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BIG TEN CONFERENCE MEN'S TOURNAMENTMarch 14, 2008Tom IzzoDrew NeitzelTravis WaltonINDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA THE MODERATOR: We'll take an opening statement from Coach Izzo and then we'll take questions for the student athletes. Coach, if you could make a couple of opening comments and get things going. COACH IZZO: I thought, first of all, they're playing for their lives, and I still think that's a team worthy of playing another day in an NAC game and I hope they do. I thought early on we had some great looks and we missed some shots. And then they made a couple of great plays right before halftime. And the second half we just kind of ground it out. And it's great to have Drew hitting some big shots and Travis did an unbelievable job not only defending but running the team. And I just thought all in all we were in some foul trouble. Believe it or not, two of my freshmen that didn't play much were big keys. And that was Durrell Summers and Chris Allen, both spared some time. But these guys logged a lot of minutes. And I'm just proud of this team for winning a game when a team was playing for their lives and we knew it. THE MODERATOR: Questions for Drew or Travis. Q. Drew or Travis, doesn't matter, how do you all feel you dealt with the press? And that was a big turning point in Sunday's game, how do you feel you handled the press today? DREW NEITZEL: The coaching staff did a great job of making some adjustments and preparing us this week in practice. They really did a great job of breaking down the film. And we had two or three different press breakers that we put in depending on what they did. And we just made a conscious effort trying not to turn the ball over and made good decisions. And I think we did that for the most part. Q. Drew, throughout your career, Wisconsin has been a rival, could you talk about how special is that for you to face them again tomorrow? DREW NEITZEL: It's going to be a big game, just because of where we're at, semifinals, trying to get to Sunday. And they're playing great right now. So we get another chance at them. It's not too often in your career or in a season you get another chance to play somebody that's beat you. And it's a big game. We gotta do a lot of preparation tonight and tomorrow before the game. And bring it again. Q. Drew, I was wondering if that's as good as you felt offensively this year. Travis, wondered, how much of a lift is that for the team when Drew is hitting shots like that? TRAVIS WALTON: It's big for a team when Drew's knocking down shots. It gives us a different look, on the team, impress more upon you get shots in the middle, but it feels good for Drew to be knocking down shots for us. DREW NEITZEL: Yeah, for my part, yeah, I mean that is the best I felt. I just wanted to come out and be aggressive. I think in a lot of games this year I'm aggressive at certain points and other parts of the game I just sit back and let my teammates do the work and I just wanted to be aggressive for the whole game and take my shots when they're there and I tried to penetrate some more and be on the attack rather than just sitting back and waiting for open shots. Q. Drew, could you just talk about the last game you had six points, and this was kind of a bit of revenge for you just to come out and shoot so much. And Travis just being put in the position again, to shoot so many free throws at the end of the game. I know you liked that. Could you talk about just being in that position again, too? DREW NEITZEL: It was a tough game last weekend. And like I said, it worked out funny how we played in the last game and the first game of the tournament. And as a player you gotta forget about that. And I watched the film. Looked at myself in the mirror and said what do I gotta do differently. I just wanted to be more aggressive. And I got a chance to redeem myself, and not only myself but this team got a chance to redeem ourselves and we took advantage of the opportunity. Q. Drew, the rivalry with Wisconsin was mentioned earlier, but you faced Flowers a bunch of time in your career. Last time it wasn't the best meeting you've had against him. What do you do differently going into that game tomorrow against such a great defender? DREW NEITZEL: I think continue to be aggressive. That's about it. Just be aggressive. Not let him take me out of the game. And we're going to watch a lot of film tonight and figure out some things what we can and can't run against him that will work. And I think the main thing is just be aggressive. THE MODERATOR: Thanks. We'll finish up with questions for Coach Izzo. Q. Coach, could you talk about how Drew's been able to persevere and come out and deliver a game like this for you? COACH IZZO: Well, it's been hard on him. I mean, I think he's answered it pretty well. I thought he was a lot more aggressive from the get-go. And you never know why. All you can hope for guys that work as hard as he has, good things will happen to him. And persevered, as we talked a lot this week, is he's had to prove to people all his life, and I think he's a guy that most people can root for, not if you're not an Ohio State fan, unfortunately, but he works at it. I don't know why he's been a little more gun shy this year, but he picked a good time to open it up. And as I said, you can finish your career on a great note and I think that's the way he'll be remembered. I think that's what he'd like to do. Q. Tom, talk about the ability to handle the press. Only nine turnovers they stayed in it the entire game? COACH IZZO: I think that was a big key. I'm not sure we turned it over once, maybe once against the press. We had a couple of turnovers. There was a couple of sloppy things early. I thought in general we handled the press very well. We did put in a few wrinkles and they made some adjustments and we came with another wrinkle. And I just thought, you know, all in all, when we got Raymar in the middle of the zone, it was another big key at the end of the press, we felt we could kick out to our guards. That's how Drew hit some of those shots. Where last time we played them our guards were hanging in the back court. And so the biggest thing we worked on was getting our guards in the fight and not letting them just linger in the background. And Ray then did a good job along with Kalin and Travis of delivering the ball to the right people. Q. Could you expand a little more on Chris and Durrell getting their contributions, I know you've wanted to get the freshmen more involved in this run? COACH IZZO: Durrell made that big 3 and the driving layup. He's got some energy. He's got some legs. I keep saying he's going to be a great player. And I say that still could be this year. But I really do feel that there's just times it's hard to get him in there as much. But I think he showed some real promise there in a couple of things he did. And in Chris, you know, we played him a few more extended minutes the first half than the second, because we were in a little bit of foul trouble with our bigs, we had to move Ray to the 4. I thought he checked and handled himself well. He missed some shots that I think he'll hit, but I'm not worried about him making shots. He'll make shots. Q. Tom, with Drew playing 37 minutes playing as hard as he is, is there any concern in your part with his legs going against Flowers tomorrow and just how excited are you to play Wisconsin? COACH IZZO: I am excited. I mean, they've had our number, as we all know. They've had a good team and have played very well. And, you know, I think Flowers is one of the best defensive players in this league. And he did a great job today in parts of the game that I saw. We'll have to get Drew some rest tonight. But it's a time of year, as he said, what have you got left to hold it for? There's nothing left. We just have to be a little smarter with using TV timeouts and things like that tomorrow and get him in and out. But you gotta go with your best players and our best player's feeling good now. So we know it's going to be even more difficult tomorrow. They guard very well. They guarded very well today. And yet we think we guard pretty well and we rebounded pretty well today. And we have to find a way to win a game. I'm excited about the opportunity to get a chance to play them again. Q. Coach, I want to ask you about the play with about a minute and 20 to go. It's a three-point game and Ohio State had chipped away at you a little bit. Morgan looked like he got in the lane got the ball to Walton in the corner. Lucas up top great ball reversal over to Neitzel and the shot he makes all your guys getting involved on that play? COACH IZZO: I think if great part they all got involved. I can't tell you how many times this year we got some of those looks. To be honest, Drew struggled some to make some of those shots. And to me it was like poetic justice that it should go in. For a kid who works that hard, it was a fitting way, maybe, to put the final stamp on and then when you get everybody involved, as you say from Ray to Trav, to K, to Drew, it just made it even all the sweeter. That's something we'll be able to talk tonight on how ball reversal would help us. Q. Could you talk about not getting to the line at all in the first half and then 22 free throws in the second half? COACH IZZO: Well, a little bit was we probably got six at the end there. But you're right, we were a lot more aggressive early in the second half. I thought we took the ball to the basket a little bit more. Drew said he was more aggressive. Kalin Lucas, trying to find his niche for when to go in for a seven-footer and when not to. He wasn't getting the fouls called but he was at least taking it in there. I thought we were more aggressive in general. We have to be. I mean that's been one of the negatives. But it also helped to get Ray in the middle of that zone. He did some real good things in the middle of that zone. And I think having three small guards and him in there helped us a little bit, too. THE MODERATOR: Thank you for your time. End of FastScripts |
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