Northwestern Basketball Practice Notes: March 10

–Coach Collins is looking forward to his first Big Ten Tournament in Chicago and the United Center. In last year's tournament in Indianapolis, Northwestern was able to upset Iowa in the first round. "It's always special, especially being a local guy, to have the chance to coach in the United Center. I'm so old I remember the old Chicago Stadium too."

–Despite having beaten Indiana already, Collins knows it's going to be a hard fought game. "There was a 10 minute stretch in our last game where they went cold. Other than that, it was two even teams going at it. 40-40 at halftime, both teams had a hard time stopping the other. We know it's going to be a tough game. That's what you should want though, that's what the postseason is all about."

–This is now Indiana-native Bryant McIntosh's second game against Indiana and he says he's gotten over the shock of that. "I think I'm past that. Playing them once was a great opportunity for me and I really enjoyed it, but now that that's out of the way, it's past that now."

–McIntosh is feeling better too, after having been bothered for the past week and a half with migraines and a sinus infection. "My energy is back. I thought I had a good practice today." He feels he'll be ready to go even in the event that Northwestern ends up playing back to back to (potentially) back games in the Big Ten Tournament.

–Tre Demps says a key for his improved play in the second half of the season is him learning to trust the players around him and the system Coach Collins has implemented. He's also changed his approach in games, from trying to attack right away to now letting the game come to him more and choosing his places to attack. "Usually in the first half I don't score that many points. In the second half, things open up through guys like Vic [Law] and [Alex] Olah. It's trusting the system and as the game evolves, things start to open up."