Northwestern University Athletics
Postgame Quotes - Northwestern vs. IPFW
2/11/2006 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Feb. 11, 2006
Head Coach Bill Carmody:
Opening statement:
"I thought it was a close game until about eight minutes left in the first half. Mohamed and (Tim) Doyle picked it up a bit. We were executing better and making shots and that's all the difference. It seemed to me they (IPFW) were getting good looks and were right in there. Shooting is such a key element and for one night we seemed to knock some down."
On IPFW
"Maybe their best player, (Best), is out with an ankle injury. I think that helped us. He finds those three-point shooters better than they were able to today.
On the game and the rest of the schedule:
"For a game in the middle of the conference schedule, I was about as pleased as you can be. We played well, but we'll find out when we go on the road next week. We have to continue to play well for the next month. We can hang with these teams but we have to beat some. You can't just compete with them."
IPFW Head Coach Dane Fife
Opening Statement...
"We are going against Big Ten and MAC schools that have a tradition. They have guys that have been playing for four years and five years in (Vedran) Vukusic's case. This team (Northwestern) just beat Iowa, a very good basketball team. Coach Carmody has his team going in the right direction. I remember playing against them when I was a senior in college (at Indiana), which was coach Carmody's first year. They were good then and they continue to get better. That's a tribute to coach Carmody and his staff. I would like to see them get in the NCAA Tournament this year. "
On playing four Big Ten schools this season...
"We were fortunate to catch Purdue and Michigan State early in the season. Our kids kept us in the game with sheer work ethic and will. Today we worked just as hard. Northwestern is just better than us. Northwestern has implemented their freshman into the system and they are just a juggernaut at this point. You saw it against Iowa, and they continued that against us."
On his team's defensive game plan...
"They shot 73 percent in the first half, but we did what we wanted to do. We wanted to make them make three-point shots. They don't have a lot of people who usually shoot over 40 percent, but they certainly did today. We did give up a couple of easy layups in the first half. We defended them pretty well in the second half. As bad as we played today defensively, it was twenty times worse against Air Force. We showed improvement today against the Princeton offense."
