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CROSSROADS CLASSIC: PURDUE VS NOTRE DAMEDecember 17, 2016Caleb SwaniganVincent EdwardsCarsen EdwardsIndianapolis, Indiana Purdue - 86, Notre Dame - 81 Q. How much did it help you guys in the second half to be smaller, especially on defense? CALEB SWANIGAN: I feel like it helped us a lot, just that they're a really talented team, they're skilled and all, but that just shows our versatility as a team, being able to match up with a small team and play small ball or play with two bigs on the court. It just worked well for us tonight, so we went with it. Q. Where did the defensive intensity come from? Obviously at halftime you turned it around, offensively they were doing what they wanted in the first half. Second half that wasn't the case. What turned it around? CALEB SWANIGAN: It just came from us. We wanted to win the game, and we're tired of losing against other quality opponents, and we just found that, and just strung it together. Q. Vince, what were you trying to do starting there in the second half, especially from a defensive standpoint? Did you see this was an opportunity for you to make an impact? VINCENT EDWARDS: I was just trying to light a spark on our team, get us going. I just noticed we kind of didn't have as much energy as we needed. We came out with good energy and then heading into halftime, just in the locker room, so I was just that second half coming out, just wanted to spark some energy and just get everybody going. Q. Carsen, did you hurt your right arm or right hand or your elbow or something? You were shaking it out and doing this a lot in the second half; are you all right? CARSEN EDWARDS: Yeah, I'm fine. I just landed on it. When I got fouled before I went to the free-throw line, I had landed on it and it just of hurting a little bit. But I'm good now, yeah. Q. Biggie, how about your individual defensive production, four blocked shots? I don't know if you've had that this year. Is that in part because you were playing the 5 and not the 4? CALEB SWANIGAN: Yeah, and the fact I was getting a lot of shots at the rim. I felt like I could definitely in the second half -- I played with foul trouble in the first half. I didn't want to risk too many things. But in the second half it was just time to win, and I told Vince, all right, if you play solid defense, don't foul, I'll come block you, and that's just what I did. Q. Vince, what was the second half turnaround all about defensively? Was it just matching up better being smaller, or was there something more to it? VINCENT EDWARDS: I definitely think going smaller helped us. In the first half we kind of struggled with all our size in there, so us going small the second half really helped to where we were able to defend it easier. Q. You guys have been right there with a couple of really good teams and didn't quite get there. You got there tonight. What's it do for this team's confidence as you go ahead? CALEB SWANIGAN: It just meant everything for us because going into conference season, without this win, we have no résumé and you've got to earn it in the grind of the Big Ten, which we all know that's just -- it's just long and it's hard because you've got to build your rep all on Big Ten teams. You want to have non-conference to back you when it comes tournament time. VINCENT EDWARDS: Yeah to piggy-back off that, like he said, building a résumé and just being able to come out here and get a win against a ranked opponent and add that to the résumé, it looks everything, and then to be able to come out here and break our little losing streak we had here, so to finally get that win, I think that just boosts everybody, so it was a great team win overall. CARSEN EDWARDS: I also agree with that, just playing well like that in the second half, it just shows kind of if we focus and we play hard, it shows potential what we can do. It's a big win, of course, going into conference play, but it's just keep working and see how we can play, play well and play together, play hard. Q. Vincent and Biggie, Coach Painter talked early on about the toughness of this team. What do you think you guys showed, overcoming that points deficit? VINCENT EDWARDS: I'd just say it speaks for itself. We really don't have to say too much. We always know we're a capable team, and the coaches call what they see, so I feel like our performance today just showed just that and I feel like it speaks for itself. CALEB SWANIGAN: Just as far as that goes, I feel like we just showed that well, and we just proved it to ourselves because you've got to show it in a game. You can shoot well in practice, be tough in practice, but when it starts translating, it just helps and then it just helps the snowball effect, and we can't drop one of these next two and then head right into Iowa, and just keep the ball rolling. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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