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BIG TEN CONFERENCE MEN'S TOURNAMENTMarch 12, 2011Talor BattleEd DeChellisTim FrazierINDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA Penn State – 61 COACH DECHELLIS: Really, really proud of our guys, really proud of these two guys. Our backcourt played very well tonight. I thought Bubby hit some big shots that gave us a little cushion. We finally had some breathing room, and then we played a little looser. I thought Michigan State came out of the gate very, very well and punched us pretty good. I thought the positive thing for us was we were able to absorb it and get back in the thing, and we felt pretty good at halftime going in that we didn't play very well the first five, seven minutes and we're still in the game. We were lucky to hold on, and we look forward to the opportunity tomorrow afternoon. Q. Seemed like you struggled shooting against IU, first 30 minutes against Wisconsin last night. Did the big three you hit towards the end of the game last night spark what we saw today? TALOR BATTLE: I think so. Leaving the game last night, I was feeling well shooting the ball. But it wasn't until the second half I really got going, and from that point everybody just kept screening for me and I felt like I couldn't miss. Even the last three I missed when Draymond was defending me, it felt good coming off my hand, just missed it long. He did a great job of finding me and the rest of the guys did a great job screening me and getting me open. Q. Would you like to say something about the offensive capability or your backcourt made there, because he really had a great game in every way, but especially scoring, which he doesn't sometimes often do? TALOR BATTLE: You know, it was great, and I was probably more happy than he was because, you know, Jeff wasn't really knocking in shots today, and he really picked up the slack with Jeff along with everybody else, and he gave us that punch, and that's what he can do. He really attacked the rim. I think he just played and not tried to be Mark Jackson and pass and make assists on every play. He actually looked at the rim, and I think that was it. He got his confidence early and then he kept playing well throughout the game. Q. You've accomplished a lot individually here at Penn State. What would it mean -- but you've never been able to compete for a championship. What would it mean to be able to leave your name at Penn State with a championship? TALOR BATTLE: That would be great because everyone could talk all day about all the individual accolades, but like I've been telling everyone, I'll trade all those in to get to the NCAA Tournament, and to win tomorrow would be huge. We play the No. 1 team in the country, and I think we're playing well right now, and hopefully we can keep that up tomorrow and give a good outing and try to win this thing. Q. Can you just talk about the NCAA Tournament? You guys have done a lot, you've got a lot of Top 50 wins. Do you feel you're in at this point? TALOR BATTLE: I hope so, but I can tell you one thing, if we win tomorrow, we're in, so that's our goal. We'll wait for the selection committee to come after the game tomorrow, but our prime focus is just to go out and win the game. Q. For the players, you guys played Ohio State down to the wire in Columbus, I think it was a three-point game, and had a three at the buzzer to try and tie it, then the other game in State College was the one where Jon Diebler I think had the record with threes. Just talk about those two games and maybe what it'll take to knock them off tomorrow. TIM FRAZIER: You know, just we're rolling right now, so we've just got to keep it on, execute. We're going to go over film for these guys, watch both tapes. We did some things at State College that we didn't normally do. We left Diebler get his shots off, and we're going to try to stop that and just execute like we did today and come out with a win. TALOR BATTLE: You know, the second time we lost to them, we still got that taste in our mouth, so we can't wait to play them. Like I just told coach in the locker room, the last two teams we played, the last time we played them, they beat us up pretty good, at Michigan State and at Wisconsin, and Ohio State came and beat us up pretty good. So we're looking forward to playing them tomorrow. We know we have got to do a good job on Sullinger and of course we can't allow Diebler to hit ten threes. Q. Michigan State had a lot of turnovers in the first half. What did you do to disrupt their ball handling and passing lanes? TIM FRAZIER: I just think it was more our aggressiveness. They came out and they threw a great first punch, got on us early and we knew we had to fight back, so definitely we got them to get transfers and pressure the ball. Jeff had a big tip in the back for us to get open lay-ups and open lay-ups made it more careful and not able to get that transition game going. TALOR BATTLE: We just wanted more and play hard. I think we competed and played hard. I remember a play when Jeff was sprinting the length of the court and he back tipped it. It was everyone playing hard, get your hands up, and that's when you can force turnovers. I think it came down to us playing hard, keeping active, getting our hands in and deflecting balls and things like that. Q. Were you surprised at Michigan State's defensive adjustments to you? TALOR BATTLE: No, to be honest with you, I thought they played pretty well, not to sit here and boast myself, but I think I hit some tough shots with guys guarding me. But once you get in that zone, you really don't see anyone, or at least that's how I feel. The guys kept screening for me. They were contesting most of the shots, I was just zoned in and really focused on trying to knock them in. Q. Tim, could you talk about your offensive game, 9 for 13? When is the last time you shot the ball that well and it was flowing that well? TIM FRAZIER: I'd have to say back in high school. I haven't had one of these offensive occasions since college yet, so it's a great feeling to have it. Overall just like he said, I was kind of more attacking the basket. I got some easy lay-ups, couple of transition baskets, then I just opened up and it gave me more confidence to knock down jumpers. Q. Can any of you guys capture how the feeling was on the court in the first five or six minutes? It's hard to believe now but it actually looked like it was possible they could blow you out. TIM FRAZIER: It's just the Big Ten Tournament. Yesterday we were ahead like that, same thing, playing Wisconsin, got on them 18-2, so it can easily flip. We know that. We were going to make a run, they were going to throw their first punch, we made a run, weather their storm and we were able to come back. TALOR BATTLE: The first thing I told the coaching staff because coach was flipping out because we came out slow, I said, coach, I said, let's just all calm down and stick together. We had silly mistakes. We don't box out, they get it on a foul shot. We were just doing silly things that we can easily take care of, and once we did that, I really think Jermaine Marshall came in to give us a huge lift in the first half and really got us going, some big rebounds, a block shot. So it was everyone tonight and that was the push we needed off the bench from Jermaine. Q. A similar question that was asked to Taylor, I'm certain you guys' goal was to come in here and win the whole tournament, but do you think the three wins has solidified your bid to an NCAA Tournament as of now? COACH DECHELLIS: Yes. I mean, our strength of schedule was 5, RPI was 42. I mean, what else do you want us to do? We just beat Indiana, we beat Wisconsin, a Top 15 team, we just beat Michigan State. We've done the things that we needed to do. You know, we're going to play hard tomorrow and see what happens, but whatever happens, I don't -- we need to be in the tournament. I mean, we've done the things that people said we needed to do, and our RPI is great, our strength of schedule is in the Top 7 in the country. I don't know who else you want us to play. But we've done all the things that people have asked us to do. Play a great schedule, we're 7, RPI of 43, it will go down or decrease after this one today. I don't know what else we're supposed to do. We're going to try to win tomorrow now, I understand that, but barring what happens, I think we have to be in the tournament. Q. Along those lines, Taylor and all he's accomplished, isn't he the kind of guy who deserves an NCAA Tournament? COACH DECHELLIS: Yeah, he does, all our seniors do. They've worked hard. We have an opportunity two years ago, and the committee said our strength of schedule wasn't good enough, so now we're 7. The kids have done a great job. All our seniors, Bubby and D.J. Jackson, Jeff Brooks and Drew Jones and Steve Kirkpatrick, we've got five kids who came and worked hard. They've been through good times, they've been through bad times, and they've stuck together this year. We didn't play well at times, but they kept fighting and fighting, and we've been winning a lot of games here in the last three weeks to put ourselves in this position, and I'm really proud of our team. Q. Anything that you -- not necessarily that there was, but did you sense this kind of resolve in these guys before the tournament started? COACH DECHELLIS: You know, I think all year we hadn't played well, and I just thought that we would -- somewhere along the way I thought we would just all gel and play and come together. We've been piecing this thing sort of together the last three weeks, different guys have stepped up. I thought we always had the capability to do it. I've been really trying to grind them, and they've responded. I've really tried to push it hard and explain to them that this was their last chance to get to the NCAA Tournament, to possibly play for a championship, and they've responded very, very well, not grinding them on the floor but grinding them motivation-wise, mentally, trying to explain to them what was ahead of us and what they could accomplish if they -- last Sunday -- I think it was last Sunday or Monday, I told them, give me six days. Give me the best six days you have, and maybe we can get to that championship game and get ourselves in the NCAA Tournament. But I've got to have everything you've got for six days, your focus, your energy, you've got to eat right, you've got to sleep right, you've got to be here, you've got to have great focus, and if you do that, we're going to give it our best swing. Q. Can you just talk about facing Jared Sullinger tomorrow and what he presents inside? COACH DECHELLIS: God, can I get ten minutes? (Laughter). He's a great player, really a great player. We haven't figured out what to do yet. Obviously we didn't figure it out ten days ago, so we'll go back and try to figure it out. But I'm not sure you're ever going to stop the young guy. He's a kid that's very physical, very strong, can score. I think what I admire about him as a player, he's always under control, and he's a very good passer. He's a kid that you throw the ball to, if he doesn't have a shot he throws the ball back out to somebody. He's a complete player, and he looks like a great teammate. He's always -- he's got a great demeanor about him, so he's a great player. I don't know if we can. I don't know what we'll do with him tomorrow. But we'll try to do something. Q. In the first half Michigan State shot 50 percent, in the second half they were 21 percent. What did you do differently in the second half defensively? COACH DECHELLIS: I don't know if we did much differently. I think they just missed some shots. I'm not going to say we did something special, super-duper game plan, we tried to guard them and get into them and jam them a little bit. We were really concerned about their high-low action and them getting easy baskets inside, so when they caught at the high post, we really tried to get into them and make it tough for a passer to get to a low block. Summers has been shooting the ball okay, Kalin Lucas has played very, very well, really concerned about him. I was really concerned about the big guys inside, just beating us up inside and scoring inside and getting second shots. I told the kids if we could take transition baskets away and offensive rebounds, I thought we had a chance, and I thought we did that tonight, and we gave ourselves a chance and then we made some shots. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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