Collin Pryor is all about the team.
The Northern State senior forward has scored over 1,000 career points. He is an all-conference performer and is having another all-conference-type season. He is currently leading the Wolves in scoring and rebounding. He has started 83 career games for the Wolves.
The one thing he has never done in a Wolves' uniform is play in a post-season game.
"I think everyone should be able to play in a playoff game and have a chance to kind of leave their stamp," Pryor said. "That has been my motivation here. I think we are very capable. Having never played in a playoff game, I'm very hungry for it."
All 16 teams in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference qualify for the conference tournament this year. If the tournament started today, the Wolves would host a first-round game. However, Pryor is aiming for a higher goal.
"I whole heartedly think we have what it takes to be playing come late March," Pryor said. "I think we have the parts. I think we have the motivation. The determination. The drive."
The 6-foot-6 Pryor has certainly done his part for the Wolves this season. He is averaging 16.1 points and 8 rebounds per game. He currently has 1,332 career points, which is 21st all-time on the NSU men's scoring list. He has also recorded 692 career rebounds.
"Every year there has been some really good growth from Collin," Northern State coach Paul Sather said. "He does such a great job in the classroom. He works at it on the court. He works at it off the court. He works at it in the classroom. He has been a really good student-athlete here at Northern State."
He has been really good in conference games. Pryor is averaging 18.6 ppg and 8.1 rpg in 16 conference games this season. His scoring average is fifth best in NSIC games and he is the second leading rebounder in NSIC play.
"He is a tremendous player," Minnesota State-Moorhead coach Chad Walthall said. "He is very good and they are having a terrific year and it seems like a lot of it has to do with him playing so well."
Pryor recorded 21 points and seven rebounds against the Dragons earlier in the season in Aberdeen. When Moorhead was preparing for the Wolves the second time, Walthall told NSIC Preseason North Player of the Year Alex Novak to defend Pryor just as he did in the first game. Pryor registered 26 points and nine rebounds against the Dragons in the second meeting as the Wolves defeated the Dragons both games.
"He is such a very good mid-range jump shooter," Walthall said. "If you are a big trying to guard him, he is athletic enough to put it on the floor and get to the rim, but he is athletic enough to where he can take one dribble, pull up and go over the top."
Pryor learned how to become a face-up jump shooter once he got to Northern State. He is undersized most nights in the physical NSIC, but can stretch the floor with his mid-range jumper.
"Developing that face-up game and developing his jump shot and working it out to 15-18 feet was something that he really put a lot of work in early," Sather said. "It is something that he has continued to improve on throughout his career."
Pryor was a two-year captain at St. Charles East in Illinois. He scored over 1,000 career points in high school and had interest ranging from a number of different colleges. Division I Dayton even showed some interest in Pryor. He eventually picked the Wolves and redshirted during the 2008-09 season. Before that season, former NSU coach Don Meyer was involved in a car accident. Meyer was later diagnosed with cancer and had his left leg amputated.
"With Meyer everything he said, everything he did, it always had a meaning behind it," Pryor said. "In a way indirectly, I feel like that accident not only brought about him with the cancer and probably saved his life in that aspect, but I think it was kind of a sign of some symbolism that this was the place I was supposed to be and there is a lot of lessons to be learned here."
And that is what Pryor says is the best part about being at Northern State.
"The best part about being here was not only the improvements and skills and knowledge that I acquired on the court through basketball," he said, "but being here through basketball has taught me so much about life off the court."
The Collin Pryor File
Family: Mother, Wendy Pryor; sister, Hannah (14).
Age: 22.
High school: Pryor graduated from St. Charles East (Ill.) in 2008. He was an all-conference and all-state performer for the Fighting Saints. He also scored over 1,000 career points.
College: Pryor will graduate from Northern State this May with a degree in biology and psychology. Pryor may pursue professional basketball overseas after graduation. If he doesn't pursue professional basketball overseas, he will attend graduate school.
Most memorable athletic accomplishment: "Probably the win at Butler."
Up next: Northern State (17-6, 12-4) will host Wayne State (13-9, 7-9) and Augustana College (16-4, 12-4) on Friday and Saturday, respectively, at Wachs Arena. Friday's game is at 8 p.m., while Saturday's game is at 7 p.m.