Northwestern University Athletics
Postgame Quotes
12/20/2010 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Dec. 20, 2010
Madison Square Garden
MSG Holiday Festival
Northwestern-St. Francis
Northwestern Coach Bill Carmody
On tonight's game
"They came right at us in the beginning of the game and we told our guys they're a very aggressive team, New York guys. It looked like we had the Garden jitters the first few minutes. Then we settled down. Played pretty decent on defense and getting the shots we wanted on offense."
On team's shooting
"We were shooting the ball pretty well. [Drew] Crawford kept us in the game in the first half and then after that it was a team effort with [Michael] Thompson and [John] Shurna. And guys were moving the ball around."
"We felt that he [Drew Crawford] really needed to have a good game. I don't like seeing him just make shots, just turning into a suburban jump shooter. I think he can be do so much more."
Drew Crawford on playing in Madison Square Garden
"It was an unbelievable experience. I think for a lot of us it was our first time being here. And being here for the first time and actually having the chance to play in it was unbelievable. That was awesome."
Michael Thompson on the Wildcats' scoring runs
"I think that was our difference of the game, those runs that we got on. They were huge and that's basically because of our defense. We played solid defense and got rebounds. We were able to get out and get some easy hoops in transition."
St. Francis Head Coach Glenn Braica
On tonight's game:
"I thought Northwestern obviously is a very good team. They played well tonight. I thought we had a lot of trouble with their 1-3-1 zone, which was a concern coming in. It's a tough match up. I thought our guys hung in there early and then I thought they let our offense and some of the turnovers affect our defense. I think our guys were disappointed that they didn't have more success early and then it kind of spun out of control late. But we'll regroup and we'll come back tomorrow. I think our guys have done a good job this year and we need to take this as a learning experience and move forward."
On Northwestern:
"They run the Princeton offense and they run it really well. They run it fast; they don't play slow. They run it very efficiently and very quickly and they look to score off it quick as opposed to a lot of phony action and looking to shoot late in the shot clock. And on top of that they have very good shooters. They're a great shooting team; probably as good as you're going to find in the country. They have senior leadership. (John) Shurna is obviously an All-America candidate and the young kids on the wings (Drew) Crawford and (JerShon) Cobb are very good players. They do what they can do well. They're a tough team to play against and that 1-3-1 is a great defense for their personnel."
