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BIG TEN CONFERENCE MEN'S TOURNAMENTMarch 13, 2008Dan ColemanTubby SmithLawrence WestbrookINDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA THE MODERATOR: Coach, we'll just ask you to make a couple quick opening comments and then we will take questions for Dan and Lawrence and then we'll go ahead and finish up with questions for you. COACH SMITH: Well, first, it's good to be participating in the tournament here, certainly the Big Ten, first opportunity I've had to coach in Conseco and be part of this tournament. This has been a great tournament. Looking forward to playing tomorrow. I've got to give certainly Northwestern, Coach Carmody did a great job with his team. They've been playing well. And a lot of close games and we tried to share it with our players to help them understand. It's always tough that first game is a challenge in any tournament. I thought our kids showed courage and a lot of heart to overcome some things in the first half. THE MODERATOR: We'll go ahead with questions for Lawrence or Dan. Q. Lawrence, obviously high school, 40 points a game. The scoring instincts are there. Seemed like they came out towards the end of the game against Northwestern? LAWRENCE WESTBROOK: Yeah, I just wanted to give a boost to my team. We were kind of flat, picked it up defensively. Coach gave us confidence, gives me confidence if you're open to shoot the ball. I didn't think about it. I just shot it and they were falling for me tonight. Q. Dan, can you talk about that sequence at the end of the game there and obviously Northwestern needed a shot, and they didn't get a shot off, you got the steal. Can you talk about that defensive play? DAN COLEMAN: I just saw them come over in the paint. That's what our coach teaches, to go double in the paint if at all possible. And turned it back, so I thought it was a good opportunity to peg it off. Q. Dan, could you sort of feel that the team's energy level picking up, I mean, after Westbrook, a few good shots in the second half? DAN COLEMAN: Definitely. We started to defend a little better. And I think that showed up and then they stopped hitting their 3s, so I think that worked out for us. Worked out well. Q. Question for both of you. What does it do to this team when you guys do play the kind of defense that Tubby wants you to play? That seems like it is your identity; it was during earlier in the year and it seemed like you got back to that in the second half of this game? LAWRENCE WESTBROOK: Helped us out a lot. They say defense wins championships. When we lock down defensively, that's our number one offense. Our defense leads to our offense. When we do that, everybody picks up their energy level and we start making shots and penetrating and rebounding better. That's what we did today. Q. When you guys were down by 16 in that first half, what's going through your mind, and how do you take that into halftime and not let it carry over into the second half? DAN COLEMAN: We weren't shooting the ball particularly well. I think I have confidence in my guys and I think they have confidence in themselves. We try to look for shooters and stay aggressive. Coach said go to the basket as much as possible, try to get fouled. I think we did a good job of that, trying to get fouled and create something, just making things happen. Q. There's about eight-minute stretch towards the end of the second half where you all didn't score. Could you talk about what was going on there; were you sort of struggling to create your own shots? LAWRENCE WESTBROOK: I think that we expended a lot of energy on the defensive end. Maybe we hit -- I know I was a little tired myself -- at one point but we caught a second wind. We spent so much energy coming back from a deficit it kind of took a lot out of us. When we hit a second wind, we picked up our intensity even more. D.C. hit two big free throws and we just came out with a win. Q. Dan, can you talk about when Spencer went down and just how much you were forced to play center and play inside a little bit and just what went through your mind and kind of what are you looking forward to against Indiana? DAN COLEMAN: You know, it's another challenge. It's another thing to step up to. We just played them recently so they're fresh in our minds. I think everybody is excited and everybody wants this game. Q. What happens tomorrow if you play the first half that you played tonight against Northwestern? LAWRENCE WESTBROOK: I mean -- well, I don't think that will happen because we're -- we were fired up for this game, but we didn't play it bad, but, then again, they're college players, like us, and they're humans like us. They might come out flat. If we do come out like that, we'll do the same thing we did: pick up the defense intensity. We're not scared at all. We just want to come out and get an upset. THE MODERATOR: Thank you. Questions for Coach Smith. Q. Can you talk about your thoughts toward the end of the game, team comes back, it's tied up 42-42 then there's that drought at the end of the game? COACH SMITH: He touched on it. I think Lawrence Westbrook mentioned they were a little winded because we were expending a lot of energy to get back in the game. And that happens. Adrenalin is slowing, when you start making shots. Then they made some plays with the shot clock running down there. I think they hit a 3, it can take the wind out of your sails at the end of a shot clock. And I remember a stretch there where that happened. But, again, we were able to weather the storm there. But I knew we were back in it, even though we were down. I guess it seemed like we hadn't scored for a long period, it was 47-42 forever there. And I knew that we -- again, I think we had some poor shot selections during that time and a lot of that leads to fatigue. If you're not careful, it will lead to taking some ill-advised shots. Q. Obviously the first two games you played Northwestern, they were blowout victories, gave you confidence. You guys obviously survived this one. Is it a different kind of confidence you have going into the Indiana game, if it was a blowout? COACH SMITH: I don't know that it makes any difference. Indiana, knowing that they're one of the top teams in this league and in the country, it means we're going to have to bring our best game and certainly we'll have to play a lot better than we did tonight. We didn't play poorly. It's just that we didn't shoot the ball well and Northwestern really shot the ball well. And that's something we -- and their system and Northwestern's style really creates problems for a lot of people. So just like it created a lot of problems for Indiana at this point. There was a three-point win there for Indiana. So Indiana brings another different set of circumstances, challenges. They're an excellent rebounding team. They've got the great 1-2 punch, but they have excellent players around them around Eric and D.J. So they've got a very balanced ball club. Q. Coach, you've been looking for someone to step up down the stretch in tight situations like you had tonight. Can you talk about Lawrence Westbrook and the way he played? COACH SMITH: Lawrence has been as consistent as anyone all year long. He plays with a lot of toughness. He overcompensates for his lack of size and really he's playing with a hand that's just -- I don't know if he'll have to work done on it this summer to correct it, I don't know how he does it, to be honest with you. That tells me about his heart and his courage. He's a guy that we depend on to be the guy to match up with the opposing team's usually best perimeter player. And tonight, again, I thought the second half was typical of what he brings to a team, the aggressive play, attacking the basket, pushing the ball up the court and playing at a pace we need him to play at. So that's the leadership part that especially with Lawrence, when McKenzie is not playing well or not shooting the ball well we needed somebody else to step up because the guys look to Lawrence, McKenzie did. He's been the guy that can make those shots, but today he was struggling and Blake struggled. But they still -- I think Westbrook is a team player. He's willing to play that role and when he has to he can step up and do it. Q. Do you know about Spencer's availability and was this, especially the second half, the kind of defensive effort you were looking for after the practices you had this week? COACH SMITH: Yes, the second half was the type of defensive effort that we expect on a nightly basis. And you can't win games, especially any time, if you don't compete defensively. And I'm not sure what Spencer's status is. We've got one of the best medical staffs in the country. And I know Roger Schipper will have him, Spencer is a tough-minded kid, if he can go he'll go. Because we'll need him tomorrow with the inside presence that Indiana has. Q. How did you light that fire in terms of getting their attention to detail but yet not wanting them to go out there and panic? COACH SMITH: Well, in the second half -- I think the big key was changing defenses. We went to a different defense in the second half, gave them a different look. Made some shots the second half. So the speech was pretty much that; how we're going to make the adjustments and we needed somebody to step up and be a leader and I think that's where Westbrook said, hey, now is the time. And it is contagious. Dan, we try to go inside to him. He got to the free throw line. So pretty much that was the adjustment we made. Not much speaking. It wasn't much you could say. They were shooting the lights out. I didn't think we were really defending like we should. Giving them some back doors. Once we made the adjustment went to a zone instead of trying to guard them in the half court man to man, we were much more effective. THE MODERATOR: Thank you. End of FastScripts |
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