MADISON, Wis. -- When freshman shooting guard Connor Essegian erupted for 23 points on Valentine’s Day night against Michigan, he did so while dribbling the ball just six times.
The breakout performance was by no means an introduction to the scouting report for opposing coaches. Essegian was coming off a 17-point outing on the road at Nebraska and was starting his ninth game in a row.
Michigan’s guards were face guarding the freshman and putting a body on him further than opposing defenders had in the past. Ironically, that plan had Wolverines defenders trailing him often, as Essegian curled around screens and set picks for teammates.
Coming off an improbable loss to Nebraska where the team blew a 17-point lead, Essegian tallied 23 points on 6-of-12 shooting (9-of-10 from the FT line) to lead a bounce-back performance.
“Every coach in America would love to have shooting like that, but then at the same time, that’s not the only thing he does,” Michigan head coach Juwan Howard said of Essegian. “He does well cutting without the ball. He also’s a competitor and if he’s open, he’s going to make you pay. And sure enough he did that tonight.”
Essegian's efficient night came just three days after his effectiveness was fully on display. His youth and inexperience came up as well against Nebraska.
With the Cornhuskers in a zone, Essegian played possum along the baseline before cutting to the corner where he nailed a wide-open three just before the end of the first half. To open the second half, Essegian flowed after cutting to the basket to set a hard back screen for Steven Crowl and left him wide open under the rim.
The 17-point outing that Saturday morning would be overshadowed by a late-game blunder, which extended the game to overtime. Assistant coach Sharif Chambliss detailed that Essegian was supposed to come off a pin-down from Max Klesmit before setting a ghost screen for Chucky Hepburn, leaving an option for him if both defenders flew to Hepburn.
Instead, confusion on the court led to a desperation step-back three-pointer from Hepburn that clanked off the back of the rim to end regulation.
“I’ve talked to him a lot about being a good screener,” Chambliss said. “You look at guys like Steph Curry. Guys that can get in position, figure out angles, that’s something he’s figuring out and he needs to continue to get better at. I think Connor watches enough film and he’s savvy enough to pick up on that.
“The better the screener you are then the better you’re going to come off those pin-downs, because your natural instincts are going to take over. What you read and where your defender is going, whether he’s chasing.”
The game against Nebraska was likely an uncharacteristic lapse for the young guard. Outside of that play, Essegian has consistently been able to eke out enough space to let his ultra-quick jumper go.
Catching up with head coach Greg Gard after a preseason practice, a peak into his mindset revealed just how much his brain was churning, thinking about what kind of actions could be sparked with Klesmit, Hepburn and Essegian involved coming off screens.
During the conversation, Gard noted that, of course, they mold the sets they include or run more consistently based on that year’s personnel. In the past, there would be times where they tuck away stretch bigs Micah Potter and Nate Reuvers in the corner while the action for a guard is occurring on the strong side. That way the big who is usually the help defender is occupied and the other four players can play four-on-four without having to worry about a help defender.
“A lot of the things within the packages that we have have trees or branches, so to speak, that are specifically for (Essegian), and that’ll only continue to grow over his career,” Gard said a couple days after the loss to Nebraska. “But that is one thing that players learn when you get to college, when you’re going to chased and guarded so tightly, that you have to become a better screener, you have to become a better cutter. That’ll help free him and I think our bigger guys that are in those actions have gotten better at screening for him and he’s gotten better at reading it.
“That’s the evolution of a player. We’ve run a lot of things for him. He got a foul at Penn State by stopping in the middle of a cut and getting bumped from behind, so it’s all those little tricks that come with experience that he’s picking up. And ironically when he did that and got the foul, five or six possessions later, Andrew Funk did the same thing to him.
“So you learn those things of how to set up cuts, change your speed on cuts, be decoy, so to speak at times. Play possum and then come flying off a screen, so there is a lot of things that he has a lot of things and have created a little branch that specifically revolves around what he does well.”
Essegian's gravity as a shooter and the trust he’s earned from the staff was on display once again in Wisconsin’s most recent close game against Rutgers. With UW down one and Hepburn having an off night, Gard drew up a play for his freshman to curl off a screen from Tyler Wahl. Essegian got the ball just inside the free throw line for a runner that missed off the back rim. A look that he’s made in the past.
“I thought he came off the screen, they didn’t really hedge it, he got into the paint, he’s made that runner before… the ball got to where it needed to, Tyler screened well and the ball doesn’t go in,” Gard said after the game.
He's gained that trust off a gradual progression and understanding of the game. Coming into the season, it wasn’t clear just how much of a role Essegian would have given the curve that comes on the defensive end with playing in the Big Ten, especially as a 6-foot-4, 185-pound guard who needs to add weight. Now, Essegian is the second leading scorer on the team (11.7 PPG) and has left Gard in a spot where it’s tough to leave him off the floor.
“I think he’s one of the best shooters in the country, so just working with him and even if he’s not the one shooting the ball then using him as a distraction and I can slip the hoop," Crowl said. "I think he’s become a lot better passer and he’s starting to pick up on those little things that he can help us being effective and not just shooting the ball.
“I’ve worked on proper footing and just getting into my shot for years,” Essegian said of getting shots off after running off a screen.
Crowl and Wahl have been on the receiving end of open looks from Essegian's gravity. The guard’s career-high in assists is only three, but there is consistently an instance per game where his screen leaves a big open under the rim for an easy finish.
Klesmit, who has often drawn comparisons to Brad Davison and Josh Gasser for his importance as someone who does the little things well with screening being up there as one of his best attributes, had some simple advice for the freshman.
“Hit them,” Klesmit said.
“Just try to screen as many bodies as you can and make contact with every one of them.”
“I kind of had to do it a little bit in high school with the same instances, but at this level to have to find a way to hit bodies more because in college, it’s moving so much quicker,” Essegian said of the skill. “Definitely have to learn how to screen a little better.”
Now with three games left to play, the Indiana native’s next three pointer will leave his name in the Wisconsin record book for most made by a freshman. Behind are the days when Essegian was simply asked to provide a spark off the bench. Currently the team’s second leading scorer, he could very well become the first freshman to lead Wisconsin in scoring since Sam Okey did it in the 1995-96 season.
_________________________________________________
*Chat about this article in The Badgers' Den
*Check out our videos, interviews, and Q&As on our YouTube channel
*Subscribe and listen to the BadgerBlitz.com podcast (as seen on Apple, Google, Spotify and wherever you listen to podcasts)
*Follow us on Twitter: @McNamaraRivals, @TheBadgerNation, @RaulV45, @pete_brey12, @seamus_rohrer
*Like us on Facebook