Postgame Quotes
2/22/2015 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
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Head Coach Tom Crean |
Opening statement:
First thing - I'm proud of the way our guys responded the last few days to get ready for this game after knowing we didn't play nearly the way we wanted to play Thursday night against Purdue. But every game matters and that we had to turn back around and be better. I thought they were. Our resolve over the last few days at practice and film sessions was really strong. We certainly didn't over-practice. I would say over the last three days we have probably been live on the court maybe three hours. It wasn't a matter of going long and overdoing it, it was a matter of going really hard and really fast, really sound and getting ourselves ready to play. I thought that they did.
We settled in in the first half and did a nice job. I think our guys were disappointed we left a couple points on the table, especially at the end when we didn't get the offensive rebound. We then gave up the offensive rebound (tip-in). I like how they are starting to hold each other accountable to details of the game - two-hand rebounds, seeing the next pass, getting to the right spot. That's key. If we can continue to build on that, we will get better. The second half start for us was really good. We changed defenses because we were concerned about Myles Mack. We have a ton of respect for him and were concerned he was going to try to take over the game. We wanted to make sure we didn't give him any free looks. We made some plays, got some shots and it started to work for us.
We have a lot of respect for Rutgers. I have a ton of respect for Eddie (Jordan). He has coached so many games and so many great players and teams. It is just a matter of time here. I don't think it is a matter of if. It is going to be a matter of when. They have good pieces in there and hope everyone over there keeps listening to him. He has helped a lot of people that have made a lot of money in the game of basketball - they listened to him and got better for it. Everybody comes to college, most want to be able to get to the NBA, but all want to have a career in something. I think he does a great job of trying to hold people accountable and make them better. And this was a great environment to play in. I'm glad we had some fans, but this was a great, great environment to play in. I'm proud of our team and our road gets no easier going into a hot Northwestern team's gym on Wednesday. We appreciate this win, we appreciate the way we played and had some great performances from a lot of different guys.