NCAA MEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP: SECOND ROUND - NORTHWESTERN VS UCLA

March 18, 2023

Chris Collins

Chase Audige

Boo Buie

Golden 1 Center

Northwestern Wildcats

Media Conference

UCLA 68, Northwestern 63

THE MODERATOR: We are joined by Northwestern.

Coach, was a heck of a ballgame. You got down early, but never quit, never gave up, tied it on several occasions. Address the whole game.

CHRIS COLLINS: Sure.

Congratulations to UCLA. They're an outstanding team. Very physical, very tough, very well-coached. They came out early and gave us problems. Their physicality defensively, their aggressiveness. We had a hard time getting started in the first half.

I thought Boo's basket there at the end of the half to cut it to 10 was huge. We got a little bit of momentum there.

I wasn't surprised the way we played in the second half because, you know what, that's what these guys have been, that's what our team has been all year long.

We have a fighter's spirit. We go to the next play. If we get knocked down, we keep fighting, we keep battling. I could not have been prouder of my guys. I think as a coach, all you ever really ask for is for your guys to leave it on the floor and give everything they have, emotionally, physically, their communication. We did all that.

One shot goes in. We were just talking in the back. Chase has a three that goes in and out. We had a drive late, they go down and make a three. Sometimes a guy makes a shot and you miss a shot, and that's the difference in an NCAA tournament game.

That was just a hard-playing game, man. We knew they were going to do that. I think the greatest compliment for these guys is I think they know we were going to do that, as well.

It was just one of those games. We had our chances. We felt really good. We got the game tied. We were really positive, we were really confident. These guys were fantastic in the second half. We finally found some things that were working for us offensively in the second half. We found some openings. We saw the ball go in a little bit.

Just heartbroken. I told these guys in the locker room, I've never had more fun coaching. These guys, they've shown up every day. They allowed me to coach 'em. Whether sometimes that made me get on their butts but other times love them.

We had a lot of fun along the way. We worked really hard, but it was fun. We were really connected. These guys were incredible. Just couldn't be more prouder of the group.

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. This game had a lot of similarities to six years ago. What was your message to the team at half? What differences did you see that allowed Chase to sink shots?

CHRIS COLLINS: Yeah, I mean, the one difference was we were down 20 to Gonzaga. 10 was a little bit more manageable.

We just wanted to regroup. We kind of late in the half started finding -- we're a pick and roll based team. They were doing a really good job with their centers. Mobile guys. They were coming out. We started setting more screens with Jaquez' man. We thought we had a quickness matchup there. I thought it really kind of unlocked these guys.

When we were doing the ball screens with the big men, they were just trapping these guys, so they had to pass. When we started using other guys to screen, they were just switching, then these guys could do what they do. Breaking them down. Chase hit some big shots. Boo got to the rim. We found some guys on kicks.

It just kind of opened up for us. Once we saw the ball go in a little bit, that's like anything, the crowd is getting into it. All of a sudden the game's tied. It's whatever it is, eight minutes to go. We got in the huddle. This is what we wanted, an eight-minute fight.

Give UCLA credit. Every time we made a run, they made big plays. Jaquez is an incredible player, one of the best in the country. Give Amari Bailey credit. Thought he really stepped up today and gave 'em great production as a third scorer.

Q. We all expected what kind of game this was going to be. Toughness on toughness. Grown-man basketball. Was there anything about this game that surprised you, the way it unfolded?

CHRIS COLLINS: I'll let these guys talk because they were the ones out there on the floor.

What were your thoughts on that?

CHASE AUDIGE: I think we kind of knew it was going to be a war, it was going to be back and forth. We start out really, really cold. I think I air balled my first shot, hit the side of the backboard with my second one. We were trying to hang our hat on defense and try to get as many stops.

Coming into the second half, we had to lay everything on the line. We knew it was going to be a war throughout. It wasn't going to be a blowout either way. I mean, credit to UCLA, they made more plays down the stretch. They're a really good team. They got some really good players.

But we expected to play that type of game today.

Q. Jaime Jaquez is one of the more unique players in the country with his ability to drive in the lane, create second opportunities. Is his type of game something you had seen before or practiced against?

CHRIS COLLINS: I mean, we really haven't played anyone kind of like him. In our league, we had three All-Americans in our league with Edey, Trayce Jackson-Davis, and Pickett. They're all kind of unique in their own way. Nobody is as good as Edey. Trayce is so unique with what he does. Then Pickett, what he does is unique.

Jaime does a great job. He's really good in the open floor. He's strong and physical. He plays off his pivot foot and shot fake really well. The main emphasis, we just stay down on his fakes. If anything, you got to live with some of those fade-away Js. He made a couple threes early, which we were going to be okay with giving up a little bit.

He's just an outstanding player. There's a reason he's an All-American Player of the Year in the Pac-12. He's an older guy that's played in big games. He's a warrior, physical on the glass.

It was a tough cover. We knew we weren't going to stop him. We didn't come into the game saying we were going to take him out of the game. What we tried to do was could we make it hard on him, speed him up a little bit, get him off his sweet spot. With great players, sometimes, he was still able to get his production.

I thought we did a pretty good job against him on the boards. He wasn't able to hurt us on the offensive boards. He got out in transition, got some stuff around the basket.

Give him credit. I'm a big fan. He's a tough-minded guy that's a really good player, terrific college player.

Q. Against Boise State, you were out-rebounded 20 to nine. 14 to three in your favor tonight. What went into such a big difference in such a short amount of time?

CHRIS COLLINS: We had a nice little film session yesterday. We showed about all 20 of those offensive rebounds, just to make the point. We knew UCLA was even bigger and more physical and even more athletic than Boise.

We told our guys, if we give up 20 offensive rebounds, we might as well just go home right now. You know what, these guys responded like they have for us all year long. They took the challenge, took it on.

We did a much better job putting bodies on guys. They didn't have free runs to the basket. We did a great job on the glass. Conversely, we were able to get double-figure offensive rebounds.

I think the thing about us that people don't realize, maybe because we're not the biggest physically imposing team, is we're a pretty physical team. These guys, the mindset they've had, we've been physical all year. We're physical defensively. We're physical on the boards. That was an underrated aspect with this team this year. I was not surprised we bounced back the way we did tonight.

Q. Matthew Nicholson was a career high today. Can you speak to his production.

CHRIS COLLINS: I'm just so proud of Matt. I think these guys are, too. Matt for the last couple years -- it takes time for big guys. He's 7'1", 270 pounds. It takes time. But when you have a big guy who's committed to working, and also you have a big guy who's competitive and tough and wants to be, then they get better.

That's what Matt has done. He's a competitive guy. He really cares. He works really hard. Then it just so happened tonight, because of the way they were double-teaming these guys with the big guy, we were able to find him a lot on rolls. I think they were really trying to stay out on our shooters.

Give these guys credit, they made passes. Chase had six assists in the first half, five of them were to Matt. He finished. The way he stepped up and made free-throws, he made three out of four late in the game.

Excited about Matt's future. He is a young guy. This was a great year for him. And to cap it off the way he did tonight was pretty fun for me to watch.

Q. Boo and Chase, you had five points combined in the first half, but ended with 34. Talk about how you responded in the second half, what you showed.

BOO BUIE: Yeah, so, like Coach was kind of saying before, I think that their bigs were doing a real good job of just staying with the ball in all of our ball screen actions. We were kind of forced to pass. They're going to double-team.

Then I feel like in the second half, Coach made an adjustment, and we started going off our four. They started switching. He were getting the isos. It was a little bit easy to get downhill for the both of us. We got to our spots, and our team trusted in us. They went in.

Q. Boo and Chase, you have one more year of eligibility. Does this game impact anything? Does it make you think harder about coming back next season?

CHASE AUDIGE: I'm really not thinking about that right now. We put everything into this game. We put everything into trying to make a run at the national championship.

I mean, I'm really not even thinking about that right now.

Q. Boo?

BOO BUIE: Yeah, I mean, like Chase said, we had our whole hearts into winning this tournament. We really believed, even though other people didn't believe. We're just going to go back, get rest, figure it out later.

But our hearts were left out on the floor tonight.

Q. Chris, you talked during this run about sustained success, that being different than the last time this program went to the tournament. What are you taking away from this moment?

CHRIS COLLINS: I just think the way our guys approached this year, the mindset we have. I think we've created an identity, which I think for a lot of years, maybe that was my mistake a lot, you kind of come into every year and you're trying to figure out, okay, this is our group, how do we figure out how to win. I never felt like we had an identity of our program.

I think what these guys have done is they've set an identity to our program, identity of work, identity of toughness, identity of defense, that I think will carry over.

Right now, like these guys said, I'm so glad they said that, we made a pact with each other at the beginning of the year, these guys were at the start, let's just stay in the present. Too many people always worry about what's next, what are we going to do after this. It ruins what you're doing in the now.

The beauty of these guys is they've really taken that to heart. They've been in the moment every day. If we had a tough loss, we came back and were in the moment to get better. If we had a big win, same thing, we didn't listen to the outside noise, we stayed true to who we were, we stayed in the moment, stayed in the present.

We're going to get home and obviously rest up. It still stings right now. I really wanted to keep going with these guys. There's a lot of years you're kind of okay if it ends. I was not okay. I wanted to keep fighting with these guys. What this group has done for me this year, nothing about job status, I'm not talking about that, I'm just talking about how they've invigorated me as a coach, it was really special. I'll always be indebted to those guys for that.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you.