Northwestern University Athletics
Postgame Quotes
1/29/2011 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Jan. 29, 2011
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Northwestern vs. Ohio State
Welsh-Ryan Arena; Evanston, Ill.
Jan. 29, 2011
Postgame Quotes
Northwestern Head Coach Bill Carmody
Opening Statement...
"They're 9-0 in the conference and I think six of their wins were by five points and below in conference. They find a way to win. We had the ball and the opportunity there and we were just trying to get a good shot, use the clock up and if you got something good, if you didn't, put the ball back in Mike (Thompson's) hands because he was effective in the end. Alex (Marcotullio) thought he saw JerShon (Cobb) open on a back screen for a layup and he didn't get it. That was it. It's discouraging and disappointing clearly because you want to get the last shot in that situation; or a shot, let's say that. You want to get a shot there and we didn't. I thought the beginning of the second half was the difference where they jumped out on us then we came back and took the lead and that was great but it was too much. It was 12 or 13 I think they went up. I shouldn't say it was too much because we did. It all comes down to little things in the game. We've got to get a shot in that situation. I give them credit, like I said, they're winning all these close games and that's usually what good teams do."
On the game strategy...
"Yesterday in practice when it didn't look like John (Shurna) was going to play, we weren't positive until about noon today but, we just said 'well, they can guard us.' We weren't too sure if some of their bigger guys could play some of our guys a bit, you know just keep moving and try to control the game with our offense. I think we played pretty well. Not perfect, Mike (Thompson) missed some shots, but then he started heating up and came through like a senior and almost carried them to victory."
On NU's comeback...
"I think we just kept moving and moving. Some of the guys that were missing them early started knocking them down. Mike (Thompson) mostly but then JerShon (Cobb) hit a big one, Alex (Marcotullio) hit a big one. We probably had about five or six in the second half, and probably all in the last 10 minutes."
On Jared Sullinger...
"I've seen him about a dozen times. I saw him in high school. Yeah, he's a really good player and a mature basketball player. With the shooters out there that they have he causes problems for opponents. I just said, let's not let them get six threes tonight. Of course (Jon) Diebler hit a big-time three coming off our lead. We're supposed to switch it and Drew (Crawford) and Luka (Mirkovic) got mixed up on it. But I thought we did a nice job doing what we went into the game trying to do.
On John Shurna...
"Not too much more, just that he wasn't cleared to play at noon today. I guess it's day-to-day type of thing. They're right on top of it so we probably won't know anything for a couple days."
Ohio State Head Coach Thad Matta
Opening statement...
"What an incredible basketball game if you're a fan. It was a great game. We had some spurts but we've got to give Northwestern credit, they never cracked. They just kept coming at us and had a rhythm going. We had talked about changing our defense just to take that rhythm away. Our guys made some big plays down the stretch and, as I told them, we got what we came for."
On Northwestern's ability to run out the shot clock...
"We thought they may try to do that and they're good at it. They are great at that."
On Ohio State's 2-for-8 free throw shooting in the second half...
"That was the difference. You have to step up and knock those down to keep the lead at five. They [Northwestern] were able to keep chipping away at us."
