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MISSOURI VALLEY CONFERENCE MEN'S TOURNAMENTMarch 8, 2015Matt BohannonBen JacobsonDeon MitchellJeremy MorganMarvin SingletonSeth TuttleST. LOUIS, MISSOURI Northern Iowa – 69 THE MODERATOR: Champions of Arch Madness are here, UNI Panthers. Per custom, we're going to ask Coach Ben Jacobson to make a statement on the title game. Then we'll go to questions for the student‑athletes of Northern Iowa, Jeremy Morgan, Marvin Singleton, Seth Tuttle, Matt Bohannon, and Deon Mitchell. COACH JACOBSON: That was different than just about every game I've been a part of. Illinois State, as I said yesterday, has got a heck of a basketball team. Dan is doing a fantastic job of putting that group together. They played the first half the way they played yesterday. They continued with that momentum, extremely aggressive, and a lot of guys made plays for them. We had more than our hands full at halftime. I give our guys a lot of credit for sticking to what's worked for us and getting that ball in to Seth and attacking in transition, doing the things we practiced when it would have been easy to get away from it. Illinois State, as we saw this weekend, is certainly a postseason type of team. I would imagine they'll be in the NIT for sure. They're very, very good. Just proud of our guys for sticking with what's worked for us. Q. Seth, with all the accolades, 30 wins, top 10 ranking, what's it mean to kind of add a trophy to it? SETH TUTTLE: That means a lot for not just me, but our team and our university. At the beginning of the year, we left a slot open in our new team room. We talked about how we wanted to fill that with trophies this year. Obviously, that was one of our team's goals. For us to come down here and get three wins and get those trophies to fill that slot, it's a great feeling and means a lot. Q. Seth, you've never done this before. How does it compare to maybe what you thought it would feel like? SETH TUTTLE: I've gotten told what it felt like. Obviously, you can never put those words into how it actually feels when you get out there. I can tell you, it felt great to be able to share it with these four and the rest of our guys and our coaching staff and my family in the stands and our crowd. To be able to share this moment, it felt great. I know we're all really excited about it. Q. Marvin, Illinois State, it looked like, really wanted to play a physical game. Did you guys feel ready for that early? What got you in the mood? Clearly, it turned around, and you settled in obviously in the second half. MARVIN SINGLETON: We knew it was going to be a physical game. They're pretty big up front. They've got a couple big guys. They like to throw up and block shots and chase rebounds. We knew it was going to be a physical game on both sides of the floor. Second half, they just missed a couple of shots, and we were able to get in transition and get a couple of easy baskets. That changed the tempo of the game and the momentum of the game started swinging back our way. Q. Jeremy, how would you describe the defensive problems you had in the first half? JEREMY MORGAN: It wasn't really defensive problems, I wouldn't say. They came out and hit some tough shots right away from the beginning. When players like that hit shots, they start to feel it a little bit. They had some momentum in the first half, but we stuck with what we knew best and came out in the second half and did a great job. Q. For any of the guys up there, the differences between the first and the second half, obviously, couldn't have been more different. Was there almost a pressure relief when you went out in the second half knowing that you just had to go out and play to get back into it, you didn't have to worry about anything? MATT BOHANNON: Kind of like J said, we had a few defensive lapses in the first half. We had quite a few transition buckets we were trying to take away, and they did a good job of spreading the floor and getting some of those easy ones. At the halftime we had to kind of dig in a little bit and, like we have all year, just stick to some of the things we've been doing all year to get us to a win. Like you said, we had to cut that lead to 10 as quickly as we can, and we did that. DEON MITCHELL: Like both of them said, they came out in the first half really aggressive. They were knocking down a lot of tough shots. We just knew, like J said earlier, just do what we've been doing, and eventually we'll come out on top. Q. This question's for Matt. How were you guys able to disrupt entry passes to Lynch? It looked like it was a lot tougher for him to get the ball in the post the second half. MATT BOHANNON: We know they like to run their offense through him. He's a very good player. He scores every time he gets the ball around the basket. We knew, playing from behind, we'd have to have help from Marv or Buss when they were in there. Hawkins is a good shooter at the forward position. So it was kind of hard to double off him. In the second half, we just tried to let them know we were there, let them know the guards were digging in a little bit or Marv or Buss were coming, sometimes they're not. Just had to give them different looks. I thought the second half they kind of struggled a little bit because he knew we were coming from a different direction every time. Q. You added Andrea on the staff this year to help with conditioning. How much does it help in a game like this? MARVIN SINGLETON: I think it helps us out a lot team‑wise, being able to play a full game for 40 minutes instead of just playing the first half and then probably collapsing or just giving up. We stuck with it the second half. We knew we could get out in transition if they miss a couple shots. We knew we could get out in transition and get a couple of easy baskets. We were ready for the physical game and the transition game as well. JEREMY MORGAN: Along with what Marvin said, Andrea helped a lot with the conditioning through the summer and all the way into the season working us with the warmups. Everything that he does, just like everybody else in the program, helps tremendously. We appreciate him a lot. Q. Seth, kind of a big picture question. You guys are leading the way for a state that's going to have three teams in the tournament. As a guy that grew up in Iowa, what do you think that means to be part of a threesome that's going to make the NCAA Tournament? SETH TUTTLE: There's a lot of buzz going around the state of Iowa, not only for us, but the other two universities. That's exciting. It's exciting to have good basketball around us. I guess we haven't really focused too much about the other two universities. We've been concentrating on ourselves, but obviously, it just adds to the season, adds to everything what's going on. So it's exciting for everybody. Q. Seth, what did Jake say? Maybe more importantly, how did he say it in the halftime locker room? SETH TUTTLE: He stayed calm, like he always does. He told us that even though we're down by however many it was, he still felt like the game was ours. He still felt like we were fine. We had to get back to playing our kind of basketball. We had to be the ones that were putting them on our heels. Basically, they were the more aggressive team the first half, and we were back on our heels, and we talked about how we had to flip flop that. One main thing, we talked about getting it under 10 right away, to put the pressure on them, and then obviously let ourselves get into a nice little rhythm. We were able to do that, obviously, pretty quick there in the second half. Q. For Matt, shot making was obviously the big difference. What was the difference that took the lid off? Is was it switching ends? Was it something that simple? MATT BOHANNON: I wouldn't say switching ends. We just kept shooting. We knew we put in a lot of preparation, every single one of us, through the summer and the off‑season, to make those shots. We just stayed confident. We had guys and coaches on the sidelines saying just shoot it, just stay confident, and the next one is going to go in. That's kind of what happened. We just kept shooting, and fortunately some of them fell. Q. Deon, in the first half, it looked like you were getting some good looks around the rim, but in the second half, did the game really slow down for you? Is? DEON MITCHELL: In the first half, we were getting some stops. The first few minutes, I had some open looks. In the second half, we tried to do the same thing. They were collapsing more and in their zone. We tried to slow it down a bit and work it inside out and kick it out to the open three‑point shots, and it worked well for us. THE MODERATOR: Gentlemen, we can dismiss you. Congratulations. We'll see you in the Big Dance. Q. Ben, second half, Daishon Knight didn't get his first shot till three minutes left in the ball game, after having the first half that he had. Was that a function more of them just not getting into transition the second half because you guys were finally making shots? Or did you change up what you were doing? COACH JACOBSON: It was the first of what you said. We started to score the ball, which kept them out of transition some. Of and the momentum got shifted to our side. That was really the only thing that happened. We didn't change anything from a scheme standpoint. Q. Coach, when you're down 18 late in the first half, was this really a group with five seniors that you didn't really have to say much to them, or what were you communicating before the second half? COACH JACOBSON: I thought in the first half we had gotten some good looks at the basket. Nate was open a couple of times. Paul was open. We had the ball in to Seth, and he didn't score it three or four times. I think our play was better than what the score was. Sometimes your play isn't. Sometimes you're tied and your play isn't as good as the score is. In this case, I thought our play was better than what the score indicated. We just kept talking about digging in and plenty of time at halftime, as Seth said, just talked about getting it under 10 as soon as we could and putting a little pressure on them, and the guys were able to do that. Q. Three years ago Nate Buss probably didn't get the minutes he wanted. Today he got the All‑Conference team. What has he done to earn that this year? COACH JACOBSON: He has put so much more effort into the teamwork it takes defensively. He's putting so much more effort into the toughness it takes to rebound. And he's just grown tremendously, generally speaking, in terms of being a teammate. I'll tell you, I'm really, really proud of him. He's come a long ways in all of those areas. It's one thing to do it for yourself, to get on the floor. It's another‑‑ that's always part of it, but it's another to do it to help your team. I think that's what Nate has really grown into and really learned. At the beginning, it was about him getting on the floor. At this point, it's how can I help my team win a championship, whether it's 2 minutes or 32 minutes, and I've really enjoyed being a part of that. Q. Coach, in the second half, it looked like McCloud didn't have the type of looks he had in the first half. Was that because you were doubling less, playing more one‑on‑one defense in the second half? COACH JACOBSON: We needed to run him off that three‑point line. We made a couple of defensive mistakes in the first half with him and with Hawkins. One of the things we talked about was making sure we run those two guys off the three‑point line and make them bounce it. Q. Coach, Matt mentioned confidence in terms of shooting. Where does that stem from for these guys? COACH JACOBSON: The most important thing and the best place that that can come from is putting time in every day. To answer your question, that's where it comes from. All of them are in every single day. It starts at, I believe, 7:00 in the morning with Bohannon, and shortly after that, it's Max, Jeremy, and Wyatt. Shortly after that, it's Marvin, Deon, Seth‑‑ I could keep going. It's all of them. It's the same every single day. They're in, and they shoot hundreds of shots. The thing that I've appreciated most about our program is that this isn't the first group to do that. There was guys before them that showed them the way to confidence. It's through hard work. That's the only way you get there. These guys have been great, and they had some great guys before them to help them understand the importance of preparation. Q. Ben, you've been down this road before at the NCAA Tournament but your guys haven't. What do you do‑‑ it's an unusual situation for you with a week and a half between games. How do you go from tomorrow up until then? COACH JACOBSON: We'll take a couple days off, let them get away from each other a little bit. I would say probably two days off. And then get back in the gym this week. This week just do some things. We'll be in the weight room and do a little conditioning. We won't do a lot of our take a charge drills, rebounding drills, a lot of the hard ones this week. This is a good week to let the guys get healed up just a little bit and mentally get freshened up just a little bit. As we get toward the end of the week, we'll start to go a little harder again, and then we'll see what comes our way on Sunday and then have our normal practices next week. Q. Coach, when Seth has maybe a frustrating first half like he had today, do you have something to stay to him at halftime, or do you just kind of assume maybe his determination is going to take over in the second half? COACH JACOBSON: I talked to the team just as a group about being more physical. I told Seth and Marv, right before we went out after the half, just to get more physical with Lynch and with the other bigs, when they're ducking in and posting and when they catch it. That's the only thing I talked to them about was a little bit more physical. Q. Coach, more relief or enjoyment to get back here from where you were in 2010? COACH JACOBSON: Enjoyment. This has been great. One of the things I learned going through it as an assistant and the two times as a head coach is I allowed myself to get pretty wrapped up in the preparation and just getting on to the next one and on to the next one. I think that's just how I'm wired. I've gotten a little bit better, a little bit more perspective now. I've enjoyed this four months tremendously, and we will continue to. Q. Coach, did you put more emphasis on defense at the beginning of this year and kind of your style of play as a defensive style than in years past? COACH JACOBSON: Probably just about a year ago. Last year, as I said early in the year, we took a year off defensively, which I'm still not all that happy about. But we did, and it was my doing. So we spent a lot of time‑‑ we got back at it this summer and spent a lot of time this fall getting some things done defensively and getting a little bit tougher, and it's paid off for us. Q. Coach, you'll have two Valley teams in the NCAAs. Illinois State played you tough today. Can you just talk a little bit about the level of play in this league and how it prepares you going forward. COACH JACOBSON: The league was much better this year than it was a year ago. I think we're seeing teams and guys‑‑ we're seeing that improvement. Evansville returns everybody again. Illinois State's got all kinds of young guys on the floor in that championship game. Indiana State returns a bunch of guys, and I could keep going. I think we've got a great foundation right now across the board in the league, and it will continue to move forward. I think next year the league will be better than it was this year. Q. You got the stone face, and your players say you're always calm. Is there anything going on underneath when you're down by 18 in the first half? Any kind of concern? COACH JACOBSON: Not today. Today I was okay. As I said, I thought we were playing better than what the score was. There's been times when we've gotten down and we haven't done what we practiced, and inside I'm as angry as I can possibly be. On occasion, that comes out in a halftime here or there. Not very often. There's a guy in the back of the room that caught the back half of one in a time‑out a few years ago. It's more about how we're playing than what the score is. That's our deal. We work hard to do things a certain way, and we work hard to prepare ourselves and work hard enough as the guys are confident, as we talked about today. If we're playing that way and the other team happens to be playing better, I feel like it's my job to help the guys just kind of get on track. If we're not doing what we're supposed to, especially from an effort standpoint, then they're going to hear about it. But outside of that, I really feel like my job is to help them do well, and this is a good group that way. THE MODERATOR: On behalf of the Missouri Valley Conference, congratulations, Ben. Best of luck in the tournament. Go get 'em. COACH JACOBSON: Thanks a lot. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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