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MISSOURI VALLEY CONFERENCE MEN'S TOURNAMENTMarch 6, 2015Nate BussBen JacobsonDeon MitchellST. LOUIS, MISSOURI Northern Iowa – 71 THE MODERATOR: Deon Mitchell and Nate Buss are the student‑athlete Panthers. Head coach Ben Jacobson is in the middle. He'll start off with a statement on the game, and we'll go to questions for the two student‑athletes. COACH JACOBSON: I thought we really defended them well. At the end of the first half, they knocked in a couple jump shots, and we turned it over a couple times and gave them some life. Give them credit for making those plays. It's a ball game at halftime after I thought we had played really well for 18 minutes. Then we had some guys really step forward. Obviously, Deon and Nate were two of them. These guys played great in the second half. We got into transition and made some plays. Really proud of these guys. Q. For both of you guys, just talk about, as seniors, your first win in the tournament, just any general thoughts on that. NATE BUSS: I just want to comment that's a great suit, by the way. That's fantastic. It just feels good, feels like it takes a big load off our shoulders. Feels like we got the monkey off our back, get the first win, get over the hump, kind of like a mental roadblock almost. It took five years, but we got that first win, and it feels really good. DEON MITCHELL: Like Buss said, it feels real good to come out and get our first win. The past three years, we end up coming up short. Tonight we came out, and it felt good. Q. For Deon, for you, do you feel like your offense fuels your defense? Or is it is the other way around? DEON MITCHELL: I feel like they fuel each other equally. I feel like, if I'm playing good on defense, my offense will get going. If I play good on offense, my defense will get going. It works both ways. Each game I've got to make sure I'm locked in on both ends to help my team and contribute as much as I can. Q. Nate, what do you guys feel you did different in the second half to put this game out of reach? NATE BUSS: We just picked up our intensity overall. We picked up our toughness. A lot of guys started making hustle plays we weren't making in the first half. I think they were outworking us in the first half. We came out with a great mindset in the second half. We knew that, as a team, we weren't going to get outworked, and we weren't going to get outplayed. I think that was the difference coming out in the second half. Q. Kind of a similar question. What clicked for you guys? Because that game just kind of took off from a back and forth one to all of a sudden you're up 20. What clicked to make that all happen? NATE BUSS: Our pace on offense really picked up, I think. We were running things really well, whether it was zone or man. Another thing was our defense was just outstanding. We were forcing a lot of turnovers, which led to a lot of run‑outs. I'm not sure what points off turnovers was for us, but our defense was fantastic in the second half. Q. Deon, Seth finished up with a double double, but he didn't get his first basket until about 13:45 in the second half. Are you guys just kind of used to the fact you may have to pick up the slack, they're going to double and give Seth different looks. Did it panic you guys? Or how do you respond when people bottle up Seth? DEON MITCHELL: That's what we expect every game. We keep trying to find different ways to get the ball inside. If we can't get it to him, somebody's going to have to step up. We just keep playing until we get it going. Q. Deon, were things opening up for you, or was it just you being a little bit more aggressive today? DEON MITCHELL: I think once our defense picked up as a team, we started to get more transition. It started opening up the floor more. They were trying to get back into the zone, but once we started pushing in transition, it was tough for them to get back in the zone. Q. Deon, were you reminded at all of the game at Drake when you were on the court for 10, 12 minutes? I think it was even longer tonight. Just that similar thing where you guys didn't make any shots? DEON MITCHELL: It felt similar. You never know when your name is going to be called. You've just got to be patient and wait it out. It's not going to be your night every time. We've got a deep bench. So you've got to be ready to step up when your name is called. Q. 71 rebounds as a team for you guys, 23 for Nate. Talk about that. You guys seemed like magnets, almost, getting all those boards. NATE BUSS: I'm sorry. What was that again? Q. 71 rebounds as a team, 23‑‑ points. My bad. I was reading the wrong stat line. My apologies. But rebounds were 33 as a team, 11 for Seth. You guys seemed to really dominate the boards. NATE BUSS: Yeah, rebounds has been a huge focus for this past week. When I mean huge, I mean‑‑ I mean, we were doing a lot of drills where rebounding was just the main focus for us. So we knew that was something we were going to have to carry over big time into this game. Bradley has a lot of great rebounders, offensive rebounders, and they also hustle hard off the board. We knew our technique had to be good, and we knew we had to fight down low, and that's what we did. Q. Tonight had a chance to get a look at your team after a bit of a break. What did you each learn from tonight to improve on going forward? NATE BUSS: I learned about our team. Something that I think we've known all season is we're a mentally tough team. It doesn't matter how long we have between games, whether it's a day, whether it's a week, we're going to come out, we're going to be prepared, we're going to be ready for the game no matter what. DEON MITCHELL: I just think we've got to make sure we come out prepared each game and just focus each play and don't take any plays for granted. Just come out and focus on every possession. Q. For Nate, regular season didn't end on the highest of notes for you guys. How does it feel to kind of bounce back a little bit personally today and have such a career day? NATE BUSS: Personally, it felt great. It felt great just to be able to step up in a time when the team needed it to help get us that first win for all of our guys. Just knowing that I was able to help out like that. It's great to be in an offensive rhythm like I was today, like I haven't been all season. Like I said, just to know that I helped get our team that win is a great feeling. THE MODERATOR: Gentlemen, thank you. We'll dismiss you and stay with the head coach a little longer. Q. Jake, Bradley changed up defenses a lot there in the first half. Was there a trigger point that kind of led to their late run? Did it have anything to do with the defensive changes, or was there something else? COACH JACOBSON: You know, I don't‑‑ I'm not sure it was. We didn't have a lot of offensive rhythm the entire first half, but at the same time, we were up‑‑ we had gotten up 13. I thought our defense was very good, and they missed some jump shots. Seth had some opportunities in the first half, where they played him single coverage, and he got pretty close to the rim. Those didn't go in for us. That may have got us up maybe 16, maybe 18. Then we had a couple turnovers that allowed them to get it from 13 down to 2 right before the half. And give their guys credit. We were giving some jump shots in the last few minutes, and within the last 2 1/2 minutes, they rose up and made some jump shots. Q. Coach, what impressed you about your team tonight with this win? COACH JACOBSON: With everything going into this game, we don't talk about last year or the year before, the number of years it's been since we've won a game on Friday, but because we don't talk about it or I don't talk about it doesn't mean the guys don't understand it and don't feel it. So there's certainly that aspect of this game. I felt like, when we got deep in the first half, that we were fine. Once a game like that gets close, some of that stuff can creep back in. To see Deon and Nate as seniors step forward and put all that to rest and just drive us home, I thought that was terrific. Q. Coach, even though Seth didn't have a basket‑‑ I think he had eight or nine rebounds before he scored a basket. Is that something you've seen Seth mature in? Or was he like that when you got him? Is he a guy that would always concentrate on other things besides the scoring? COACH JACOBSON: No, he's come a ways. There's been plenty of times this year where Seth of freshman or sophomore year would have been frustrated with the way he's being guarded, the number of ways he's being guarded. Tonight he missed a couple of easy ones that he's been making all year. Yeah, when he was younger, that would have got to him, and tonight it probably got to him a little bit, but he keeps it inside, and he continues now to defend and rebound for us, and that's a real key. Q. Coach, what was the mood in the locker room like for you at halftime? COACH JACOBSON: The guys were fine. It's one of those deals. I felt like we had outplayed them with our defense for 18 minutes. We turned it over a couple of times, and like I said, they knocked in some jump shots. But for the majority of the first half, I thought we'd done a good job. So just making a couple of adjustments. The biggest key, I think, for our team, or one of them, is to be able to get out in transition. I thought that really turned the tide, and that takes a good effort defensively, and then you've got to go get the basketball. We rebounded it well enough to get into transition. Q. Jake, when you go so long without subbing, is that something you consciously think about? I'm not going to make a sub. Or are you more in the moment and it never enters your mind? COACH JACOBSON: It's just during the game. It's not something I think about prior to a game maybe is a better way of saying that. Just how the game's going. That's where I give our guys a ton of credit because I don't tell them before the game. If I feel like there's a better matchup here or there, who might play more, who might play less. I don't ever talk about it with the players. Deon alluded to it. They're ready when they're on the floor. They know that some nights it's going to be more minutes and some nights it's going to be less minutes. Some nights it's going to be more shots. Some nights it's going to be less shots. It's a unique team. I haven't coached a team like this before that has had this kind of versatility and this kind of depth. Usually, the depth is a little bit different, and minutes are more well established. These guys have made it work. Q. Coach, I know it's always one game at a time, but there's this cloud hanging over the idea of what could it be on Sunday? What's your message to your team to get past and look ahead towards tomorrow and just your thoughts on your opponents potentially for tomorrow. COACH JACOBSON: What would happen on Sunday? The teams for tomorrow‑‑ Lansing is one of the best coaches certainly in our league, but I think in the Midwest. He just does a terrific job. For whatever reason, our games with Indiana State have always been very close and very competitive. So I would anticipate, if it's Indiana State, that it's going to be the same thing. Porter‑‑ and I talked to him a little bit the other night‑‑ he's doing a terrific job. I think that's the thing. I don't know how many of the coaches have had a chance to talk about it, but this is a player's league, a coach's league, a fan's league. Whichever of the two teams it is tomorrow, it will be competitive as it always is. Q. Coach, you mentioned a little bit before that you don't really talk about it, but obviously your guys were aware of the losing streak here. How much of today is a relief that you don't have to answer questions from guys like us about it anymore and you can move on from it? COACH JACOBSON: I'm happy for those guys and for our guys that are returning next year, that they don't have to answer that question again. I'm happy about that. THE MODERATOR: Ben, thank you very much. See you tomorrow. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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