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NCAA MEN'S 1ST AND 2ND ROUNDS: SAN JOSEMarch 22, 2019Greg GardEthan HappD'Metrik TriceSan Jose, California Oregon - 72, Wisconsin - 54 MODERATOR: Okay. We'll welcome Wisconsin to the dais. We have D'Mitrik Trice, Ethan Happ and coach Greg Gard. We will have Coach Gard give us an opening statement. GREG GARD: Thank you. Obviously it hurts to end the season in this fashion. There was a seven, eight-minute stretch there where we got discombobulated defensively. Obviously we had a hard time making perimeter shots for most of the game, but we were still battling and finding ways. But then we had three or four possessions consecutively where we didn't get good looks or turned it over, and they were able to capitalize. And then they get separation. It's hard to play from behind against a good team. We knew that coming in. Making shots was going to be a big component, a big part of what we do in order to have success against the zone and to try to loosen them up a little bit. I thought we had some good looks, but not able to make them go down, and then obviously defensively some breakdowns that are uncharacteristic of us all year. Extremely proud of our group of seniors and what they have done for the program, how they've got us back to this position, and I know the younger guys will learn from that and continue to carry it forward. MODERATOR: Okay. We'll take questions for the student-athletes. Q. Ethan, what would you say was the difference there in that second half? You guys were tied in the first half. What happened after that? ETHAN HAPP: We got a little out of character on the defensive end. I think Coach mentioned it briefly about how our defense has kind of held us together all season long, and then for that stretch there it kind of went away from us. We can't be trading buckets. And there was a couple of times we came down and didn't score and they were hitting threes. That's kind of how that lead grew. Q. Ethan, what were they doing defensively against you to make things difficult? ETHAN HAPP: For the most part, they were -- you know, they switched it up. Sometimes they were coming with the double team right away, or sometimes they were waiting until I was on the interior. But either way, they were -- you know, there was extra bodies around me all the time. So they were trying to force me to take it out and have other guys make plays. Q. What did you think of the quality of the looks that you guys got today? D'MITRIK TRICE: Honestly, I think that we got pretty good looks. I thought Ethan did a really good job of getting out when the double team came, and I think we reversed the ball really, really well. It was just a matter of making shots, and more times than not we obviously missed them. Q. Ethan, how frustrating is it for you in the middle in the paint when they came from nowhere, virtually, and block shots, a high-flying team. How frustrating is that for you guys in the paint? ETHAN HAPP: It can be frustrating, but there's definitely ways that we can counter that. Sometimes I had lapses where I didn't do those things, extra pivots, pump fakes, whatever it may be, or just recognize that there's going to be an extra body and find another open teammate. Q. The Oregon guys were just up here a little bit before, and they said that they thought they got in your head with a couple of the blocks and their athleticism, how high they were getting. Do you feel like that happened at all in the second half? ETHAN HAPP: No. MODERATOR: We'll open it up to Coach now. Q. I know it goes without saying it's going to be tough to lose, but what will you take away from this season when you're unfortunately at this point? GREG GARD: Well, as I told the team, you get to this point in time, and if you have a bad ten minutes, a bad eight minutes -- we had a bad seven. It doesn't tarnish. It stings for a while, but it doesn't tarnish what this group accomplished to get to this point, to have a really good regular season to get us into the tournament. And obviously we knew we were going to have to play well. We were playing a team that was hot, playing a team that was really obviously playing exceptionally well. And in order to advance in this, you have to make shots. You can live on your defense for so long, but then, as Ethan mentioned, we had a few defensive lapses and some breakdowns, and they were able to capitalize on that, and we were never able to get back and climb back uphill. And this group has had some of that identity all year. Scoring has not been the easiest thing for us. But this group has done a great job. Those three seniors have been through a lot. They've been through a transition. They've understood what it takes to get back to this, and they've committed themselves to it, and I think they have left a very good legacy in terms of the younger guys behind them, what it takes to play at a high level and to be very competitive and put yourself in position to get back here again down the road. I thought they battled through a lot this year, and unfortunately, like I said, you have a bad stretch and only one team goes on. You don't get to play a series. So this group did a good job of -- the older guys did a good job of showing the way for the younger guys and reestablishing how we need to do things at Wisconsin. Q. Ethan said that the blocks did not get in his head, but curious what you thought about Oregon athleticism and its impact on the game? GREG GARD: Yeah, I thought they plugged gaps. It's one thing to watch on tape and get a feel, but I thought they squeezed the floor. Even when there wasn't blocked shots, so to speak, they had bodies around. There was a presence around. And in order to counter that, you have to be able to make some perimeter shots to loosen them up and get them second guessing. Whether they come as quickly, come as hard, come as far, and that's what we weren't able to do. And that's what with this group has kind of been the Achilles heel the last month. We haven't shot it well from the perimeter. They did a good job. I don't know if the blocks were the end-all, be-all in the game, but I thought their presence and how they were able to squeeze the paint, and we weren't able to make them counter and pay for that, was a big difference. Q. It looked like Ethan took it pretty hard at the end of the game, and he's a guy who puts a lot of pressure on himself normally. Is there anything that you've said to him in particular about his game or his career ending? GREG GARD: Well, I think anybody that's committed this much to their career over five years would take it hard. I mean, that's natural. He's invested an awful lot into his personal game, into our program. He's been extremely committed to improving and helping those younger guys grow through last year and this year. So I would expect nothing less than him taking it hard, as all our seniors are taking it. And I think the things I passed on to him and the other two guys, Khalil and Charlie, was thank you. That's the biggest thing is thank you for all you've done. It hurts right now. It doesn't feel good right now, but you'll look back as time goes on and realize that you did a lot of really good things and had a great experience and the program is in a better position because of your impact on it. Like I say, that's the biggest thing, is just thank them for what they've done, because they've all committed an awful lot over the last four or five years. Q. Is that kind of the definition of a tough 12 seed when you get a Power 5 conference champion that's coming in winning eight in a row? GREG GARD: Yeah. I mean, numbers, you can throw numbers out. We've been a 12 and won. We've been a 2 and gotten beat. So once you get beyond the two line, really, things start to even out. And I knew -- I don't get caught up in the seeds because we've been everything from a 1 to a 12 and have had success both ways with it. We knew we were going to play a really good team. You're either playing a team that's hot coming -- like Oregon winning the conference tournament, or you're going to play a team that has a really good regular season. So either way, all the average and bad teams are on spring break. So you know you're going to play a really good opponent. And like I said, for that seven-, eight-minute stretch, they were more consistent and did a better job than we did, and that's where just in a small little bit of slippage it can get away from you. Q. I asked Coach Altman about the penetration of Pritchard going to the middle and how much it hurt you guys. He said that wasn't in their game plan. But from your perspective, it was difficult to contain him when he drove to the hoop. Was that a key do you think? GREG GARD: Yeah. I think the difference was Payton Pritchard. There's no doubt. When you have a point guard of that quality, he can make a lot of things happen, whether it's for himself or the assists, the pressure he puts on your defense. Obviously he hit a deep three there in the first half as well. He's a really good player. There's nothing that we saw today that I didn't see on film and knew that he was going to be a handful because he puts so much pressure on you in those ball screen situations. He's a good decision-maker. He competes. He's savvy. He's smart. So I felt that was a big key in terms of his play, and especially -- really, the whole game, but in that stretch where they were able to take command, he was in control of the game. MODERATOR: Thank you, Coach. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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