DeKALB – The Northern Illinois coaching staff had its players write New Year’s resolutions with a basketball focus on a card to share.
Written on Dante Thorpe’s card was a simple one: Win the MAC Defensive Player of the Year award.
“He’s really dedicated to that side of the basketball,” NIU associate head coach Jon Borovich said. “He wants to be one of the best two-way players in the league, and in order to be a great defender, you have to have that mentality and there’s no doubt Dante has it.”
Thorpe is a senior in his second season at NIU after being a Junior College Division II first team All-American at Triton College in River Grove. His abilities on offense were apparent to coach Mark Montgomery’s staff when NIU recruited him, but both he and the Huskies’ coaches knew the defensive side of his game needed to improve.
“I knew I had to defend way better because it was better players at this level than community college and the JUCO level,” Thorpe said. “It was way better players. I knew I had to get a little bit more toughness, more grit and grind and slide my feet more, so that’s a big step for me that I took that summer, getting my defense right.”
Thorpe tries to replicate the defensive tendencies that have made Los Angeles Clippers Avery Bradley, Patrick Beverley and Kawhi Leonard of the Toronto Raptors exemplary defenders.
“I just watch them and try to imitate what they do,” Thorpe said.
This season, the lengthy, 6-foot-4 Thorpe is often tasked with guarding the other team’s best offensive players on the perimeter. That has become an increasingly large part of his game since arriving in DeKalb.
In a loss to Central Michigan, Thorpe held the Chippewas’ leading scorer Larry Austin Jr. to one point. Austin is averaging 17.6 points a game as of Monday.
In two games against Akron, Thorpe held Jimond Ivey to a combined 19 points. In the Buffalo game, he was tasked with guarding Jeremy Harris – Harris scored 15 points – but it took him 14 shots to do in NIU’s home upset of the Bulls. In a home loss to Toledo, Thorpe held Jaelan Sanford, who is now averaging 16 points a game, to nine points on 3-of-12 shooting.
“I look at it as though they’ve got to guard me, too,” Thorpe said. “I just want to win that matchup, so I’m going to do whatever it is I need to do to win. … If that’s to get down defensively and get stops, consecutive possessions, that’s what I’m going to do. I just feel as though it’s me and you, so I want to win that matchup. I just go extra hard.”
What has made the difference in Borovich’s eyes, outside of Thorpe’s physical abilities, are the extra time committed to film study and a tenacious attitude brought to the floor in practice and games.
“You can tell on game day, he’s jacked up and really into the fact that if we’re going to win, we have to do the best job we can against their best perimeter player, and he’s done that. Night in and night out, he’s made their job difficult.”
Borovich had a number of reasons to compare former Huskie Aaric Armstead and Thorpe as defenders, with Armstead having made the MAC’s all-defensive team in the 2015-16 season.
“A guy that was going to get five or six rebounds a night, was going to get one or two steals a night, but more importantly, he was going to be on the best opposing offensive player, and you just felt great as a coach going into the game, that, ‘OK, we’ve got Aaric on this guy,’ it’s the same feeling we have now, “ Borovich said. “We have Dante on their best player, so we feel like we really have a chance to hold that player below his average, which gives us the best chance to win.”
Thorpe’s willingness to lock in defensively has helped him on both ends of the floor. The senior wing has picked up his scoring as of late, coming through in crucial situations and scoring 23 and 20 points in home wins over Buffalo and Ohio, respectively.
“If you’re ready to play defensively, everyone likes to play offense right?” Borovich said. “So if you’re ready to play defensively, how natural that leads to you being engaged in the game, which ultimately leads to success for both you and your teammates on both ends on the floor.”
Thorpe is shooting 45.8 percent on 3-pointers (22 of 48) and continues to be a versatile threat in transition.
“Don’t nobody see the extra shots you’re putting in when you’re not at the game, the late nights and stuff like that,” Thorpe said. “I’ve just been putting in a lot of work versus last year. I wasn’t in the gym like that. My senior year, I think I’ve just taken it more serious, getting in the gym, getting in extra shots after practice, late nights, that’s it. Hard work is paying off.”
The Huskies, owners of a 5-4 record in the Mid-American Conference, will need Thorpe’s continued success as they fight to improve their seeding for the MAC tournament.