Northwestern University Athletics
Northwestern vs. Central Connecticut State - Quotes
12/17/2011 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Dec. 17, 2011
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Evanston, Ill. - Northwestern Head Coach Bill Carmody
Opening Statement...
"This was sort of reminiscent of the Baylor game. They're off you and you have open shots, and you have to make them. I don't know why we haven't been, but its two out of three games that it's been like that. It's a little surprising to me, but teams are going to sag. They said we're not going to give you any layups, nothing backdoor for the most part. Although Reggie (Hearn) got a couple, sort of give-and-go's to the center, and a big one at the end. But for the most part, guys on offense have to hit shots. I actually thought our defense was pretty good in the first half. They had 29 points and we got them down to the shot clock like three or four times. One, they made a four-point play out of it. I wasn't displeased with the defense at all; I thought it was ok. Reggie and Drew (Crawford), too, sort of bailed us out and made some nice plays in the second half, so that was good to see."
On the play of the offense...
"I wouldn't say it was a good game, but again I think on the defensive side, it was ok. But offensively, I don't think we got what we needed. It wasn't fluid and it was stilted. It was coming in parts and wasn't fluid. But I guess in the last eight minutes, we started running our offense more smoothly and Drew hit a nice one coming off a foul-line jumper, and had a nice drive, and then he found Reggie in the corner. A huge drive that opened up some things. I don't think it was one of our better games, I don't think any of our guys would say that. But that's a good team. They have good players; we knew that. So you win and you move on to tomorrow night."
On getting Reggie Hearn onto the court this year...
"He played pretty well in practice last year and he was getting better. I think I may have ignored him a few times, as I tend to do. But he's been a scholarship player for two years. He's a little bit of a "Cool Joe" kind of guy, so I had to get him moving a little bit, but right from the get-go this year, he was in, and even last year in practice he was in, but I didn't like him enough then."
On the play of Luka Mirkovic...
"He did pretty well. He was, right in the beginning, it seemed like he got five rebounds in the first seven or eight minutes; he was getting two-handed rebounds. And you know he was throwing to the right guy, five assists, he probably threw a few more, like everybody here did, to guys who were open, and they just weren't going down. You just keep going, and it's going to happen. You cant depend on John (Shurna) or Drew as the only guys, so it's great when the center position (steps up)."
On John Shurna...
"You know he's a senior. He'll figure it out. There's nothing I can say; I can't pat him on the can, you know. He'll figure it out. It's like when you're missing shots and not doing well, you can control it yourself."
