The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
Norton Hitting Stride on Eve of Homecoming
12/4/2015 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
By Steve Irvine, UABSports.com
He’ll be wearing the visiting uniform and sitting on the visiting bench, but Saturday night’s men’s basketball game at Redbird Arena on the Illinois State campus will feel like a home game for UAB point guard Nick Norton.
Norton, a 5-foot-10, 171-pound sophomore, grew up – literally – on the courts at Redbird Arena. Counting the number of shots he hoisted inside the arena is impossible. He’s not sure how many days he spent there but estimates it was five days a week for eight years. You do the math.
“It won’t be anything new to me,” said Norton of the non-conference game against the Redbirds, which will tip-off at 7 p.m. “I spent a lot of time in there, watched a lot of practices, got close with the men’s side of the coaching staff when Tim Jankovich was there.”
Norton, obviously, is the son of a basketball coach. His father, Randy, is currently in his third season as the UAB women’s basketball head coach. A considerable chunk of the elder Norton’s college coaching career came as an assistant women’s basketball coach at Illinois State. For much of his life, Nick thought he’d play basketball for the Redbirds.
In the world of college coaching, however, addresses often change. Randy Norton followed head coach Robin Pingeton from Illinois State to the University of Missouri and Nick began high school at Rock Bridge High School in Columbia. After three seasons at Missouri, Randy was hired to take over the helm of the women’s basketball program at UAB. Nick and his mother, Claire, returned to Bloomington-Normal, Ill., so he could play his final high school season at Central Catholic High.
“I consider that home,” said Norton, who helped Central Catholic win the Illinois 2A state championship in his lone varsity season at the school. “Anytime I talk about home it’s Bloomington-Normal.”
Ironically, it was his hometown that factored in him choosing UAB as his college home. During the recruiting process, UAB head coach Jerod Haase and members of his staff mentioned some future road trips. They brought up a preseason trip to Spain that happened in the summer of 2014 and a spot in the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament in the Bahamas. They also mentioned a home-and-home series with Illinois State. Obviously, that was just a small reason for Norton choosing to become a Blazer, but it did get him thinking.
“It’s been in the back of my head for a while, I can’t wait to get back there,” Norton said.
The wait is almost over and he expects to see plenty of familiar faces. Norton said his pass list maxed out at 40 people, only because that’s all the tickets he could find. He expects plenty more friends to be in the crowd. Central Catholic sent out a flyer about Norton’s return to the area. Norton said he’s hopeful that “there are a few hundred people there on my side.”
Fortunately for Norton, he’s headed back home on the heels of his two best games of the season. Expectations were high for the talented point guard heading into his second college season. He was expected to immediately take further strides forward after earning a spot on the Conference USA All-Freshman team last season. He entered his second season bigger and stronger than a year ago and had an entire college offseason to work on his skills.
However, things didn’t go smoothly early this season, especially shooting from long range. Norton made a pair of 3-pointers in a game just twice in the first five games. Overall, during that span, he was 7-of-26 on 3-pointers.
“It came down to confidence,” Norton said. “I know I put the work in. My teammates and coaches continued to tell me, ‘It’s not your shot, your shot looks great, keep your mind right.’ I just needed one breakout game to feel good about my shot.”
Truth is that his shot wasn’t that bad. But it certainly wasn’t what was expected from Norton. After all, he had six 3-pointers last year in a win over Charlotte, connected on five 3-pointers against UCLA and FIU and had at least three treys eight times last season. He’s certainly capable of filling it up from the outside.
Norton turned to an often-used method in an attempt to get his shot back to the point that made him comfortable.
“Whenever I feel my shot is off, I get a Papa Nort session,” Nick said with a smile. “I come in here with my dad – only about 25, 30 minutes. Growing up, that’s what we did. It’s one of my favorite things to do.”
Norton got the breakout game he craved when he connected on five 3-pointers against Virginia Tech in the Emerald Coast Classic. He followed up by hitting 4-of-7 three-point attempts in Tuesday’s win over Georgia State at Bartow Arena.
“Lately, I got in a bad habit of falling out of my shots,” Norton said. “More and more, I’ve got to focus on sticking it. I had a couple where I could take my time and not rush and I just tried to focus on sticking my shot.”
Obviously, he’s back on track shooting the ball but Norton’s game is much more than that. Even when not shooting the ball up to his standards, he positively impacts games. A look at two key stats – assists and turnovers – are generally good ways to track a point guard’s success. During the first seven games, Norton had 31 assists and five turnovers and ranks fourth in the NCAA with a 6.2 assist/turnover ratio.
“It was easy on me as point guard because I have so many other things I can do to get guys open and keep the focus and energy up,” Norton said of his shooting over the first five games. “It was in my head but, at the same time, I didn’t want to make it a big deal because I knew at some point it was going to turn around. Finally, I had a game where I got some shots to go down.”
He wants that to continue on Saturday night in an arena where he’s made a lot of shots.
The Conference USA Men's and Women's Basketball Championships are set to return to Birmingham for the second consecutive year, marking the third time the Blazers will host the event. The men's tournament, as well as the women's semifinals and championship, will be played at Legacy Arena in downtown Birmingham, while the women's first round and quarterfinal action will take place at UAB's Bartow Arena.
UAB ticket mini plans are now on sale and in high demand. The Holiday 3-Pointer includes games against Hiwassee College (Dec. 22), 2015 NCAA Tournament participant Stephen F. Austin (Dec. 29) and the Blazer's Conference USA home opener against Middle Tennessee (Jan 3). Lower level seats can be purchased for $36 ($60 value), or $24 in the upper level ($45 value). The Conference USA Season Pass is available for $119 in the lower level, (a savings of over $60) and only $79 in the upper level, ($56 off the regular price).
For more information on UAB men’s basketball, follow the Blazers on Twitter (@UAB_MBB), on Instagram (@blazerhoops) or on Facebook (Facebook.com/UABMensBasketball). For more on all Blazer sports teams follow the official social media accounts of UAB Athletics on Twitter (@UABAthletics), on Facebook (Facebook.com/UAB.Blazers), on Instagram (@uabathletics) or on Snapchat (@uabathletics).
