Northwestern University Athletics
Post-game Quotes
1/23/2010 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Jan. 23, 2010
Recap |
Box Score |
Photo Gallery 
Northwestern Head Coach Bill Carmody
Opening statement...
"We got off to such a nice start and then a few guys got into foul trouble. Then it seemed like in the second half, Illinois was really in control of the game. We were down by seven or eight and we were just trying to dig ourselves out of it. Our offense was bad. They really defended well the entire second half. Our defense wasn't that bad in the second half, it was just that we couldn't score. I'll give them credit for that. Then things seemed to open up a little bit for us. One of my assistants said 'We've got to press after this,' with about seven minutes to go after a foul shot and we did. I don't think it bothered them too much as far as turnovers. I think they turned it over once, but it forced a couple of quick shots. Jeremy [Nash] hit a big shot to get our guys confidence. That's how I felt. Then Drew [Crawford] had a nice drive and finally John [Shurna] and Mike [Thompson] came through. It was a nice team effort. It's just really good to get a win."
On playing through cold shooting in the second half...
"That's about all we could do. That's a good defensive team we were playing tonight. We were having a hard time getting good looks. Though I thought in the first half, we were getting them. In the second half, it seemed like they cranked up their defense. We still got some pretty looks, but not off the stuff we do. It wasn't desperation, but not exactly our offense. Another thing that helped was when we got that nice backdoor play for Johnny [Shurna] and he stuffed it. That always jacks guys up a little bit besides the crowd. He needed something. He wasn't playing great. I think that helped him."
On whether this victory is better than others because it's over Illinois...
"Every game is like that. Last year, we lost a game here after having a big lead. We tried to hold away from chest thumping and all that kind of stuff tonight. They just don't quit and you saw that tonight. A three here, a three there, [Brandon] Paul and then [Mike] Tisdale bangs one. It's crazy so you have to play 40 minutes. It's only sweeter because of last year's game."
On playing Michael Thompson with four fouls...
"What else are you going to do? We were down and if he fouls out, he fouls out. We were down five or seven at the time. He knows it and we've got to get back in the game. You saw in the first half, when he went out, it just sort of went down. I actually had to put him back in in the first half, and he got his third. But as soon as I put him back in, we scored a couple of hoops. That combination with Juice [Thompson] in there and Jeremy [Nash] is what you want to have as much as you can."
On the impact of this game on Northwestern's NCAA tourney hopes...
"We had played six games out of 18 coming into tonight. And I don't know if it was a must-win, but when you think and you're going on the road at Minnesota, at Michigan State, it was a really important one. Again, it's only the seventh game out of 18 so it's the second third of the season. It's a very important game for us, especially because we've already lost two at home. We lost to Michigan State. We lost to Wisconsin here. You've got to get the ones at home. We picked one up at Michigan to balance it out a little bit, but you have to win here."
Freshman forward Drew Crawford
On coming back from a large deficit...
"That was big for us considering they had us on the ropes a little bit. That was big for us to come back. Like Jeremy [Nash] said, we were getting stops on D. It was about putting the ball in the basket. I think Johnny [Shurna]'s dunk really inflated us and gave us some momentum to finish the game."
On the support from Northwestern fans...
"The fans were unbelievable tonight. They were here earlier than I've ever seen them, to even watch us warm up. They were a great support throughout the game, especially in that last run. It got pretty loud in here."
Senior guard Jeremy Nash
On the mentality of the players in mounting a comeback...
"Coach told us at halftime that we needed to get stops. We came out and got stops, but we weren't putting the ball in the basket. So we kept telling the guys, 'Hey, we're getting stops. Let's take it one possession at a time.' As we continued to do that, we started putting the ball in the basket and we came out with the win."
On the magnitude of this win in comparison with others in his career... "This was big. Especially since, like Coach said, we were up by 15 and ended up losing to them. He told us in the final timeout, 'Remember last year.' We all didn't want to feel that way again so we just tried to be aggressive on offense. We were and the feeling was tremendous, especially being U of I. When we went down there earlier this year, we got them into overtime. We felt like we should have won that game. All the guys knew this was a must-win for us."
Illinois Head Coach Bruce Weber
Opening statement...
"Congrats to Bill and his team. We made the comeback at our place, they made the comeback here. They're a good ballclub. We had opportunities in first half when they had the big foul trouble; we didn't take advantage of it. And then the second half we're up eight we have a countless number of fast-break opportunities where we get charges, turnovers; we don't get anything out of them. We lost our poise a little bit, they doubled Demetri (McCamey) and then the one time he got it to D.J. (Richardson), D.J. got a nice little jumper but didn't make it and the Demetri gets a couple turnovers, a couple offensive fouls there; that really hurt us. Some second-chance points, turnovers, creating points on the other end and then there was a stretch...they had shot so many threes, I thought we defended pretty well, got to the threes better. Then all of a sudden they just took it; Crawford took us, Nash took us, I think Thompson got into the lane and then Shurna hit the three that kind of was the dagger. But, you know, you could write the same story you've written a countless number of times with us this year; we don't get stops in the second half. I think they scored 14 out of 16 times down the stretch. We don't have a go-to guy to make a play when it gets tough and then we don't have the leadership we need. The decision for the players not to talk to the media is mine because they don't talk to each other. And there's no way they should talk to you guys if they don't talk to each other. I went in the locker room; no one said a word. So until they start talking and taking leadership they're not talking to anyone else. I don't know when it will end, I hope it ends soon. Somebody's got to take this team and go with it , but right now it not happening."
On why he took the ball out of McCamey's hands down the stretch...
"To get him moving without the ball and use the screen. Let somebody else handle it, don't let them double, let Demetri come off and he's been good for us. He's given us pretty good effort. He's been our one consistent shining light. He just lost his poise in that stretch and it really hurt us because tonight we needed him to be pretty consistent."
On if it's too early to hit the panic button...
"We've just got to win a game, that's what I'm worried about. I thought we had our best shoot-around we've had all year today. They took the lead early but we didn't panic. I thought we took it to them...go on a 20-to-2 run, have opportunities. We just don't play very smart. Some of it's the young guys, some of it's that we try to hit home runs and we don't have to hit home runs. We have to hit singles."
On Northwestern double-teaming McCamey...
"They just ran at him just to get the ball out of his hands. I mean, it's smart; they do it to Evan Turner (Ohio State). But then he's got to keep his poise and it's something we haven't faced all year, it's like a press: you back it up, move the ball, then get into your offense but we didn't do that today.
On Michael Thompson...
"He's a leader. He runs the show. He does it all. He didn't score against us either game very well but he takes care of the basketball and gets them in their stuff and he wants to win and that's all he cares about. And he does the things a leader needs to do to help them win."
