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BIG TEN CONFERENCE MEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIPMarch 11, 2017Greg GardEthan HappNigel HayesWashington, D.C. Wisconsin - 76, Northwestern - 48 THE MODERATOR: We'll ask Coach Gard to make an opening statement, then take questions for Nigel and Ethan. COACH GARD: Obviously terrific team win, terrific effort. Played exceptionally well. Played really hard. Just proud of our guys, of how they've continued to improve and grow, take little things we have worked on throughout the year and continue to get better at it. Guys off the bench did a terrific job. Obviously Northwestern has had a heck of a year. For us to come in and play this well, show we're getting better at this time of year, it's a huge step. Like I said, proud of our guys. Try to get as much rest as possible and get ready for Michigan. THE MODERATOR: Questions for the students, please. Q. Ethan, coming into this game, a rough stretch at the free-throw line, today unbelievable. It seems like the crowd and your alums and fans go nuts every time you make a free throw. What was the secret today? Confidence? Technique? Practice? ETHAN HAPP: I mean, coming into this tournament I, felt more confident. Last game, I only got one crack at a free throw. I put in a lot of time. Coach Gard has helped me with my free throw, as well. We put in a lot of time, worked on a lot of things. It's good to see it start to pay off a little bit. Q. Nigel, you're playing a team that's gone for its third time in three days. You guys are known for your defense. Is that a pretty good combination for Wisconsin, your defense against a team that's somewhat weary? NIGEL HAYES: Yeah, definitely. We'll take that advantage for us. That's kind of the benefit we receive for doing semi-decent in the regular season, the regular conference. We know they're playing hard, playing inspired, playing well right now. If they're going to be a little tired, we'll definitely take it. We don't want to run around like spring chickens or anything like that. Q. As that lead is starting to grow, what is it like playing with a lead like that and the confidence it gives you throughout the game? NIGEL HAYES: It's a process, definitely. We're trying to become better. It's something that I've noticed. Freshman and sophomore year when we played the good teams, we watched the other really good teams, the teams that go on to do good things is when they get a lead, the things they do. Again, our coaching staff and Coach Gard stresses that you continue to play the game the right way. I said that to the guys. We had a 15-point lead. I said, We've done the big things to get the lead, makes threes, and-ones, et cetera. To extend the lead, we have to continue to do the little things right now. I think we did a fairly good job of that. We got away from it a little bit throughout the second half. For the most part, we've taken a step in the right direction of, you know, closing out games. THE MODERATOR: Fellas, thank you very much. Good luck tomorrow. Questions for Coach Gard. Q. They had one assist until the eight-minute mark of the second half. Wisconsin, known for its defense, but 48 points, that kind of play, you had to be impressed with your team's play? COACH GARD: Yeah, I think we've gotten better as the season has gone on, specifically defensively. We got bent sideways a little bit offensively. We had a hard time scoring two, three weeks ago. Defensively, other than maybe one game or a game and a half, we've been pretty consistent. These guys understand that's where it starts. We have to be very good at that end. I think this group has taken ownership of that. They take pride in what they do defensively, in how consistent and good they can be. We'll just continue to build on it, continue to get better. Q. Towards the end of the game, you had a chance to work in some of your bench. Did you see anything you liked that you hadn't had an opportunity to see earlier in the season? COACH GARD: Well, I think Alex, for one, is starting to turn the corner a little bit as a sophomore. I've noticed how he's practiced the last two, three weeks. Hence, I've used him a little bit more. I think him, Jordan Hill I thought did a good job of stepping out. We were out with Khalil Iverson. He's home with his family right now. Guys are continuing to grow. Every opportunity they have, they need to take advantage of it, whether it's in live action in a game, what they get in practice, in the scout team, or over with me on the other side of the floor. Just take advantage of your opportunities, continue to grow. Our young guys have definitely bought into that, definitely improved. Our program has typically been developmentally based, in terms of guys growing through the process, getting better. Hence, you see a lot of juniors and seniors on the floors, a freshman here or there. They work and improve as they go through our program. Q. How gratifying is it to see this team respond from what was a little bit of a rough patch second half of the season to play the way you're playing now? COACH GARD: It's the right time of the year to be playing like this. We'll continue to try to get better. We never lost faith in what we were doing, lost hope. It's just a matter of, Let's do what we do better. There weren't any radical changes, anything outside the box. It was just, Let's get back to doing what we do really well. Let's try to improve upon it. That was specifically on the defensive end. That's where, I think, we've taken another step forward here in the last week or two. That's helped us. We've been able to really be pretty effective and efficient defensively. It's helped our offense because we've been able to do that. They've kind of played off one another. The defensive end is really where I think they turned the corner. Q. In your first game against Michigan, when you won, Bronson was your leading scorer. In your second when you lost, he didn't play. What do you expect and need out of him tomorrow to succeed? COACH GARD: It will be all the other guys, too, that will be a part of it. Michigan is playing really well, not only in our league, but in the country. Won 8 of 10, something like that. John has done a heck of a job over the time he's been there. They got really good players. They have a lot of seniors. They have more seniors than we have. They're playing well at the right time, as well. We'll have to be very good defensively. There's not going to be anything secret. They know what we do. We know what they do. It will be two pretty good teams going at each other. Q. Vitto just talked about how the focus today was shutting down the guards. Tomorrow, with this Michigan team, is the help defense going to play a bigger role than the individual matchups, sort of guarding as a team? COACH GARD: Yeah, I never get too caught up in individual matchups because we are so help oriented. We change some things. There's rotations that are involved within it. We have to have all five pieces working together, not disjointed in any way. Michigan does test you in different ways. Obviously with bigs, they can stretch you, shoot the threes. Walton is playing as well as any point guard in the country right now. Obviously they've got experience in other areas with Irvin and the other guys that play along the frontline for them. We'll have to play well. You get to this point in time, you're in a championship game. They're not there by accident, and neither are we. Like I said, it will hopefully be a really good game between two good teams. Q. Going into this championship game, is there a sense that you want to use this to vault yourselves into a tournament run? Is that a world away, you're focused on this game? COACH GARD: No, I mean, we haven't talked about the tournament at all. We've talked about the tournament, this tournament, just trying to take three steps in this. We talked about step one. We couldn't get to today until we took care of yesterday. Same thing today, Sunday wasn't going to happen unless we took care of today. All we're worried about is the game in front of us. That's how we've approached all year. We'll rest up here, get ready for Michigan, get ready to go tomorrow. THE MODERATOR: Coach, thank you. Good luck tomorrow. COACH GARD: Thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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