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UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN BASKETBALL MEDIA CONFERENCEJanuary 18, 2016Greg GardMadison, Wisconsin THE MODERATOR: Men's Basketball Head Coach Greg Gard is here. We will have some opening comments and take questions. COACH GARD: Wasn't I just here? 24 hours ago? Looks like same faces in the crowd, too. Obviously we just finished practice, so fresh off of that and some work with yesterday's game. Going back through it, obviously I found the over/under, whoever had the "under" won, because it was 63, it was not over 80, or 80 or above. A lot of things we can learn from, a lot of things to take from that, both positively and things we have to get better on. It was good for our guys in terms of having more affirmation in terms of what we are doing, and I've always thought we were going in the right direction, believed we were going in the right direction, but to see them smile and jump around and the locker room atmosphere, that was good for them. And there is a famous old coach around here that used to say "Winning is good for the soul," and it is. From that standpoint we have to continue to move forward, starting today and into tomorrow and the next day, we will prepare for Penn State, and fly out there Wednesday afternoon and get ready for Thursday night. With that, I will take your questions. Q. Greg, you always talk about the importance of "next" but you guys did some good things against Maryland, then at Northwestern you called it a game where you didn't play a good cerebral game. Now you're coming off a game against Michigan State. Do you harken back to that as an example, or do you just block that out and say, look, whatever happened against Michigan State doesn't matter. This next forty minutes is what matters? COACH GARD: Well, I think we can take things from every game and the experiences we have had throughout the year and draw upon them and build upon them, and there are going to be situations like Maryland or Indiana or Northwestern where things that we didn't do well that we can draw upon, and there were several things, several teaching moments in yesterday's game that we have to get better upon and draw from, and then things that we were more consistent at. I thought we were more consistent around the rim, we're taking better and better shots. It's still -- we didn't get an "A" in shot selection yet, but we're getting closer to being more consistent, and I think when you do that, and you're playing aggressive and under control and physical around the rim, there is the reason behind 36 free-throws; it wasn't by accident. That was an intent. So I think we can always draw from something. I will always remind them positively and things that didn't go well. I don't want them to push the Michigan State game out of their minds, nor will they push the Maryland game or any -- it's always going to be about moving on to what's next, but what did we learn from that experience and how can we use it to make us better in the future. Q. Greg Showalter said he almost didn't play yesterday, and then he gave you 24 minutes. What did you think about how he played out there? COACH GARD: Well, for a kid that was practically playing on one leg -- the longer the game goes -- I kept debating as I watched him on the floor, do I sit him down and let him rest it a little more, but if I sit him, does the ankle stiffen up? I kept asking him, "How you doin?" He was like, "I'm okay. I'm okay." I could tell when he ran up and down the floor, you could tell he was limping a little bit, but I tried to do some things match-upwise with him after I watched him for the first couple of minutes and tried to get him on guys that maybe more -- guys that he didn't have to move as much laterally with, and more guys that he could just chase and run off of screens and not have to guard dribble penetration as much, so hopefully that helped him a little bit. But obviously his toughness and his leadership, that dive he made on the floor in the last two minutes, that doesn't get in anybody's article or anybody's stat sheet, but that was almost a game-saving play, because they have a layup at the other end, and it also flipped the possession arrow for us at the end when we were able to press. It gave us another option to do other than foul if we couldn't get a trap set. Those are -- I've said all along we've always had guys like him in the program. You can go back to the record books and pick 'em out, and long before we got here. Those blue collar, lunch pail, hard hat guys. They care about the program, and they want to win in that way, and they just try to make everybody around them better by what they do, and those little things that don't always get the headlines. Q. Following up on that Greg, do you buy into plus/minus? Do you look at that much? Because he was plus 13 yesterday, which led the team. You look at the rest of the stat line, there's not a whole lot there. Does that mean anything to you? COACH GARD: I'm trying to get more into that, I'm more technology saavy than the former coach, and I like that stuff a little bit more. He's showing me all the options and all the things we can do, and it can be -- you can have paralysis by analysis sometimes, too. He can give me too much information. He showed me one graph upstairs, I'm like, "Holy smokes, A.J., I was not an engineering major, so let's simplify it a little bit more than this," but we are looking at things plus/minus. We're starting to dive into that a little bit more. I don't know if we will get to that completely this year just because of the mid-stream change and transition that -- other things that I had to get right first and get going in the right direction before I worried about another stat sheet to look at. I can usually tell -- I can tell you who is plus and who is minus. I know Aaron Moesch was a plus, I think, too, when he was on the floor. I've got to study it deeper to understand exactly how -- I heard Nigel Hayes was a minus, but Nigel Hayes played a heck of a game. It's just a matter of who is on the floor and that specific time what happens, so it's something we're studying, and we will probably use deeper in the future. Q. Greg, you just mentioned Moesch, and you've talked before about his familiarity with the swing and how comfortable he is in it, but it's got to be a little bit deeper. What have you seen in his game that's allowed him to get some minutes and what has he given you in those minutes that he's gotten? COACH GARD: He's gotten better physically. He came in a kid that I don't know if he could dunk the ball -- not that you measure people on how they can dunk it, but he athletically -- or whether they can dunk it or not, but he athletically has improved himself. Eric has done an unbelievable job with him. He's in great shape. He understands the game. He made some mistakes defensively that we pointed out in the film today, too, that he will get better upon because he's that type of kid that would pick that up really quick, but he gives us mobility at 6-7, 6-8. He can guard different guys, and the biggest factor I think that jumped out with Aaron is that he cares. He really wants this team to do well. That's -- you can look at football, too, what they have done with their walk-on program, and I've always felt that's been very important here. You have players specifically, most of ours have either been from Wisconsin or Minnesota due to reciprocity, but you have guys that are invested in the program, really committed and watched it growing up, want to be here, will do anything they can, and that's good when you see somebody mature like this. And we have had others go through that process, but he cerebrally picks things up really well. He's made himself better athletically where he can compete at that level. Obviously he understands things offensively well, and he's an improving defensive player, and I think he will get better as he gets more experience. Those twelve minutes yesterday were big for us, but him watching himself in probably three to five clips today, things that he did do and didn't do, that will sink in with him, and he will become better as a result of that. But I think the bottom line core factor with him and most of the walk-ones through the years, with all of them, really, I mean, I don't have one that doesn't care, but those guys have a care factor. When you have to go through that and go through the blood sweat and tears and not get any accolades for it, and they rarely talk to you guys, and they have to pay their own way, get that tuition bill every semester, those guys have a special affection for the program, and that helps. Q. Greg, how challenging is it for guys like Zak Bronson, Nigel who are trying to lead these younger guys through something that they themselves have never been through, a 500 Big Ten season? Is it a little difficult, challenging, maybe you've noticed it, for them to try to tell the rest of the team how to walk when they themselves are finding it out as they go? COACH GARD: I think it's a great experience for them. I think it's a great teaching tool for them to learn how to be a leader, for them to learn how to deal with maybe rough waters at times. They haven't experienced it since they've been here, just because they walked into 64-12 in the last two years, so that's -- they got spoiled a little bit. From that standpoint, how does your role change within the team? It obviously did on the court, but I knew back in July and August that the role was going to change in the locker room, too, regardless of record they were going to have a whole new thing on their plate that they hadn't dealt with before. So how do they deal with that, how they grow through that, like I said, just like on the floor, other experiences are great teachers. I can tell them and talk to them about how to be a leader and what to look for and understand that not every player responds the same way, or not every teammate responds the same way, but the best thing for those two guys, along with "Showy" is that they get the experience. They're experiencing things I can't teach them in X amount of time. I think that's a great lesson for them as they go through this to learn how to handle good times and not so good times. Q. Was there a time yesterday where you had a lineup that would have had Nigel at the 2? COACH GARD: Yes, there was. Q. Does that mean that he's -- is there any position he -- does he play the 5 at all this year? COACH GARD: Um, I don't know if we -- I don't think I've had him at the 5 yet but who knows. Q. Does that speak to --- does that tell you, you can throw a lineup out there with him -- COACH GARD: Well it was a combination of him being there was Jordan Hill didn't make me exactly the happiest a couple of times, and Showalter's ankle and foul trouble combination, so I had to mix and match that way, and Aaron had played pretty well, so it was a combination of a few things, not just, let's go experiment with Nigel at the 2. And I had thought about that as we were looking at what was going to be Zak's prognosis for the day. In my mind I was playing, okay, I know Jordan Hill had been sick, and he wasn't fully back yet, hadn't practiced, practiced part-time one day. How was I going to have to mix and match the lineup, and that was my intent was, okay, if I have to slide somebody around, I can slide Nigel over to the 2 and play Aaron in the 3, if I need to. Q. Greg, the last two games Khalil has done some pretty good things in the press and the trap. What is it about him that makes that part of his great many impressive? COACH GARD: Well, his instincts are good, I think, you know, and he's played in that type of full court extended defensive system before, he reads things pretty really well, obviously athletically he's really good, but I think the biggest thing is his instincts. He understands where to be, how to react when the ball is in the air, did a great job of cutting off the sideline and forcing that turnover. There were some things that we needed to work on. We showed the alignment before the ball was inbounded that we needed to do better. We'll get better as we grow with that, and if we have to use it in certain situations where we will get more comfortable with putting it on. So I think the biggest thing is his instincts, and he understood exactly how to set that trap, and make sure they couldn't escape up the sideline and really squeeze them, and when he took a step back he stepped on the sideline. Q. After watching the film, how did Penn State beat Northwestern? COACH GARD: Well, Penn State played very well in terms of from a physicality standpoint. They were very physical. Northwestern goes 3 for 26 from three, and Penn State, I believe, shot 33 free-throws. I think if I looked at the box score right, it was in the mid to high 20s, into the 30s, I think it was. There was something for 33s. Anybody have the box score with them? 24 for 33? Okay. So those two combinations of not shooting -- that's the first time -- I thought we did a pretty good job on Northwestern in terms of taking away the three's, because they have been averaging ten made over ten made three's a game. We didn't do a good job of handling the ball screen. They go 4 for 12 against us, which usually if you have them under that average, you look at their box score through the year, those were the teams that had beat 'em and been very close to them, and then for them to go 3 or 26, and then Penn State being able to get to the free-throw line like they did, and I think Penn State made nine three's. If you go 10 for 26, there's the difference right there, and you don't even have to make 30% -- just over 30% of 'em. I haven't complete that game yet. I watched some of it live on Saturday night, and I just started it again, now, up in my office, so I will take a look and look back through. But Penn State played really well at Maryland, had a 13-point lead with six minutes to go, had some issues with the press, and Maryland's crowd got into it a little bit, then they go to Michigan and Michigan can't miss from the three. It's a fine line, as we have all found out. Q. I understand that Bo reached out to you last night after the game. Can you share with us what he had to say and what -- COACH GARD: Who let that secret? I got texted a bottle of champagne, a picture of a bottle of champagne, and it was chilled, because I could tell the frost was on it, or whatever. It was between him and Kelly was texting me, too, his wife. "Been waiting to pop this. You gave us a great reason. Congratulations! Great job," so I guess they had a bottle of champagne in celebration of yesterday's win. He's doing his thing. I think he's trying to lower his handicap, his golf score, those that are -- I don't know, I don't -- he's been -- he texts once in a while. He's enjoying what he's doing and we're having fun here. Q. Bronson has had some high's and low's adjusting to this new role this season that he's playing. What allowed him to be so effective yesterday? COACH GARD: I think he was aggressive. I think he got some shots to go early, which gave him some confidence, and then, you know, we've talked about it, trying to get him to play more north and south, trying to be more aggressive and making plays for not only himself but others as well. Assist numbers go up, turnovers numbers go down, shooting percentage will go up, shoot more free throws. He hasn't shot seven free throws in a game in a long time, so for that it was good to see. We tweaked some things offensively to maybe force him to be a little more aggressive. But also he -- he's maturing and growing in that role. He's got a lot on his plate in terms of he has to -- he gets hounded every possession as well as Nigel, so for him to -- and then he end up having to guard one of the better offensive players. He usually has to do a good job defensively, too, so I think just being more aggressive and understanding that, I can attack and make some plays and, you know, when shots go in it also makes it easier being are that's a big confidence booster for him. Q. After the game yesterday Nigel said that the victory against Michigan State made earlier losses even more inexcusable. Is that a statement you agree with or is everything totally separate? COACH GARD: It's separate because this group has had to grow through some things so we weren't in a position where we were good enough for a consistent or consistent enough for a long enough time to finish off other games. Yesterday we were. We're not the same team that played back in December or early January. Hopefully we're growing so from that standpoint, you know, we just gotta continue to move forward and grow. You look back and go, yeah, if we would have played like that or finished plays down the stretch. We weren't mature enough or far enough this along in our growth timeline to be able to do that. Some of it is what we did offensively better, we've gotten better defensively, although as I mentioned to the team, you know, I read off the points per possession each half and I said how do you still come out on the left-hand side, and they all jumped in with the right answer, don't turn the ball over and shoot a lot of free throws, because our points per possession were pretty high for both halves, as were Michigan States, not necessarily where you want 'em. We were 1.28 for the game, and they were 1.25. We were 1.33 the first half, and I can't remember all six numbers right now but Tim's probably got 'em memorized. But bottom line was don't turn the ball over and get to the free-throw line. You can overcome maybe mistakes or blemishes in other areas. Q. There was a similar type situation to the Maryland game with a three to possibly win it. Were you happier with the defense? I know you said you were happy with Zak's defense on Melo in that first game, but did Nigel do anything specifically that you guys worked on since that Maryland game? COACH GARD: Here's the difference: They were in a position where they had to make a shot; Maryland didn't have to make it. They miss it, it goes to overtime, nothing lost. That changes sometimes mind sets, because I know we've been in that position where, hey, tie game, nothing to lose; we're playing with house money, so to speak. If you're down, that changes your MO a little bit. Trimble was able to walk into his three or dribble straight into it. We made Denzel have to move a little bit, Cheney went over to Costello twice. Would have liked to have been tighter with Ethan, and we talked about that too, to exchange that first screen, and then he came back again, and Nigel would have been able to pick him up, but I thought Nigel did a good job of making him change direction a little bit, keeping him off balance and making him move side-to-side, and then we have to rebound it, too. Costello got it, but it wasn't off in time when he put his rebound back up, so you always want to make guys go side-to-side and change direction and not have a straight look at the rim. It was better because the shot didn't go in, that helps, but there is always things we can do better. THE MODERATOR: Anything else for Coach? Thanks, Greg. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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