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BIG TEN CONFERENCE MEN'S TOURNAMENTMarch 12, 2015Nnanna EgwuJohn GroceRayvonte RiceCHICAGO, ILLINOIS Michigan – 73 COACH GROCE: Obviously we're disappointed we didn't play very well today. Certainly don't want to take anything away from Michigan. I thought they were terrific. We didn't have any answers for stopping them. I didn't think our defense was very good. When we've been good this year, our defense has been good, and we just didn't have any answers on that end of the floor, and when we played well here late, we've been able to get stops, and we weren't able to do that today very successfully. Then, on the other end, I thought the ball stuck too much. Obviously we didn't have the assist number we would have liked on the ratio of made field goals. Thought the ball was really sticky, just did not play very well. Give them a lot of credit. I thought they had a lot of energy, thought they executed well, and did what they needed to do to win the game. Obviously, again, we're disappointed because we played better than that, a lot better than that, and obviously we didn't have it today. Q. Surprising to start slowly and not have a push, an answer in the second half? Does that really take you back at all? NNANNA EGWU: We're disappointed in the way we played. We practiced better than that, and there was just a point where we didn't come out‑‑ we came out, we punched back once they struck first, but there was a point we couldn't make the second effort to come back. Q. Can both of you just address the last two games? You had a lot riding on both games and both were disappointing efforts. What do you think changed? What do you think happened the last two games? RAYVONTE RICE: They just threw the first punch, and we was just unable to answer. Just gave it all we got. They were just a better team. NNANNA EGWU: I mean, regardless of what we have riding or anything, at the end of the day, when we play for Illinois, we've got to play hard and we've got to play with effort. The last two games we didn't do that for 40 minutes and that's the reason we lost. It was nothing about what happened. It's just when you come here to play, we expect to play hard, and at the end of the day, we lost because we didn't play hard enough. Q.  How do you describe the disappointment of losing this game? RAYVONTE RICE: I mean, we can't control like what the committee decides, but we're just going to look at the film tomorrow, see what we can get better at and just see where we end up. Q. Would you agree that the effort was lacking the last two games, and today‑‑ COACH GROCE: No, nothing against Nnanna, I love Nnanna like he's my own son. I didn't think we were necessarily desperate enough during Purdue's run to end the first half and the beginning of the second half. That was an 18‑7 run in the span of about three minutes. The other 37, like, played pretty well, did some good things. But the room for error is small as we know in this league, and certainly when you're playing on the road. I thought that was the bigger culprit there in that one. Today, I would probably agree with them a little bit more. For whatever reason we just didn't have it. I liked our response when we got down 14‑2 and we came back. I thought it was a big, big, big swing when we went foul, technical foul, they make two free throws, they get the ball back and then they make a 25‑foot bomb. My assistant says, that's a hard shot, and I said, no, it's karma. Don't get the technical foul. We've got to be more poised than that. That led to a five‑point play, and I think that really spurred that run, David, at the end of the first half. I thought we had more energy than we did today, which was disappointing because you've got guys that played 38, 39 and 38, we're playing an eight‑man rotation today basically. I just was disappointed in that. But at the end of the day, it's easy to blame it all on that. There's going to be an execution part of this, too, now. You can't give them transition threes, three of them in the first half, or we don't get matched up in transition. That's not just effort, that's the old analogy I give them with Christmas Vacation when the guy comes out to the front lawn and the daughter says to grandpa about Chevy Chase, he worked real hard, and the grandpa says, so do washing machines. There is an execution piece to this too now. You've got to talk. You can run real hard back, but if you don't talked and get matched up, your effort could be spectacular, but your execution doesn't merit, then that's a problem. I thought today it was both. Q. Did the official tell you what precipitated the technical foul, what it was? COACH GROCE: Just‑‑ I trust those guys. We have those guys all year. They're really good. They said, I looked at the monitor, it was a no‑brainer. Leron has got to be a little more poised there. I think it was an elbow or something. That was their take on it, so I trusted those guys' judgment. Q. You were really pleased a year ago with the way the players connected with what you were telling them. Do you feel like you're being heard, as well, this time, this year? COACH GROCE: I don't think it's about being heard. We just didn't play very well today. Obviously we've taken a lot of pride in doing very well in tournament settings for years. Today we just did not play very well, so we're all going to have to look ourselves in the mirror and own this one and figure out how to be mentally and physically more prepared the next time. I didn't see this one coming. Nnanna said, we practiced really, really well, had a great spirit about it, got a very close group, just didn't play very well, and I thought they played really well, so again, I don't want to take anything away from them. I thought their execution was terrific and they had a lot of answers on the offensive end. Q. Down the stretch it seems like Malcolm and Kendrick have struggled to find their shot consistently. Is that just them going cold or is there more to it? COACH GROCE: I'll have to watch the film from today, but the Purdue game I thought we missed shots, in particular Kendrick. I thought he had great shots. I thought Malcolm had a couple chances to finish lay‑ups around the basket today, and he didn't. I thought the one at the end of the half would have been huge on the side‑out play to kind of maybe give us a little bit of momentum, and he drove it left, and for whatever reason it didn't go in, and he didn't make it. Sometimes that happens. But you're right, those guys are better shooting the ball than what they have shot here lately. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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