebounds and three steals. For the purposes of this column, though, I am going to focus on Ty Berry’s offensive gravity. He’s not Stephen Curry, but the grad student opens up so much for the ‘Cats offense.

Defense

The press design is quasi-man with the intention to trap every pass until the ball crosses half court. Clayton is told to allow the first pass to get inbounds to the corner, where the trap is sprung. Berry takes away the return pass which is Andrews’ first read. Berry then follows Andrews’ eyes back to Clark. Windham takes the opportunity to leave Trent Perry at half-court and sprint back to Kobe Johnson. Like a quarterback confused by a corner blitz, Andrews ends up back on his first read but it’s too late. Windham jumps the pass and shovels ahead to Mullins. The ball ends up in Berry’s hands and the lead is cut to six.

The second press possession, after Berry had cut the lead to three, is similar. This time, Bilodeau catches the second pass on the sideline. Martinelli does a good job making the catch hard, and Bilodeau bobbles it. By the time he gains possession and finds his footing, the UCLA center is surrounded by three ‘Cats. When that happens, there are always guys open. However, as a center, Bilodeau isn’t used to dealing with the pressure. All three of Mullins, Clayton and Martinelli do a great job of not reaching and keeping high hands. Bilodeau’s pass is batted down at the line by Mullins and the former falls to the floor. I didn’t necessarily agree with the travel call, but at worst, it could have been a jump ball with less than two seconds to get over the time line. Regardless, the press was very effective to the point where it’s almost shocking we haven’t seen it used more often.

When the pressure is ratcheted up, it can sometimes lead to players over-committing and ending up out of position, especially the less experienced ones. This isn’t a full-court pressure situation, but Windham is riding the hip of Brock Harding. He forces Harding below the basket and Ciaravino gives safety help to take away the rack attack. When Harding retreats, Windham sees the screen coming and tries to jump over the top. However, Harding pivots back to the baseline and the first-year is suddenly out of position. Furthermore, the other rookie had taken his eyes off of the ball, and Harding ends up all alone for a layup. Going forward, the freshmen will have to learn how to balance aggressiveness with sound defensive mechanics.

Offense

We’ve taken a look at the defensive side of the rapid comeback, but the offensive end deserves a look too. A few of the baskets were off turnovers or transition, but this one was beautiful. Unlike a typical Northwestern offensive set, the ‘Cats go no-huddle right away. There are a few keys to this simple sequence. The first is that Berry, the final destination of the ball, starts all the way on the weak side. Kobe Johnson lines up to face guard Berry and subsequently doesn’t notice the Martinelli screen. Berry sets up Johnson with a deke towards the baseline, takes off around one screen and then curls off Nicholson to get to his favorite spot on the court, the location of his huge three against Purdue. The facilitator of this play is Mullins. His goal is never to score, but the defense doesn’t know that. His right-handed attack draws the help of William Kyle III. While the help defense off of Nicholson doesn’t seem like much (Big Matt can’t shoot, after all), it ends up making the play work. Nicholson is all alone setting the screen on Johnson and Kyle III, who should be switching to contest, is a step slow and gives Berry a crease.

Now, let’s take a look at a play where the offensive cog is Berry, but he isn’t the one scoring. This is a simple elevator set that works to perfection. Mullins clears space with a shallow cut, and Berry leaves the weak side in favor of the baseline. Suddenly, he takes off in a sprint to split Martinelli and Fitzmorris, setting shoulder-to-shoulder screens like they’re offensive linemen. Josh Dix gets screened effectively, so Iowa scrambles and tries to switch but ends up sending two at Berry. He fakes and then dishes inside to Fitzmorris against a smaller defender. Fitzmorris finds a seemingly open Martinelli in the paint, but the weak side help finds its way to his hip while Ladji Dembele tracks back to double. Martinelli is then the one giving up the ball from a double-team to an open Mullins, who is only tasked with making the easy extra pass to the superior shooter in Windham. Taken together, the ball movement reminiscent of the 2014 Spurs may result in three points for Windham, but it was all set up by Berry’s shooting gravity.

Coach Collins Clip of the Week

Usually, I highlight an amusing Chris Collins moment where he bites off the head of a ref or one of his players. But today, it only felt right to focus on an extremely moving moment. One of the people honored during Northwestern’s senior night ceremony was Chris’s son Ryan, a manager for the last four years. Watching Chris in the moment, it was clear how much it meant to him. He was visibly crying as Ryan came walking out of the tunnel and brought the whole family into an emotional hug. While this package doesn’t have as much footage of Collins’ pure emotion in the moment as those of us lucky enough to be there live got to witness, it does a good job of highlighting the depth and importance of the moment.