Northwestern University Athletics
Postgame Quotes
1/9/2011 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Jan. 9, 2011
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Northwestern vs. Indiana
Northwestern Head Coach Bill Carmody
Welsh-Ryan Arena
Jan. 9, 2011
Postgame Quotes
Opening statement...
"Well they had two teams coming in here that played pretty well out of conference, and both were struggling. After the game against Illinois...it was tough. We were pretty down, as we should be. I thought our guys came out and moved the ball really nicely in the first half, and defended better than we did the other night. We were able to throw the ball down to Luka [Mirkovic], and I think that established an inside game for us. Then some of our guys were able to come in and make some shots. If we made our foul shots then it doesn't get to the point where it's 10 or 12. That's what you have to do, you have to make those, but they fought back hard and kept plugging away and kept it close. So I was happy with my team, and just to get that first win is really important."
On the importance of an inside game...
"We say that before most games lately - at least I tell that to Luka [Mirkovic] - and we really stressed that tonight. Not necessarily because of the size thing, but because if we're going to be good and do anything we have to have an inside presence. I thought that he [Mirkovic] was really good tonight."
On the ability to convert more backdoor cuts...
"Yeah, they were playing hard. We had some guys like Al [Alex Marcotullio] and Johnny [John Shurna] make some nice passes to Mike [Capocci]. [Jeremiah] Rivers was guarding hard - very hard - and we were able to get some stuff off of that. I just thought it was a good effort from everyone. Johnny made some shots, and I thought Al's first-half contributions were excellent."
On the performance of John Shurna...
"It helps when he's out there. His defense was not good, but he made some shots, and then he penetrated a few times. He got into the lane, found a few guys who were fouled, and that helps so they can't press up so much."
