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BIG TEN CONFERENCE MEN'S TOURNAMENTMarch 13, 2008John BeileinRon ColemanDeshawn SimsINDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA THE MODERATOR: Coach, thanks for your time. We'd like to have you make a couple opening comments then we'll go to questions for the two student athletes, finish up with questions for you. COACH BEILEIN: Aside from the fact that it looked like we would never score a basket, again, for the rest of my life in the last 10 minutes, it was a great first step for us to come into post season, come into a first-round game and try to gather momentum for tomorrow and in the future. So as a result I'm really pleased for our kids. That's what I'm preaching with them, enjoy this and try and get better through it. And hopefully we'll be able to come out with a similar victory tomorrow against Wisconsin. THE MODERATOR: Questions for DeShawn or Ron. Q. You kept Iowa without a field goal for, I don't know, 17 minutes or so in the second half, 16, 17 minutes. What were you doing defensively against them? THE MODERATOR: DeShawn? DESHAWN SIMS. We did a good job of -- the coaches did a good job of preparing us as far as what they were going to run in. Some different reads, how to use ball screens. And we did a good job of playing them. Another thing, we went out and played tenacious defense. We weren't looking for the switches. We just held ourselves accountable for our man, and that led us to not let them score for that amount of time. RON COLEMAN: I think we did a good job. Same thing as Pete said. I think we came in with a mind-set that we had to defend in order to get a victory. That's what everybody locked down on. I think we did a good job of defending the 3 as well as their drivers. I think they've got great drivers on their team, as in Freeman and they've got Kelly. I think we did a good job of help side and talking. It was a lot of communication on the floor. That's a big step for our team. Q. DeShawn, I know you've gone through your scoring droughts this year. Have you ever gone through something like that where both sides neither one could get a basket? DESHAWN SIMS: Was it like this game? (Laughter). Well, as long as either team isn't scoring, nobody will win. So as long as -- if we can't score, we just gotta do an even better job defensively. Did that happen this game? COACH BEILEIN: We went 10. How long did they go? We went 10 without a basket. Believe it or not, this is true. Those are stats you all bring up to us. We don't realize that. We're out there playing and not thinking about when was the last basket scored. We're looking at the differential on the scoreboard. That's how we determine how we're doing, not how long it's been since we scored. Q. When we talked to you Tuesday, you seemed fairly upbeat. Did you sense that this kind of performance was about to come out from your team? DESHAWN SIMS: Yes, because any time you can erase everything that happened in the regular season, you get a chance to clear your record. And everybody, even the top team in our league, starts zero and zero. It kind of gives you something to play for. And just watching all the major teams around the country, just how they played this week and it just looked so fun. And my whole team was watching it. And we came out like we want to play like that. That's how we want to play. And that effort got a although of those teams into some NCAA bids. That's how we came out and played. Q. Ron, you guys have kind of been burned the past as far as defensively, tried to improve that, looked pretty improved today. How hard was it to continue to play in the defense you were playing knowing that other end for a lot of that game you weren't getting rewarded? That must have been a challenge especially mentally? RON COLEMAN: It has been a challenge for us. It has all season, just having lapses in the games. And some we've been focused on more that we have to play hard for the whole 40 minutes. Just because your shot didn't fall in you have to keep going and defend on the other end. I think that's what we did tonight. We did that well. Q. Can you talk a little bit about looking into the Wisconsin game and from the last time you guys played them, what do you hope to do better this time around? DESHAWN SIMS: Control how hard we play. In the Wisconsin game, we had some previous losses, some close games, and we just went out the there and just battled. It wasn't a lot of structure to that game, but we played as hard as we played all season. And we got to try to keep that same mentality that we had the day before the game and come out with that same energy as soon as the game starts. Q. DeShawn, you guys have been talking about this tournament for a little while now, does this win prove something, should it prove something to the people outside the team? DESHAWN SIMS: Not really, because we played Iowa in the regular season and -- well, the win means something. But we split with them, and we kind of had a feel for how they were going to play. We just wanted to win. Whoever was in our way, we're trying to advance and just go to the promised land, basically. So whoever is in our way we just got to play with that chip on our shoulders, because no one has an advantage. We're playing in a different arena. No one is home or away and anything can happen. So we was looking forward to this tournament, though. THE MODERATOR: Thanks. Finish up with questions for Coach Beilein. Q. Guarding the 3 has been a problem, but today you were outstanding, was there a difference? COACH BEILEIN: I think you don't want to say it, but they're starting to understand at this time, because you're trying to speed that up. I think continuing to realize, recognize who the shooters are, when you do a lot of the things we do defensively, we switched some screens, sometimes we don't. All of a sudden you're on a man who you have to know the scouting report and you also know the scheme and there's a lot of thought involved. So I think that while it slowed down and we've gotten better at it, I think there's some times where we're either tired or don't understand that people at this level -- because we have so many who can shoot from so far away, and today I don't think we gave many good looks to either Freeman Freeman or Johnson. They certainly got the them when they were in Ann Arbor. Q. Can you talk about the Wisconsin game tomorrow and in particular what did you take from the last meeting? COACH BEILEIN: Seems like it was so long ago. I think the only thing we can take, the best thing we can take into this game belief that if we play at our best that we can be in the hunt at the end of the game. I thought that was the end -- as good as they are, the end of the game we were certainly in the game. And that's something that I think the confidence, hopefully, against another great containing defense team, a team that you really have to struggle to score against, and that team that is obviously has great experience and great size and girth to them. So I'll have to watch more film. I haven't paid attention to -- we didn't pay attention to Wisconsin but in the next 24 hours I'll be over, doing my best with Wisconsin. Q. Given the way this season has gone with this young team, 9 minute 52 seconds drought would have killed you in the regular season. Why didn't that happen F is that part of forgetting the past and looking ahead? COACH BEILEIN: I think the personality of this team is sensitive to at times just looking at the negative side of they scored a couple of baskets. I just missed a jump shot. I'm in foul trouble. I just had a turnover. And you take it to the other end of the court. So it's our personality and it's something as a coaching staff and players we're trying to build this I can type of personality. So we continue to work at that. And that was just -- like I said, the one thing I was preaching to them, we have to be happier as we're winning that game. Work at these first, second round games -- any tournament game is difficult to win. So I think earlier in the year, right, that may have come right down to the buzzer, as opposed to being able to at least be comfortable in the last minute. Q. Do you look at this as a positive for the future? COACH BEILEIN: Absolutely. This is a huge momentum thing for us to be able to come in here. We've lost our -- we've won three, lost three in a row. All had a similar dynamic to us where we got ahead in the game and we couldn't hold the lead and we couldn't make a shot. And it's just part of the growing up experience. Now, we still did it but we found out that our defense is a constant. We couldn't score, but we stopped. So we won the game. Q. Could you just talk a little more about your defensive intensity and how you guys were really locked in on trying to make sure that Freeman and Johnson didn't get off and maybe how frustrated Iowa got offensively but just the defense you played today? COACH BEILEIN: I think that they -- like I said, particularly Freeman at our place, and I think Kelly has made great improvements as well. But Johnson, you just look at Johnson's stats, how many 3s he's made in his lifetime at Iowa. And we just said if they're going to beat us today they'll be bouncing the basket, or we'll be all over them. By stretching a little bit, I think we gave up some offensive rebounds because they're so much bigger than us with the two big kids. But they went to a lot of dribble drive, I thought we contained it fairly well. That was Johnson and Freeman. We could just not -- the other guys might beat us a little bit. Two-point rebound is better than a three-point shot because they're both terrific players. Q. You took three charges in the first half. Physical game, mental kind of grind out there. How far do you think this team's toughness is compared to the beginning of the season? COACH BEILEIN: Great question. We've noticed just lately that the different things we'll go into a game with a different defensive plan we won't go in there with the same defensive plan every time. And we were having trouble adapting from the last game to the next game. To try to use our strengths to negate their strengths. And we've seen this plan evolve where now they can adapt on the fly a little bit. I was proud of what they did. That was a big emphasis the last couple of days which was the baseline drive, take the charge. We still have some guys that have taken two or three charges all year. We've got guys taken 20. But gradually they're understanding that. THE MODERATOR: Thank you, Coach. End of FastScripts |
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