The center transferred to Northwestern after two years at Stanford and two years at Stony Brook.
Chris Collins brought in his second transfer on Sunday, landing seven foot center Keenan Fitzmorris from Stony Brook in the Coastal Athletic Association. The big man averaged 10.9 points, 4.4 rebounds and 1.1 blocks a game as a senior for Stony Brook.
Fitzmorris will inherit Blake Preston’s spot on the roster. He has already claimed the same jersey number as Preston. However, ‘Cats fans will hope that Fitzmorris will be more impactful than Preston, as the grad student from Liberty was inconsistent in his time in the purple and white, losing most of his minutes to Luke Hunger before Nicholson’s injury forced him back into the lineup.
Fitzmorris may be projected into a smaller role than Preston was last offseason because of Hunger’s emergence as a viable backup center. But when he does get in the game, he will bring a unique skill set to the table that Collins should be able to use creatively to get into a different sort of offensive look.
Let’s dive into some film to see how Fitzmorris can help this Northwestern squad:
Post-up game: Hook shots
Fitzmorris loves the post-up. He is adept at establishing the post anywhere on the floor. At times, he can get pushed far away from the cup, but his above average finishing on the post hook can get him a bucket even if he starts his backdown from 15 feet away. He has silky-smooth touch with both hands from any distance or angle and is able to go over both shoulders from either side of the floor. His most valuable skill is the ability to spin either way, which makes it easy for the giant to escape any double teams sent to him. In this first clip, he is posting up on the right baseline and as soon as he feels a double (which ended up being only a deke), he spins the other direction and lofts a hook up and in.
In this second clip, Fitzmorris gets his own missed free throw back. Surrounded by a sea of white St. John’s jerseys, he spins one way, fakes and goes up with his left hand from a step inside the charity stripe. The height at which he releases the ball makes it impossible for anyone to contest and he gets the bucket with ease.
Something to watch in the early going of next season will be how often Collins opts to throw it to Fitzmorris in the post. The ‘Cats rarely posted up any of their bigs, preferring to use them in the pick-and-roll, dribble handoffs or just sending them to the glass for offensive rebounds. But Fitzmorris has more post up game than any of the 2023-24 cast of bigs, so it’s worth monitoring how Collins adjusts his offensive game plan to play to his new center’s strength.
Post-up game: Footwork
When Fitzmorris is at his best, he doesn’t even need to get into that beautiful hook shot. He possesses a plethora of counter moves in the post that creates buckets nearer to the rim. The seven-footer possesses deft footwork inside and flashes a menagerie of pump fakes to work his way to the rim. Watch this first clip. Fitzmorris catches the ball on the left side about 12 feet from the hoop. Without wasting any time he dribbles baseline, spins back middle and gets his defender in the air with a pump fake before stepping under and finishing on the baseline side. The big showcases his ability to pull off moves with speed and dexterity en route to an easy bucket.
In the second clip, Fitzmorris is put into the pick and roll. After St. John’s defends the screen well and the guard is cut off, Fitzmorris receives the ball in the low post. He does a good job on the roll to seal off his defender and sets himself up for a quick spin and finish. He does a great job using his body to pin the defender to his left hip and lifts his left hand to ward off any possible contest.
The design of the offense is still very much in the air. But Collins would be wise to use his new gadget in post-up actions to get the most out of Fitzmorris. Fitzmorris consistently delivers bucket after bucket against smaller defenders in the post and although the Big Ten interior play is stronger, his variety of moves will give him an advantage no matter who he is matched up with inside.
Shooting
Fitzmorris can also stretch the floor a bit. He shot 9-for-27 on three pointers this season, good for 33%. While that isn’t an elite number, it is certainly a threat enough to stretch the defense out at times. He also buried a number of long twos where he would catch the ball in a post, face up to the defender before realizing how far away from the hoop he was. When the defender gives him requisite space, he knocks down jumpers with no hesitation. His jumper looks a bit wonky, with a strangely wide base and a deceptively low starting point for his release given his height. He takes eons to release the ball and there is a slight hitch in his form. Despite all of that, the jumper goes in. Consider all of those flaws to just be his calibration. In the clip below, Fitzmorris recognizes the space at the top of the key, fills it, and hits the jumper over Joel Soriano.
The one concern with Fitzmorris shooting is, strangely, when he makes it. If he hits a shot or two from the midrange or beyond the arc, he has a tendency to go away from the low post game in favor of spot up opportunities, to the detriment of his overall offensive output.
We saw Collins utilize Hunger at times throughout the season as a stretch five with the freedom to attempt the occasional three. Fitzmorris projects to be given the same leeway as Hunger and hopefully stretch opposing defenses effectively.
Rebounding
At times last season, Northwestern bigs really struggled on the glass. Early in the season, Northwestern was regularly getting dominated on the boards by smaller mid-major teams despite the presence of the seven foot Matt Nicholson as well as Hunger and Preston both standing at 6-foot-9 or taller.
Fitzmorris is a fiend on the glass. He averaged 4.4 rebounds a contest but that doesn’t reflect how solid he is on the boards. He will occasionally get pushed around when he doesn’t establish a firm base. For the most part, he is extremely solid in finding a man to box out and staying connected throughout the entirety of the rebounding process. There are very few clips where Fitzmorris doesn’t find a chance to place his large body on an opposing rebounder and completely eliminate him from the play. In this clip, he is on the offensive glass, but watch Fitzmorris establish position early and completely seal off the smaller player before finishing the easy putback.
Defense
Fitzmorris is a mixed bag defensively. At his best, he is a giant who dominates space in the middle of the floor and keeps his hands high and feet on the floor. He averaged just 2.1 personal fouls per game in nearly 25 minutes a night. Compare that to the foul problems of Nicholson who fouled opposing players 2.8 times a game in 22 minutes on the floor. Here, Fitzmorris stays in the middle of the floor, giving good help defense and contesting the initial drive to make the shot difficult. Where he really shines in this clip is in his recovery, getting back to the ball and pinning the St. John’s player behind the backboard before eliminating the shot attempt.
However, Fitzmorris has a tendency to get overeager when he is put into actions, particularly the pick-and-roll. Stony Brook had Fitzmorris in both hard hedge and drop coverage at times, but it’s the former that is worth focusing on because Collins prefers to use hedges with his bigs. In this clip we can see Fitzmorris pulled way beyond the three point line for a hedge. He seemingly gets trigger-happy when he recognizes the screen and starts sprinting to hedge the high screen over the middle. However, Joel Soriano notices this and flips the screen at the last second. With Fitzmorris completely out of position, St. John’s star Daniss Jenkins has a stress-free drive down the middle of the lane.
Last season, Northwestern fans saw Blake Preston lose minutes throughout the season, in large part due to his defensive struggles. If Fitzmorris doesn’t improve defensively, it could be hard for Collins to justify putting him on the floor for significant minutes.
Film Courtesy of College Basketball Scouting and The Draftmatic