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BIG TEN CONFERENCE MEN'S TOURNAMENTMarch 15, 2009Robbie HummelJaJuan JohnsonE'Twaun MooreMatt PainterINDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA Purdue – 65 THE MODERATOR: Coach, want to give us an opening statement and we'll go to questions for the players. COACH PAINTER: I was proud of the guys' effort tonight. I think we did a good job of playing hard. I felt good about the way we played at halftime. We didn't make our free throws, we didn't make some open shots but we were getting rebounds, we were taking care of the basketball. In the second half we did a lot of the same thing. We out-rebounded by 11 for the game and had five fewer turnovers than them, only turned the ball over seven times. Constantly giving ourselves a chance with 18 offensive rebounds and seven turnovers, and that was a key part of the game, staying with it and playing hard and getting stops. I thought Ohio State was making some tough shots coming off down screens and curls. Evan Turner is a tough matchup. He's a tough guard. Buford is a guy that can make shots and Diebler has great range. I thought our guys did a great job of staying with things through the whole game and not getting their heads down and continue to play and make shots. Q. E'Twaun, you guys were down a point, like 38-37,and the ball had not been going in the hole and then all of a sudden it was just that baby must have looked like a huge hole up there. Talk about the zone you kind of got in and how you were finding seams to shoot the ball against that zone? E'TWAUN MOORE: First of all, my teammates, they did a good job of distributing it, finding the open spots. But Coach also drew up a few plays out of the zone. I can't tell you the play; I might spill out a secret. There were a few plays. So like they make the big man come out. And that's hard for that big man to cover, and outside. Just gave me a couple of open looks. After I hit the first one, gave me confidence because before that I had missed like two. When I hit the first one, gave me a lot of confidence to step up and knock down the next few. Q. Talk about being Big Ten Tournament champions and is this by far the highlight of your basketball career? ROBBIE HUMMEL: Yes, I definitely would say so. It was a great feeling to watch those seconds tick off the clock, and, I mean, in my basketball career I know -- I can't say for E'Twaun or of them -- I guess I've won at youth tournaments, but I've never really won a championship in a really structured, organized basketball league. So it feels really good. Q. Rob, it's been an interesting journey for you, preseason choice Big Ten Player of the Year and then you get hurt and you get sick. Rough at the end and then you come back and you're the tournament MVP. In addition to winning the championship, could you talk a little bit about giving everything you personally have experienced, what this means to you to be Big Ten MVP? ROBBIE HUMMEL: That's a great honor for me. I think there's two guys sitting next to me that are definitely capable, deserving of winning that award. And that doesn't even go for the other guys in this league that are capable of it, too. I think a lot of guys really stepped up and played well in this tournament. So it's an honor to me. Q. E'Twaun, will you compare this to winning the state title here a few years ago? E'TWAUN MOORE: Yeah, you sort of get that same feeling. But it's on the biggest stage, of course, it's college instead of high school. So every moment is different. But it definitely felt great to come out here and win a championship here. Q. JaJuan, you were down 38-37 with 10 minutes to go. I looked at the stat monitor, you were 12-of-42 from the field at that time. Yet you're down one point. Could you talk about probably how your defense saved you today, and would you agree that at that point the defense had saved you? JAJUAN JOHNSON: Defense definitely saved us. We did a good job of limiting the other team to one shot. We were real solid on the defensive end. We knew if we just kept staying solid on defensive end eventually our shots would fall in. And that's what happened tonight and that's how we ended up winning. Q. Rob, this would seem like the perfect way for you guys to be planning to go into the NCAA Tournament. Can you just talk about the excitement level of today and kind of springing forward to next week? ROBBIE HUMMEL: I think it's a good momentum builder for us going into the tournament. I think it's great we're able to win three in a row especially with the way we finished the year. I think we're all excited to go into the tournament with that winning streak. Q. Rob, just take us through your reaction and the team's when you found out you're 5th seed going to Portland and what do you think about the seed? Fair? ROBBIE HUMMEL: Definitely. I think we're all really excited. I don't think a whole lot of us have been to Portland. So that will be interesting. But I don't know a whole lot about Northern Iowa, haven't seen them play a whole lot. I know they did well in their conference, though. It should be a tough matchup for us. Q. E'Twaun, Coach Keady used to tell me it's not who you play but when you play them. And a week ago this team was struggling to put the ball in the basket and a week later, can you talk about how funny the game can be and truly it is sometimes not who you play but when you play them? E'TWAUN MOORE: Definitely. Any team can win on any given night. Sometimes you think the ball should go in for you, shoot the same shots that you normally shoot that's wide open, like, dang, why the ball ain't falling? And this game seem you can miss and hit everything. So every night is different and you have to be ready each and every day. THE MODERATOR: Thank you. Questions for Coach. Q. Matt, I'll ask you the same question. I looked at the stat monitor, it's 38-37 and you're 12-of-42. You're not sitting over there staring at the stat monitor, but you had to be aware we're not shooting the ball very well but we're within a point. You had to have felt pretty good at that point knowing that maybe you had a run left in you? COACH PAINTER: I felt great. Really the whole game. You can't base your feelings or have a pulse on the game whether the balls go in or not. You just have to take good shots. I thought we were taking some good shots obviously against the zone. May not get as many shots as you would like inside. That's what we tried to work towards, get JaJuan on the inside for one-on-one play against their zone. I thought we had to grind it. When the ball wasn't going in for us, and just continue to stay positive, and hopefully some of those shots would go in and obviously it did. And as we started to make more shots, so did they, it seemed like. Evan Turner started to get loose a little bit, and when he wasn't going, Buford was going. But I thought at that point in the game we were in a good position, but so was Ohio State, whoever could step up and make a couple shots there and get a little momentum was probably going to win the game. Q. Coach, ironically enough Indiana has not been very good to Purdue as far as this tournament goes with the past results. Congratulations on getting to the end here. Did you feel that your team was physical enough even though that's not really your style tonight, because you really didn't -- you ran the ball but you weren't able to run them off the court and you still managed to win despite the fact you didn't get the big lead early? COACH PAINTER: I think really a key to Ohio State's win against Michigan State was they're going back into that zone, and it limited some of their transition looks. And so we knew with them falling back into the zone we wouldn't get as many transition looks. We still tried to attack and push the basketball. But they did a good job with their transition defense and getting set. I thought our guys did a good job in the half court. I thought we got some quality shots. It is difficult against that zone when they have that kind of size at the basket and they have that kind of length on the perimeter. They do a good job when you are open of closing that gap and contesting shots. And I thought our guys really did some good things and adjusted to it. But I thought we had some good looks early in the game. Their shots just didn't go down. Q. What are your thoughts on being a 5 seed, what does it say about you win a Big Ten Tournament, you're a 5 seed? Also if you win that first game you play Washington in Portland. COACH PAINTER: I think, first of all, we feel good about just being in the tournament. I think there's a lot of good basketball teams that are not in the NCAA Tournament. And in terms of seeds and where things fall, you really can't control all of that. I'm familiar with Northern Iowa obviously being in the Missouri Valley at Southern Illinois, and Coach Jacobson does a great job and it's a tough team. We're going to have a tough time with our first-round game and they're very gritty, very tough. They have size. They have athleticism, and so that's going to be a tough game for us. Obviously being in the next game if you are fortunate enough to get past Northern Iowa, being able to play somebody like Washington, in Portland, it's one of those things where you've put yourself in the best situation possible, and now you've just got to go out and play basketball. Q. What's the biggest difference in how you guys ended the regular season and how you're playing now? Is it a matter of health or are you playing at a different level now, do you think? COACH PAINTER: I don't know, I think we're getting healthier, obviously, it was just a couple of weeks or a week if you want to talk about Michigan State game. Three out of the four losses we had, one was against Michigan on the road where we simply couldn't stop them in the second half. And the other one was against a 2 seed Michigan State, and other pretty good basketball teams, and then Northwestern has just given us fits. And they do, they give us fits offensively and defensively. We're fortunate enough to win in Evanston. But we have to play harder. I don't think we were playing as hard as we possibly could. And I think we did a better job with that in the Big Ten Tournament, playing harder, being quicker to the basketball, getting loose balls and getting rebounds. And it was pleasant to see. Q. Rob's had an interesting journey, to say the least. I asked him the question Big Ten preseason Player of the Year and then he gets hurt, then comes back and gives you three days. Probably a month ago you would have never thought he could do what he did this weekend. Could you talk about him being tournament MVP and kind of the body of work, what this means for you and for him? COACH PAINTER: Rob had a great tournament. And I thought he had good energy. Obviously Rob's a guy that's going to always give you big-time effort. But I think at the end of the year, from watching film and just letting him see different things in terms of rebounding the basketball for us, you know, he has to rebound the basketball for us to be successful. And I thought he did a great job in this tournament of rebounding the ball. Obviously in the first two games he made more shots, and when he's making shots and rebounding the ball, you know he's going to put some pretty good numbers up on the board. But just happy for him. Any time you go through struggles, whether it's injuries, not being able to find your shot, foul trouble, it's good to see somebody that works so hard be rewarded for it. Q. Coach, can you put into perspective what this sophomore class has done to get you to this point? It's one thing to get all the hype like they did coming in here but it's another thing for all three of them to be up there and be on the All-Tournament team. Can you talk about that? COACH PAINTER: It was huge to land these three guys, because really when they committed to us, we were in last place in the Big Ten. And I think it shows a lot of times guys make decisions for the wrong reasons. These guys made decisions in my opinion for the right reasons, because there was a need for them. And I think that's why you see a lot of kids transfer because they go into a situation and sometimes you've got to wait your turn, because if you go to a very good program, there's players, that's why they're a good program. With us, we were in last place, we just tried to sell the opportunity, being close to home, getting a great education. But also coming in and being primary guys from day one. And they've been able to play through their mistakes. Really Rob and E'Twaun from day one, JaJuan has really grown this year but he's also grown because he's gotten more minutes. But they walked into a situation where they were needed, and now they've made the most of the opportunity, and they're team guys, which is important, especially at Purdue. We need team guys, and the other guys rallied behind them. Q. If one of the main criterion for the NCAA Tournament is how you're playing right now at the end, you're healthy now, you just won the Big Ten Tournament, how are you a 5th seed? COACH PAINTER: Bob asked the question earlier, I haven't crunched the numbers. A lot of times you crunch the numbers when you think you're going to be a bubble team. I shouldn't say it, when you are a bubble team and you're worried about getting in because you're trying to figure everything out. I felt we were in a good position if we got knocked out in the first round of the Big Ten Tournament of getting into the tournament just from our body of work. Obviously would have changed our seed, but we still would have been in the tournament. So I haven't really looked at the line in terms of why we are at a 5 seed. I told our guys that. I said we need to be excited about being in the NCAA Tournament, no matter what number's next to us and no matter who we play, and I don't care who we have to play. If they're in the NCAA Tournament, it means they're a good team and you gotta go out there and prepare for that team and go to battle. Q. When you look at the work you've done since you've become coach, what do you think after seeing the success you've had and the turnaround of the program? COACH PAINTER: I think it starts with players. You have to get the right player, but you also gotta get the right person that fits your institution. And I think our assistants have done a good job recruiting our guys. I think after you're able to land some guys, they have to be good recruiters for your program. And I think that's what we have really built on, trying to excite guys out there that we're recruiting about being a part of this family, being part of the Purdue basketball family. But the success we've had is because we've landed some talented guys that fit at Purdue. And that's what we've got to continue to do. Obviously you've got to get guys that can play. But you have to get guys that can play and understand what it takes day in and day out to get after it and be blue collar. Q. Can you talk about what it means for your team that faced such adversity with injuries and illness and struggled down at the end of the season and put it all together here in the Big Ten Tournament? COACH PAINTER: I think it makes you stronger. Any time you lose the three out of four games at the end, there's two ways to look at it. You can complain. You can say we should have done this, should have done that. Or you can stay with what you've worked on throughout the whole year and try to do a better job of what you do. And that's what we've done. We've just tried to stay positive and keep plugging, and the injuries are going to happen. The sicknesses are going to happen. You can't use them as excuses. It's very similar to foul trouble. You have to play the game. The other team has injuries, too. And that's the message we try to send to our guys. Keep playing and just make the most of it. Q. You guys have obviously improved over the last week. You've been working hard in practice. Can you talk about what you as coaches can specifically do in practice to see that extra effort? And then kind of piggybacking on that, how you help your team keep mental focus going into this next week? COACH PAINTER: We worked hard in practice before when we struggled, but you have to be able to go out and transfer that to the games, and execute and be efficient and be tough, and taking those practices and having some good practices, that time, just trying to get them to be aware. We try to watch as much film as we can without losing their focus to make them understand it comes down to effort. It comes down to playing hard. It comes down to just play through the whistle. It's a football term, but it's so true. You've got to keep playing and do not worry about things you can't control. If the ball's not going in, just keep taking good shots. When we struggle, it's because we force things, and we have defensive breakdowns when we're at our best, which I thought we did some good things today, we're playing sound defense, and you've got to make people make tough shots and make those tough shots and you've got to get the rebound. You can't allow second-chance opportunities. So we tried to work on rebounding and really work on our team defense and then taking care of the basketball. And I think we made some improvements in taking care of the basketball this week. I think we had 17 turnovers, if I'm not mistaken, in three games. That's great for anybody. Q. What does it mean to you personally to win the Big Ten Tournament, growing up in this state, having played in the Big Ten, never winning a Big Ten title at Purdue? COACH PAINTER: It's a little bit different, because hopefully we can continue to build on this and hopefully it anchors and stays right here in Indianapolis, because that's how the tradition of the tournament is going to grow. But there's no tradition in terms of when you are growing up and watching this. Obviously the tournament started I think in '98; is that right? And obviously I graduated from Purdue in '93. And so I never played in the tournament, nor did I watch it growing up. So now just kind of getting the feel for things here the last four years, we didn't hang around very long in the tournament. So now it's a great feeling to hang around and win a couple of games and to experience something like this. But it's a great accomplishment for our program. I'm just happy for our guys. Q. Coach, sounding off the question over here about the seeding, is it maybe an advantage that your team is not getting a higher seed, that possibly being like a No. 1 or 2 is more overrated than it is, you're playing an 8 and 9, for as example, as a 1? Is it maybe a good thing ironically after you're in at 5? COACH PAINTER: We'll find out. You don't know. You can speculate all you want. But I told our guys you're going to play a quality team, regardless of if you're a 4 or 5, 3 or a 6. Last year we played Baylor in the first round and we were 6 and they were 11. I felt Baylor had as much talent as any team we had faced the whole year, and we faced some pretty good teams last year. And they were very, very talented. We were fortunate to get by them, and the next game we were rewarded by playing Xavier, the 3 seed. And I felt Xavier was just a great team, a very good team. They got to the Elite Eight, got beat by UCLA to go to the Final Four. But no matter if we can get by the first and second round, you're going to continue to see great teams. It's just matchups. And I can't really answer and talk about matchups until I watch film and kind of get a feel for different things. Like I said, I don't mean to be boring with it, it's just one of those things where you're elated to be in the tournament. Now you've got to go and figure out what you have to do to try to be successful against Northern Iowa. Q. Just to bounce back to the game for one more question. 14 seconds to go, you're up 3. I remember that same basket last year Kramer had a chance to beat Illinois and the runner bounced off the rim. Now he's the guy going to step to the line to give you a two-possession lead if he makes two free throws. Given what he's meant to your program and how badly he wanted to win this, how happy are you for him that he had that opportunity to put it away and he did? COACH PAINTER: I think he had a great stat line. He made some plays today. He doesn't always score the basketball for us. And then when people are zoning, we try to get him to be aggressive, we try to get him to understand the different openings and the zone and what he needs to do to help us, to move the basketball. So he does a lot of little things for us, but he made a good decision last year against Illinois, especially the timing of it. We got a shot, had a chance to tip it in, and went to overtime. But he got a good look at it last year. And very similar to earlier in the year with J.J., you get cracks to win games with a shot, and if it doesn't go for you, you've got to wait. J.J.'s came around two weeks later and it was great he stepped up at Northwestern and made that free throw. And with Chris, he stepped up, very similar to today, at Minnesota when he made those free throws down the stretch right there to seal the victory for us there. I'm happy for him and he's hung in there and played hard for us, done a lot of little things. Thought he had a huge block late in the game against Lauderdale. Got a huge rebound for them to foul him on those second free throws. He's been great. Very good guy to have in your program. You can hang your hat on the things that he does night in and night out. Q. From the ringside seats, the degree of momentum around your team right now seems enormous. To what extent do you agree with that? COACH PAINTER: I do agree with that. Obviously when you pick up positive momentum from winning games and the fashion that we've won the first two games, I think this was great for us, because we had some struggles offensively. You have to give credit to Ohio State. We were getting some pretty good looks but the ball wasn't going down for us. Not to hang our heads and just to stay with it, I think that even helps us going into the NCAA Tournament, because we had to win this game differently than we won the first two. Q. You mentioned that you've been to the Valley and you know a little bit about Northern Iowa. I think they're in the tournament for like the fourth time since '04. What is it about them that makes them so successful? COACH PAINTER: I haven't watched them play this year. Obviously before when I was in the Valley, Coach Jacobson was the assistant coach for Greg McDermott at the time. They always do a good job of just giving themselves a chance. They took care of the basketball. They took good shots. They were tough on defense, very difficult to get the basketball inside, very difficult to use your dribble against them. But always have been impressed with their style. Tough, hard-nosed, efficient, very good players when we were in the Valley, very good players. I really don't know their personnel, to be honest with you. But just something that you knew when you face them that you're going to be in for a battle. Q. Looking at this bracket here, it looks like seven Big Ten teams got in. Your thoughts on that? COACH PAINTER: I think we had a great year. Earlier in the year a lot of people were plugging us in for four teams, and I think we had some first-year coaches the year before. We're transitioning into that second year. And any time you have that, with Tubby Smith and Lickliter and John Beilein, just three great coaches, you're going to make improvements. I think we made a jump there. And then I think Illinois had great senior leadership, and I think they did some very good things in the offseason. You could just see it. Mike Davis made improvements. Tisdale made improvements. You can go right down the line. Their whole team improved. That's what you have to do. If you want to jump from a team that is not getting talked about going to the NCAA Tournament to being one and being a solid one, you know you've got to make improvements in the offseason. But I think we had a great non-conference. We beat a lot of teams non-conference. And that's so important to gain that momentum to go into conference play because, like any other league in the country, when you start shaving off the top a little bit, and I think Michigan State separated themselves and nobody else did, there's very little difference between 2 through 9 in our league. Very little difference. Somebody said would you rather play Illinois or play Northwestern, one was a 2, one was a 9, I'd tell you I don't want to play either one of them. Both of them are good. Both are tough, both give us fits, and now one is a 2 seed and one is a 9 seed. If you go watch them play, different styles, but you could sit there and argue who is a better team. And that's right through, if you went 3-8, 4-7, all the way down the line, we just had great balance and a great year and hopefully we have a great showing in the NCAA Tournament. Q. How important was the crowd today, and did you feel your team fed off of them? COACH PAINTER: I think the crowd can come into play when you play well. And doesn't really give us an advantage when we don't have a series of baskets. Once we started to get a series of baskets where we scored two, three, four possessions in a row, got some steals, now I really thought they helped us in that second half. But we had to give them more to cheer about. In the second half we did, and I thought our guys fed off of that. THE MODERATOR: Thank you, Coach. FastScripts by ASAP Sports End of FastScripts |
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