Northwestern University Athletics
Postgame Quotes
1/18/2011 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Jan. 18, 2011
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Northwestern vs. Michigan
Welsh-Ryan Arena
January 18, 2011
Postgame Quotes
Northwestern Head Coach Bill Carmody
Opening statement...
"John [Shurna] here next to me, he did ok out there. I was most impressed with the fact that he got eight rebounds, because I think in the last three games he hasn't had eight rebounds total. I thought [Drew] Crawford was the guy that jump-started us. He came out, banged those shots right away, and he just put some life into us so the other guys could feed off of it. John [Shurna], Luka [Mirkovic], Mike [Thompson], those guys just did a really good job, and it's nice to see John get some rebounds in there because he's been beat up. We had a horrible practice yesterday, just horrible. I'd say the worst of the whole year. I was mad at him the whole time and he was mad at me the whole time. It's been three years, and this was the first or second time that's happened so I was glad to see him come through like that. It was a nice team effort for us tonight, a great balance of inside and outside."
On the importance of protecting home court...
"I told the guys I think we're at a good place even though we had a bad practice yesterday - because we started 0-3 against some good teams and then took care of business against Indiana, went up to Iowa and played pretty well. We played well enough to win Saturday against Michigan State. We didn't get it done, and there are some things we can correct, but we played pretty decently. I just like the way we came out tonight, guns blazing, and we didn't turn the ball over. We had one turnover in the first half, when Mike [Thompson] charged with a minute and a half to go. You have to win at home in this conference. Who has wins on the road, does Ohio State have a couple? We were mad we didn't get it Saturday night, but all five home teams won. So you have to win your games at home and steal a few on the road."
On the performance of Luka Mirkovic and Davide Curletti... "We've been trying to talk a little bit about balance, inside and outside, since mid-November. We've worked on the defense, seeing if we can get that better, and the first half of our last four games: 28 points, 27 points, 18 points, and tonight was high-20s, so I think our defense has improved. The other thing we've been trying to do is get that inside-outside balance, and I thought both guys did really nicely tonight."
