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BIG TEN CONFERENCE MEN'S BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT

March 15, 2019

Greg Gard

United Center - Chicago, Illinois

Wisconsin - 66, Nebraska - 62

COACH GARD: Obviously it's never easy. We made it more difficult on ourselves at times than we needed to. But proud of our guys how we were able to rally at the end, make some shots, get some stops. And knowing Nebraska was playing well we were going to be fighting into that momentum and the emotional push that they had going the last couple of days. So the nice thing about this is you get a chance to survive, advance and move on to the next, and quickly learn from this, put it behind us and get ready for Michigan State.

Q. The timeout with just under a minute left, trying to hit the 3, what were you trying to hope to get out of that?
COACH GARD: We were playing through Khalil on the post which is exactly what we were looking for there. We were going to center around him and play around that. And they backed up enough to try to prevent the catch that D'Mitrik was able to get enough space and a good look at the rim. So that was a big shot.

Q. Ethan didn't look too comfortable out there, seven turnovers, 2-of-4, not a usual game for him.
COACH GARD: You're right. I thought he was out of sorts from the beginning. Very uncharacteristic for him. Fortunately we had teammates that rallied to his side and were able to play well when he was trying to, having a harder time finding his rhythm.

Q. Looking ahead, how do you coach against Tom Izzo teams?
COACH GARD: They're really good. I don't know how you coach against Tom Izzo teams. You have to be really good at the things you're good at, try to minimize the things that they're really good at, and you gotta make shots like against all good teams. We've got to be very consistent. We know it will be a physical game as every game is in this league. So I think there's -- Tom's got really good players, has for a long time. Does a terrific job with them. It's a really good team. We're excited to have that opportunity tomorrow.

Q. Back to Ethan, kind of a blueprint (indiscernible) view is to send extra bodies at him. What does he need to do better there, and sometimes even make that strategy blow up by looking at (indiscernible) getting good shots. What can happen in that regard today?
COACH GARD: There were some situations where he did get double-teamed where he didn't make the proper decision, but there was also times where he wasn't double-teamed that he didn't make it. Put the ball in traffic, exposed the ball too much. I thought he was out of sorts defensively, too. He was out of position more often than not. Just, like I said, uncharacteristic day for him on both ends. So, like I said, fortunately he's got terrific teammates that rallied around that and we're able to play again tomorrow.

Q. Khalil hit a few jumpers today which might be surprising to some fans. Is that even something that he had in his locker maybe a few months ago? He looked so much more confident on offense hitting those step-backs.
COACH GARD: He's had that ability. It's a matter of him doing it in a live situation. It's been encouraged. It's been worked on. I think right now, in the last month, he's really played at the confidence level and assertiveness level is at an all-time high. And you want to see a senior that's helped this program being able to play his best basketball at the end of his career in the last few weeks of that. And he's definitely doing that.

Q. (Inaudible) preseason before the injury?
COACH GARD: Yes. That was a piece of the attacking, the on the glass. Obviously I think getting momentum early, knocking down some shots. Confidence grew and grew. And he made some big plays for us. Played really well.

Q. To follow up on Michigan State, this is your second matchup of the year with them. What do you think is going to be the biggest key coming into this one from your loss a couple months ago?
COACH GARD: Yeah, that one went down to the wire, going to the big three with about 30 seconds to go, to take it from a three-point game to a six-point game. There's a lot of things -- I'll go through the tape again tonight and catch up on that and look. But the blueprint for how they orchestrate success hasn't changed. They're really good on the glass. They're really good in transition. Obviously they've got some depth that's developed. Really good players. Terrific player in Cassius Winston running the show. When you have a guard or point guard that good that can orchestrate things and allows the others around him to do their thing. So we know it's a really good team. And, like I said, I'm just excited about the opportunity to have that challenge tomorrow.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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