Northwestern basketball happy to be back 'home'
As he enters his sixth season as Northwestern's head men's basketball coach, Chris Collins knows all about the difficulties of playing in the Big Ten.
"In our conference, there are so many good homecourt advantages," Collins said. "When you don't get that on-campus kind of buzz and energy in the building, it makes a difference. For us to not have that was tough."
While Welsh-Ryan Arena - the Wildcats' antiquated home court - was getting a $110 million renovation last season, NU played its home games at the Allstate Arena.
"It was hard because the students had such a long trek to get to games," forward Vic Law said. "If anyone's been around the Big Ten, they know how much the students can be a factor in games."
Northwestern lost that edge, and it took a toll.
A year after making the NCAA Tournament for the first time in school history, the Wildcats dropped to 15-17 and their season ended with a loss to Penn State in the first round of the Big Ten tourney.
"Obviously, it wasn't ideal," Collins said of playing in a temporary home. "We never made excuses about it. To our players credit, they never made excuses about it. We never talked about it, we just tried to make the most of what we were doing last year.
"But being back on campus, you can feel the energy. That can be a difference of 4-5 wins over the season."
NU is excited about moving back into Welsh-Ryan Arena. The first game in their new home is Nov. 8, against New Orleans.
"The arena is beautiful," Collins said. "In a new building, you're going to have all the amenities, all the bells and whistles that you see being in a pro town. There are things that people are accustomed to seeing when they go to a Wrigley Field or they go to a United Center, whether it be a club level, suites, things of that nature.
"The thing we were really adamant about was keeping it more toward our personality. There are only 7,000 seats and every seat in the house has a terrific vantage point. The students will be in the end zone, right on the court, like they've always been. We want to make it a hard homecourt advantage.
"We want to make it a tough place to play, a place that's going to be loud, so our guys will be able to feed off that home crowd."
Law and fellow senior Derek Pardon are the Wildcats' main guys, and the senior big men combined to average 20.6 points and 13.8 rebounds per game last year.
On the flip side, NU lost Scottie Lindsey, Bryant McIntosh and Gavin Skelly. The graduated trio combined to average 33.1 points and 12.9 rebounds per game.
Returning guards Anthony Gaines and Jordan Ash and forward Aaron Falzon will be asked to pick up some of the slack, along with newcomers such as Ryan Taylor, Boston College transfer A.J. Turner and freshmen Miller Kopp and Pete Nance.
A graduate student, Taylor spent the last two seasons at Evansville and was a first-team Missouri Valley Conference pick last year while leading the league in scoring at 21.3 ppg.
"I'm looking forward to seeing what our group can become," Collins said. "We have a really interesting mix of newcomers and some mainstays. I think we have good players. I think we have a good mindset."