|
|||
|
|||
|
 |
|
|
BIG TEN CONFERENCE MEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIPMarch 10, 2017Greg GardEthan HappD'Mitrik TriceBronson KoenigWashington, D.C. Wisconsin - 70, Indiana - 60 THE MODERATOR: We'll ask Coach Gard to make an opening statement. COACH GARD: Obviously extremely happy for our guys and proud of 'em. Thought they played for the most part really well tonight. Shared the ball. They had 15 assists on 27 baskets. Really did a terrific job on both ends of the floor defensively, other than a couple breakdowns here or there, to be able to try to keep Indiana under control with what they can do offensively to teams was evident here and yesterday with what they did to Iowa in the second half, Ohio State at the end of the regular season. A complete team effort. I thought guys off the bench did a good job, as well. It's always good to get that first one when you get to this point in the season. THE MODERATOR: Questions for the students, please. Q. Bronson, 15-point lead you had in the second half, they started to make the run. What is the focus like at that point? What are you concerned about most? BRONSON KOENIG: I would say we were just trying to keep our poise, not give them anything else easy, not turn the ball over, and just get good shots every time down the floor. So if we take bad shots, then it leads to, you know, threes, transition points. We were just trying to take care of the ball, take the best shots possible. Q. Ethan, one of your teammates said he thought when you guys drew the Indiana matchup, because you played well against them before, you got a little bit excited. You had a good year against them in all three games. What's your explanation for that? ETHAN HAPP: You mean personally or as a team? Q. Personally. ETHAN HAPP: Personally, the last two games started in doubles. I didn't think I did as well offensively as I could have, even though the numbers don't show it. I think the biggest thing is that we just come ready to play. We know they're an up-tempo team. We want to control the pace. Not that we want to control the pace, but we controlled the pace in all three matchups. We were able to do it that way. Q. Bronson, Coach Crean was in there, couldn't say enough about you, going against you. Said it was an honor to coach against you. I saw he said something to you after the game. Would you be able to speak on that? What does it mean to hear that from another coach? BRONSON KOENIG: I'm very appreciative of whatever he had to say about me. I don't know what he had said. Whatever he said, thank you, Tom Crean. Q. Bronson, I think when Greg was talking about Trice earlier this year, he said you'd been looking for a point guard to mentor. How do you think he's played, especially down the stretch now, including tonight? BRONSON KOENIG: I'm extremely proud of him. I just got a question asked in the locker room about, have I said anything to him about March. I pretty much just said, I don't even really need to say anything about March because of his background, where he comes from. I just need to give him all the confidence out on the court. I thought he did a great job tonight controlling the pace, being a facilitator, knocking down open shots. Q. You had a rough Big Ten tournament last March. Any difference between a year ago versus now? ETHAN HAPP: I think we sputter towards the end of the year. Really picked up a sense of urgency. Not that we didn't play urgent last year against Nebraska. I think we just feel like there's more on the line. We came out more hungry than I think we did against Nebraska. I think we played a little complacent. I think that was the difference between the two games. Q. After that six-game stretch, now these last three, is there a sense that everything is starting to come together for this team? D'MITRIK TRICE: Yeah, definitely. After the Minnesota game, we definitely felt good about how we played, whether that was defense or making shots. I believe we're finally clicking on all cylinders as of right now. We're finally back to how we should be playing. BRONSON KOENIG: Yeah, I think we kind of picked up where we left off during the Minnesota game. We all kind of, I don't know, are playing more together, playing as a unit. We're having fun again. Making the extra pass, knocking them down. Everyone on the court to everyone on the bench is electric, having fun. It's a good feeling. ETHAN HAPP: I think for a while there, our offense kind of sputtered. Our defense was keeping us together. Once we got the offense going, our defense was kind of lacking. Now we're focusing on both. We've been doing a good job of maintaining both, not letting one lapse. Q. D'Mitrik, you played a lot of minutes tonight, facilitated the offense. At what point do you think you grew to the point where you could play a game like this? D'MITRIK TRICE: I'd have to go back to the trust factor that Coach Gard puts in me, allowing me to play these type of minutes, him trusting me with the ball. Definitely having a couple of starts under my belt really helped. But just the preparation that I have to take each game to play these type of minutes has really helped me. Q. Bronson, I think you were asked about maintaining the lead. You said, Get good shots, maintain our poise. Against Iowa not too long ago, you did not hold the lead. Did that help you in any way tonight, any lessons you took from that game? BRONSON KOENIG: Yeah, I think so. I think handling the press and handling their pressure in general, I think we learned a lot from that Iowa game, myself included, to go demand the ball, go get the ball. I thought we did a pretty good job of knocking down free throws down the stretch. THE MODERATOR: Thank you. You may return to the locker room. We'll take questions for Coach Gard. Q. Coach, you have a lot of experience, both as an assistant and head coach, of winning games in March and going far. Is there something you've been able to tell through the years that you can figure out if your team is good versus very good versus great? Is it defense, camaraderie, senior leadership? COACH GARD: It's probably all of the above. I mean, the terrific teams we've had over the years typically have all three. Obviously senior leadership helps. You have to be able to defend, you know, or you're not going to go very far this time of year. I think having a looseness about us, too, helps. I don't try to pump any more into the moment than what is, already what comes from the outside sources. I just tell them, Hey, play. March is for players. Go play. This is your time of the year. I told them before the game, I'm not going to reinvent the wheel here. There's probably nothing I'm going to say in this pregame speech that you haven't heard for the last four or five months. Here are a few keys, go play and have some fun with it. They did that. I think the energy and toughness we played with defensively, as I mentioned before, to be able to keep Indiana under wrap, so to speak, offensively, from their offensive standpoint, I thought was a sign of our synergy. Obviously getting shots to go down, our back court is pretty good with the three or four guys I'm rotating through there. Everybody is contributing in a way that they can. That helps as you continue to move through the month. Q. Momentum can be elusive. Do you feel the victory against Minnesota? How much pressure did it relieve from these guys? I don't know if it reestablished some confidence or got them back on track. COACH GARD: I think maybe more so than relieving pressure was we got back to our identity. We got back to who we are as a program. Ohio State obviously was not us. It's credit to Ohio State. They made shots. Once we tried to start to guard them, they were warmed up, everything went their way. Defensively we got refocused on what was important. I think it was that identity coming back, specifically from the defensive end. The energy, how hard we played, those type of things. We fed off of that. That helped us on the other end of the floor, too. When you can get contributions from a lot of different players... I was told in the locker room we haven't had five guys in double figures maybe since Prairie View A&M. That was a long time ago. If we can continue to get balanced, have a lot of guys contribute, it helps us as we go forward. Q. Offensively I think you mentioned it earlier, the ball movement was really outstanding. Have you done something different offensively to promote that? Are the players just kind of catching it here at the end? COACH GARD: I think we've gotten better at understanding how important it is. We have tweaked a few things and moved some people around a little bit. I think the one thing that's helped is D'Mitrik in the lineup helps us move the ball more, too. It gives us another ball handler on the floor. I probably played three guards more here in the last couple weeks. Just as he's matured, I've watched him in that position. It's helped to take maybe some of the pressure off the guys that have to do the ball-handling responsibilities. It's a combination. I think we're maturing. Teams mature in different areas at different times of the year. But they're playing very unselfish, which is good to see. Q. What are the breakdowns early that led to so many offensive rebounds and the second-chance points? COACH GARD: We didn't block out. I mean, at one point in time when I called a timeout, we had three guys outside the three-point line. We were in a scramble situation, too. They had to rush to shooters. Basically we weren't getting bodies on bodies. Once we started to do that, even rebound from the top down, too, that helped. Some guards got in and got their face in the action, too. We just started to play a little more physical in the paint. Q. You were speaking about the senior leadership. Bronson made a big basket at the end. How much of an impact does it make to have him back in good health? COACH GARD: He's obviously played a lot of minutes in his career, from the time he set foot on campus pretty much. These guys don't get too consumed in the moment. When the score gets a little tighter, they continue to play on. They've been in these type of situations, tight games before. They continue to play the next possession. Can't push the panic button. When you have some experience specifically in the backcourt, that helps as much as anywhere. Our two starting guards played as much as they have in their career. That helps kind of calm the masses. When they see those two guys for the most part playing under control, doing the right thing, it helps settle everybody else down as well. THE MODERATOR: Thank you. Good luck tomorrow. COACH GARD: Thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
About ASAP Sports •
FastScripts Archive •
Recent Interviews •
Captioning •
Upcoming Events •
Contact Us
FastScripts | Events Covered | Our Clients | Other Services | ASAP in the News | Site Map | Job Opportunities | Links |
|
ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297
|