Northwestern University Athletics
Lumpkin Embraces Blue Collar Role
12/4/2015 11:29:00 AM | Men's Basketball
By Skip Myslenski
NUsports.com Special Contributor
The snapshots accumulated as the 'Cats stare down with Virginia Tech rushed through the end of regulation and into overtime. Here is Sanjay Lumpkin outworking the Hokies' Chris Clarke and Satchel Pierce to grab an offensive rebound. Then there is Sanjay Lumpkin scrambling to tie up the Hokies' Devin Wilson, which gives his team a possession that ends with a Bryant McIntosh three. Now, with 24 seconds remaining in regulation, here is Sanjay Lumpkin doubling (with Alex Olah) Clarke and forcing the Hokie into a bad shot, and then there is Sanjay Lumpkin, in the first minute of OT, out-hustling the Hokies' Justin Bibbs to corral a long rebound.
"That's definitely my role on the team and I've fully accepted it," he will say two days later when asked about his affinity for his game's dirty work. "We've got a lot of guys who can do great things on this team, and I've accepted that that's my role. I felt I did a great job in that role against Virginia Tech, and I've been doing that all season. I just need to stick to that. I know it's a big part of what's going to make us a great team."
"Sanjay," Chris Collins will say moments later, "is well respected by everybody on this team because he brings it every day. He shows up every day. He's got that hard hat mentality. I told him, when he plays that way, he gives energy to all of us. Not only to his teammates, but to me as a coach and to the coaching staff as well."
••••••••••
Sanjay Lumpkin has long been renowned as a throwback, as a blue collar worker willing to guard and rebound and sacrifice his body while taking charges and diving for loose balls. This did not garner him appearances on those highlight shows so given to empty histrionics. But it did reap the admiration of Collins, who often referred to his forward as his team's glue guy, as his team's heart-and-soul.
Lumpkin himself reveled in that role and early last season avowed, "I think that's a really important part. I take pride in that." But then, when that season hit February with the 'Cats in the icy grip of a losing streak, he was suddenly a diminished presence getting limited minutes. In their final game of that season, against Indiana at the Big Ten tourney, he played only 12, the same as he had against Iowa in the last game of their regular season.
Four days earlier, in their double overtime win over Michigan, he played a mere eight, and he would end up averaging just 18 over the season's final 10 games. "For whatever reason, last year he kind of got away...," Collins said Thursday when asked why that had happened, and then he paused before beginning again.
"Sometimes when you're trying to add to your game and work on things and get better at things, sometimes you lose sight of the things you do really well and your main importance to the team. I thought that might have happened a little bit with him last year," he said now. "We had conversations about it. I think he now is finally really secure in what he brings and how important that is, if that makes sense. He knows how valuable he is to the team whether he scores 12 points or scores two points. He has to bring those intangibles, that dirty work, that physicality to our team to help us be the best we can be. As he's getting better too, he has a great sense of who he is and what he needs to do. I think that's why he's playing so confidently this year."
"That was around the time when I wasn't doing what I needed to be doing," Lumpkin himself will say when asked about his diminished role. "I wasn't getting many of those tough rebounds. And I wasn't just playing my game. But it didn't discourage me. It just made me work harder. I came to practice every day just trying to do my best to get back on the court, and still push my teammates. I was still here every day busting my butt."
What caused him to not play his game?
"I don't know. Playing tough every possession, I wouldn't say that's an easy thing to do. It's something that, it takes heart to do it. I feel my heart's there now, my heart's in everything right now. That's why I'm just trying to play as hard as I can on every possession."
••••••••••
The Hokies score twice in the first 73 seconds of overtime, but now here is Sanjay Lumpkin, open in the right corner and accepting a pass from Nathan Taphorn. "I've told Sanjay, when he's wide open and his feet are set, I want him to shoot the ball," Collins will say. "I see how he works at it and he can make it. If teams aren't going to guard him, I'm confident in him taking those shots ... (and) he was wide open.
"They were scrambling the floor, and he was in rhythm, and his feet were set, and he shot it with confidence, which I liked. He didn't shoot it as an afterthought. If he would have shot it as an afterthought, it wouldn't have been a good one. But I liked the fact that he stepped into it. It was the biggest shot of the game. The crowd's getting into it, and we're on our heels a little bit, and he had the courage and the confidence to knock that thing down."
"Tap," Lumpkin himself will simply say, "found me in the corner. I shot it with confidence and knocked it down."
He knocked it down at 3:28, pulling the 'Cats to within one, and then they were up two 41 seconds later after a three by McIntosh. That is where their lead was still when the Hokies called time with 23 seconds remaining, and now they were pushing it up the court, the ball in the hands of their guard Seth Allen.
Earlier this evening Sanjay Lumpkin had been guarding forward Zach LeDay, the Hokies' leading scorer. "He was averaging 19 and 10, and he had no baskets in the game," Collins will say, reflecting how well Lumpkin had done that job. But now he was on the smaller Allen, who has been afire while putting up 25 points. "That shows how versatile he (Lumpkin) is," Collins will go on. "He has the ability to guard every position on the floor, which makes him unique."
He is proving that now, proving that as he dogs Allen; proving that by forcing Allen to give up the ball; proving that once last time after Allen takes a return pass and loses the dribble under his pressure, which leaves the Hokies with nothing but a desperation shot at the buzzer that fails. "I knew he was trying to get the last shot. I thought he was trying to get a three to win the game," Lumpkin will say, reflecting on the blue collar work he did here. "Even when he gave the ball up, I knew he was going to get it back. I knew he was the guy who wanted the shot. I did my best to just stay in front of him."
"I think he took that to heart," Collins will finally say, referring one last time to Sanjay Lumpkin's diminished role at last season's end. "He had a great summer, he really worked, and he kind of got back to being the guy he is and an even better version of that guy.
"I like that even more."
NUsports.com Special Contributor
The snapshots accumulated as the 'Cats stare down with Virginia Tech rushed through the end of regulation and into overtime. Here is Sanjay Lumpkin outworking the Hokies' Chris Clarke and Satchel Pierce to grab an offensive rebound. Then there is Sanjay Lumpkin scrambling to tie up the Hokies' Devin Wilson, which gives his team a possession that ends with a Bryant McIntosh three. Now, with 24 seconds remaining in regulation, here is Sanjay Lumpkin doubling (with Alex Olah) Clarke and forcing the Hokie into a bad shot, and then there is Sanjay Lumpkin, in the first minute of OT, out-hustling the Hokies' Justin Bibbs to corral a long rebound.
"That's definitely my role on the team and I've fully accepted it," he will say two days later when asked about his affinity for his game's dirty work. "We've got a lot of guys who can do great things on this team, and I've accepted that that's my role. I felt I did a great job in that role against Virginia Tech, and I've been doing that all season. I just need to stick to that. I know it's a big part of what's going to make us a great team."
"Sanjay," Chris Collins will say moments later, "is well respected by everybody on this team because he brings it every day. He shows up every day. He's got that hard hat mentality. I told him, when he plays that way, he gives energy to all of us. Not only to his teammates, but to me as a coach and to the coaching staff as well."
••••••••••
Sanjay Lumpkin has long been renowned as a throwback, as a blue collar worker willing to guard and rebound and sacrifice his body while taking charges and diving for loose balls. This did not garner him appearances on those highlight shows so given to empty histrionics. But it did reap the admiration of Collins, who often referred to his forward as his team's glue guy, as his team's heart-and-soul.
Lumpkin himself reveled in that role and early last season avowed, "I think that's a really important part. I take pride in that." But then, when that season hit February with the 'Cats in the icy grip of a losing streak, he was suddenly a diminished presence getting limited minutes. In their final game of that season, against Indiana at the Big Ten tourney, he played only 12, the same as he had against Iowa in the last game of their regular season.
Four days earlier, in their double overtime win over Michigan, he played a mere eight, and he would end up averaging just 18 over the season's final 10 games. "For whatever reason, last year he kind of got away...," Collins said Thursday when asked why that had happened, and then he paused before beginning again.
"Sometimes when you're trying to add to your game and work on things and get better at things, sometimes you lose sight of the things you do really well and your main importance to the team. I thought that might have happened a little bit with him last year," he said now. "We had conversations about it. I think he now is finally really secure in what he brings and how important that is, if that makes sense. He knows how valuable he is to the team whether he scores 12 points or scores two points. He has to bring those intangibles, that dirty work, that physicality to our team to help us be the best we can be. As he's getting better too, he has a great sense of who he is and what he needs to do. I think that's why he's playing so confidently this year."
"That was around the time when I wasn't doing what I needed to be doing," Lumpkin himself will say when asked about his diminished role. "I wasn't getting many of those tough rebounds. And I wasn't just playing my game. But it didn't discourage me. It just made me work harder. I came to practice every day just trying to do my best to get back on the court, and still push my teammates. I was still here every day busting my butt."
What caused him to not play his game?
"I don't know. Playing tough every possession, I wouldn't say that's an easy thing to do. It's something that, it takes heart to do it. I feel my heart's there now, my heart's in everything right now. That's why I'm just trying to play as hard as I can on every possession."
••••••••••
The Hokies score twice in the first 73 seconds of overtime, but now here is Sanjay Lumpkin, open in the right corner and accepting a pass from Nathan Taphorn. "I've told Sanjay, when he's wide open and his feet are set, I want him to shoot the ball," Collins will say. "I see how he works at it and he can make it. If teams aren't going to guard him, I'm confident in him taking those shots ... (and) he was wide open.
"They were scrambling the floor, and he was in rhythm, and his feet were set, and he shot it with confidence, which I liked. He didn't shoot it as an afterthought. If he would have shot it as an afterthought, it wouldn't have been a good one. But I liked the fact that he stepped into it. It was the biggest shot of the game. The crowd's getting into it, and we're on our heels a little bit, and he had the courage and the confidence to knock that thing down."
"Tap," Lumpkin himself will simply say, "found me in the corner. I shot it with confidence and knocked it down."
He knocked it down at 3:28, pulling the 'Cats to within one, and then they were up two 41 seconds later after a three by McIntosh. That is where their lead was still when the Hokies called time with 23 seconds remaining, and now they were pushing it up the court, the ball in the hands of their guard Seth Allen.
Earlier this evening Sanjay Lumpkin had been guarding forward Zach LeDay, the Hokies' leading scorer. "He was averaging 19 and 10, and he had no baskets in the game," Collins will say, reflecting how well Lumpkin had done that job. But now he was on the smaller Allen, who has been afire while putting up 25 points. "That shows how versatile he (Lumpkin) is," Collins will go on. "He has the ability to guard every position on the floor, which makes him unique."
He is proving that now, proving that as he dogs Allen; proving that by forcing Allen to give up the ball; proving that once last time after Allen takes a return pass and loses the dribble under his pressure, which leaves the Hokies with nothing but a desperation shot at the buzzer that fails. "I knew he was trying to get the last shot. I thought he was trying to get a three to win the game," Lumpkin will say, reflecting on the blue collar work he did here. "Even when he gave the ball up, I knew he was going to get it back. I knew he was the guy who wanted the shot. I did my best to just stay in front of him."
"I think he took that to heart," Collins will finally say, referring one last time to Sanjay Lumpkin's diminished role at last season's end. "He had a great summer, he really worked, and he kind of got back to being the guy he is and an even better version of that guy.
"I like that even more."
••••••
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