Eschmeyer making his presence felt in Big Ten

By CRAIG KACKENMEISTER
Collegian Staff Writer

Teams often try to double or triple team him, yet he always finds ways to get things done.

Need a clutch bucket? Call his number. Need someone to illustrate the fundamental box-out rebounding technique? Just holler.

He has been doing it, and doing it all well, throughout his lengthy career with the Northwestern men's basketball team.

And this, his final year of eligibility in Wildcat purple, is no different.

Sixth-year senior Evan Eschmeyer has been the center of attention again for the Wildcats this season, leading the team in almost every major category including scoring (20.3 points per game) and rebounding (11.2 per game).

There's no denying the center's worth to his club. Northwestern coach Kevin O'Neill said without Eschmeyer's presence, this would be a totally different season.

But the high praise does not bother the 6-foot-11 center from New Knoxville, Ohio.

"I don't really feel a lot of pressure," said Eschmeyer, who scored 28 points and grabbed seven boards Saturday in his team's 71-67 defeat of Penn State. "For me, it's been that way for the last three years. They want to get the ball in my hands as much as possible and let me make the decision with the ball.

"That's an honor. And if they have that much respect, I have to step up and take care of things."

Eschmeyer has done plenty to take care of the Wildcats after sitting out his first two seasons with a stress fracture in his right foot.

He averaged 15 points and 8.5 rebounds a game over the past three seasons, and has seemingly saved his best for last. This season he has helped the Wildcats to a 14-6, 6-4 Big Ten record including victories over then-No. 16 Minnesota and then-No. 14 Purdue. This for a team which has not finished with a winning record since the 1993-94 campaign -- that team finished 15-14.

In Northwestern's Feb. 4 game against Michigan, Eschmeyer scored 29 points and pulled down 15 rebounds, at the time becoming the only Div. I player averaging 20 points and 10 rebounds per game.

His team is exceeding expectations at the same time. Eschmeyer said the Wildcats started this season with two goals in mind -- to improve everyday in practice and to be in every game at the end of regulation.

"Every game in the Big Ten is going to be a close one," Eschmeyer said. "There aren't going to be any blowouts and you have to get yourself in a position that you have a chance to win with two minutes to go in the game.

"We've been decent this season. We all thought we could win a lot of games this year."

Aside from a 65-48 loss to Michigan State, the Wildcats have attained their goals. In its other three conference losses, Northwestern has lost by a combined 15 points.

In the victory over the Nittany Lions Saturday, Eschmeyer led the Wildcats in the closing minutes of the game by scoring eight of his 28 points.

"He's a weapon in college basketball," Northwestern coach Kevin O'Neill said after the game.

Unfortunately for the Wildcats, the weapon remained in its holster for two seasons with the stress fracture. Then came the 1995-96 season. Eschmeyer was cleared to don the white-and-purple jersey and finally live out his dream of playing college basketball.

Eschmeyer said he had been tired of waiting.

"(The first season) was hard," he said. "When you were able to do things and all of a sudden you can't because you're rusty and your body is not where it needs to be yet, it's hard. But you don't give up on it and you keep working at it and it will come back to you."

It came back for Eschmeyer.

In his first season, Eschmeyer averaged 25.6 minutes and nine points per game. In the 1996-97 season, he averaged 27.8 minutes and 14.1 points per game.

During the 1997-98 season, Eschmeyer made his presence known around the nation, being only one of two players in Div. I to be ranked among the top 15 in scoring (21.7 points per game), rebounding (10.7 per game) and field goal percentage (.610).

He also scored his career high in points that season with 37 against Penn State in a 69-68 overtime loss last Feb. 8 at Welsh-Ryan Arena. Lion coach Jerry Dunn has always been impressed with the performances of Eschmeyer.

"What puts Evan apart from all of the centers is he has the ability to catch the ball in traffic and finish with three or more guys on him," Dunn said. "His physical ability and skill level makes him a dominant center.

"He competes against double and triple teams every night out."

Another great moment for Eschmeyer occurred when his younger brother Jeff walked onto the squad at the beginning of last season.

Jeff scored his first two points as a Wildcat against Minnesota last January, and ironically his older brother was credited with the assist.

"It's been great to have Jeff around, because we are four years apart so I didn't get to see him in high school at all when he played," Eschmeyer said. "Just to have him here it's nice from a personal standpoint for me, because I get to see him and get to hang out with him which I didn't get to do at all before."

The time to spend with his brother in college is running out for Eschmeyer, who will complete his career at the end of this season. He's not ruling a run at the NBA.

"It's something I would love to do if the opportunity presents itself," he said. "It is something I continue to work towards. I have a long way to go to get there, but it's something I'm going to keep working at."