BIG TEN CONFERENCE MEN'S BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT

March 10, 2022

Chris Collins

Pete Nance

Gainbridge Fieldhouse

Northwestern Wildcats

Postgame Press Conference

Iowa - 112, Northwestern - 76.

MODERATOR: All right. We were joined by Northwestern Coach Chris Collins and Pete Nance.

Coach, we'll start with an opening statement, and then we'll take questions for Pete and then get him back to the locker room.

COACH CHRIS COLLINS: Yeah, I mean, you've got to tip your hat to Iowa today. Those guys, they're playing at a really high level. Any time we had any kind of breakdown, they made us pay for it. They shot the ball, you know, at an incredibly high clip. If they play like that, the way they shot it, the energy they had, how they played and they've been playing that way the last couple weeks.

Feel badly for our group because you never want to end the season like that. But like I told them after the game, you can't let a game like today kind of define the whole season. We ran into an incredible buzz saw and we never really had an answer, and it was disappointing to lose in that fashion.

But I'm really proud of all these guys. I told them I really enjoyed coaching these guys this year, incredible group of guys, great attitudes. They came every day, whether we won, whether we had heartbreaking losses, whether we had tough losses, which we have a couple of those, they came every day, they were a resilient bunch. Today doesn't define.

The Big Ten is a really hard league. there's great programs, great coaches, really good teams and we're trying to climb the ladder. And that's what I told these seniors, Pete and Ryan Greer, especially when they came in, they won three games two years ago. Last year we won six, this year we won seven and a tournament game. So the steps are moving forward.

And do you want to go from six to 10, 11 -- obviously, but in a league like this and who you're competing against, that's very difficult, and you've got to be really good and you've got to be really tough. But these guys should hold their heads high because we've gotten better every year they've been here. We were a better team this year than we were last. We won more games. We won a game in the postseason, which we hadn't done the last couple years, and they should be incredibly proud of that.

I think the core is in place for our guys to move forward and be even better next year. We've got a big offseason ahead of us, a lot of guys, we got to get better. But I think the guys have shown that this is a group that can be a very competitive, good team in this league. So just proud of these guys, especially these seniors, they did a great job leading this year.

Q. Pete, coming off that, coming from behind a win yesterday, what kind of mindset did you have going into this Iowa game?

PETE NANCE: Yeah, I think we're going to try to carry that big win like that, momentum into this game. I think we came out and I thought we were ready to play and they just kind of made all their shots and we couldn't really ever get any momentum going.

But, yeah, I think just we were -- we were -- that was a really good win for us last night and just trying to carry that momentum over into this game was definitely our main focus, for sure.

Q. Pete, just probably your last collegiate game played today. You haven't made any announcement about that going forward, but what do you have to say about your career at Northwestern and your time here and what you've accomplished?

PETE NANCE: Yeah, my time here's been amazing. Like I said, I love Northwestern, I love my teammates, I love this school, I love my coaches. I love everybody at Northwestern. I have no plans, no idea about what's next for me. I need to just go home and think about it, talk about it with my family, coaches, friends, family, stuff like that. You know, I'm just really thankful for everybody along the way who's gotten me to this point. I feel like I've come a long way and I'm just proud of being a Northwestern Wildcat, for sure.

Q. Chris, we talked to the Big Ten media days, one thing you were talking about was improvement all season long, and this is a work in progress, is what I remember you talking to me about. Take away today, talk about some of the things you thought your team gradually improved on all year.

COACH CHRIS COLLINS: Yeah, I thought -- as a whole, I just thought we were a more mature group. I think like last night was a perfect example, that there were other games, when things weren't going well in the past couple years, we never could get out of that. The small things snowballed into big things and we could never kind of dig ourselves, when a team hit us with a run, or I thought there were many games this year when those things happened and we continued to fight all the way to the end.

Even coming out the first 10 games of the league, we're 2-8 and we felt we played much better in that. About five of those eight losses were all games that I'm not saying we should have won, but games that were right there, you know, in the last two to four minutes of the game.

And then for the guys to come out the last 10 and go 5-5 after this tough start and then come down here and dig out of the 15-point hole in the second half, win a game, which we haven't in the last couple years.

Like I said, we obviously had goals coming into this year to be playing next week. And if you don't have that goal, you shouldn't be doing it. But at the end of the day, this group was better. We took another step forward, we did. Guys got better individually, we got better, we were able to -- there were close losses and everybody talks about it. But there were also a lot of close wins, especially even last night where we had to get two stops at the end and win a close game.

So there was improvement individually, there was improvement collectively. And then we have to continue to take steps forward because everybody in this league's going to keep taking steps forward. That's what I mean, when you're in a league like the Big Ten, there are no -- there are no games that are out there where you don't have to be at your best to win.

You know, so I really like this group of guys, I do. I wouldn't say that if I didn't. They're a great group, they've really stayed the course, they've been loyal to each other, they've been loyal to us, they enjoy playing together. They get in the gym, they work. And there's no reason for me to believe that we won't continue to do that with these guys going forward.

Q. I'm not even sure what defensively could have been done against Iowa, especially early, but what was the plan in terms of keeping them in front of you offensively?

COACH CHRIS COLLINS: The very first thing is you've got to stop their transition game and we didn't do that. They're really good, makes and misses, they bust up the floor, you have multiple ball handlers, they passed ahead. Like, you have to have great communication. Your offense can't lead to that, too. You have to run good offense so you can't turn the ball over, you can't crank early bad shots because they want to play, they want to play 100-point game. I think sometimes you can get lured into this because you might even hit a few early. And we made some shots, too, early in the game, but if you try to play that way with them, you're not going to win.

The second thing we really talked about was the offensive glass. Even though they don't have the big bodies that maybe some of the other leagues. Collectively, I think they're the best offensive rebounding team in the conference, with the Murrays, with Rebracha, with Patrick McCaffery, with Perkins. Those guys were in there, they're on the boards. They didn't miss much, but when they did, they got their rebounds.

So those were two areas, and it was hard because we only had about one hour, two hours to try to prepare. They're playing as well -- to me, they're playing as well as anybody in the conference. They're very confident, they know their roles. They have a player who arguably could be the best player in the country. He's one of the very best players in the country. And they're well coached. Like this is going to be a tough out for anybody, but you've got to take away their transition game if you can. If they make 20 threes, though, you're not going to beat them, obviously. Did we give up some open looks, yes. But they also made -- when Bohannon's making 30-footers and those guys are shooting the way they are with what Keegan can do, it's going to be very hard for anybody to beat them the way they played today.

Q. Pretty early on into the second half you went to a bench lineup, really got the first years some more extended run, a lot of minutes for Brooks Barnhizer, especially. Was there a thought of putting Pete Nance back out there to finish things off or was that always going to be your thing?

COACH CHRIS COLLINS: No, I mean, the game was pretty much over. You know, at that point, I don't want to get anybody hurt. It's been a great year, those guys played really hard, those guys were tired, they played a lot of minutes last night. I wanted to play those young kids. They deserved that, especially a kid like Brooks, Casey Simmons. Those are guys that are a big part of our future. We need those guys to developed. And the way you develop is by playing.

You saw that with Julian Roper this year. He was able to play a lot of key minutes during the year, and I thought he got better because of that.

So getting Casey in there, getting Brooks in there, letting Matt Nicholson play that last eight minutes. He's a guy we believe in going forward that can help on our front line, especially when you play in the Big Ten. So I really did not want to, even though you would love to throw those guys back in the game and let them, it wasn't the right decision. We needed to play our young guys and let them get some experience.

Q. Coach, you talk about kind of climbing the ladder and that's kind of how you think you guys have been doing it the past years. Obviously, Iowa's one of those teams you want to get to their level at some point.

COACH CHRIS COLLINS: Yeah, right.

Q. With a guy like Pete Nance who there's a good chance he might be headed to the NBA draft this year, one of the best players in this program's history. What do you think you as a coaching staff and the players who are going to be on the team next year, what can you guys do to keep reaching that point?

COACH CHRIS COLLINS: I think that's a great question, and I told the guys that we did get better in a lot of areas, but we're still not to the level that we need to be, what our goal is.

So we have to, first of all, we've got to get stronger. It's a big offseason for us from a strength and conditioning standpoint, you see some especially young guys. We've got to get our bodies in order in a physical Big Ten, and we've got the player development aspect, the ball skills, the shooting, the ball handling, the guys inside being able to finish better, things of that nature. And then the camaraderie of just being together.

Again, this has been a group that's been real loyal to each other. When you look, you know, with whether it's Boo Buie, Chase Audige, Robbie Beran, Ryan Young, Julian Roper, these guys are going to be -- are -- Ty Berry, who had a really good year for us. And then the development of some of these young guys, Barnhizer, Simmons, is going to be important for us to continue to move forward.

And, obviously, coming into this year we had -- and we had our chances, we had our chances. You know, I mean, there were definitely a handful of games out there for us that had it gone the other way, we would be talking about potentially maybe playing next week. So that means you're not far off. But a lot of times that last step is the hardest step, because in order to do that, you've got to find away to consistently, in this league, be able to beat the Wisconsins, the Illinois, the Iowas, you go on and on, terrific programs with terrific coaches.

So we're going to get home, we're going to get some rest. Guys got break coming up. And then when we get to the spring, I know everybody's going to be motivated to have a great offseason and be ready to go next year.

MODERATOR: Thanks so much, Coach.