Chris Collins:
On the challenge presented by Wisconsin and Nigel Hayes: Says that’s what the Badgers try to do, keep the games lower possession games, make you ground it out. They’re such a smart team, they put you in tough situations with ball movement… Had to make adjustments on defense, stuck Sanjay (Lumpkin) on Nigel Hayes rather than sticking to a strict zone. Thought that move slowed Hayes down a bit, but he still got to the line down the stretch.
They make you play possession by possession. Not going to speed them up, you have to beat them at their own game. They’ve been doing that for twenty years.
Wisconsin is not gonna go away. Look at all their conference games, they’ve been close. They took the best teams in the league down to the wire. When you play them, its gonna be a 40-minute game.
On winning despite hitting only 4-for-12 from beyond the arc: We told they guys to drive the ball, hence we had points in the paint, got to the foul line, did a good job winning without hitting jump shots.
If you don’t make those shots, you lose. Thought Bryant McIntosh (28 points, five assists) hitting three of his shots early opened the defense up. His drives created lobs for the bigs because the Badgers had to recognize McIntosh in the paint.
There’s a lot of chatter that we’re a one-trick pony. If you don’t let them hit threes you win. I think for us to make four threes but get into the paint and grind out a win is good for our growth. I don’t want our guys to think if our shots not falling, we can’t win. If they take away our three, let’s get to the basket and find a way to win.
On how good he thinks McIntosh is: Forget about guards, he’s one of the best players in the Big Ten. If you ask other coaches, they’ll tell you he’s a really elite player.
On whether he wants McIntosh to believe he’s an elite player: Absolutely, I want him to believe he’s that good, cause he is. He’s still going to make mistakes; we made some mistakes coming down the stretch, which will be teaching points. But overall I thought he controlled the game. If they’re gonna hug Aaron (Falzon), we’re gonna drive the ball and hit our bigs. We had 52 points between free throws and points in the paint (22 from the line, 30 in the paint).
On the energy he brought to the game as a coach (as usual, Collins did his press conference in a t-shirt because his dress shirt was too sweaty): I got a little sweaty letting fans know to stand up. I just want the guys to know I’m in the fight with them. They know I have their back.
On Gavin Skelly’s play (5 points, 3 offensive rebounds and a key drawn charge in 11 minutes): Gavin broke his nose in the Minnesota game, he’s gonna wear his WWE mask for a while. Missed his first FT (late in second half), but even him making the second was big for momentum. The charge on Koenig was huge, thought he got really good contributions from Gavin.
On the current state of his team: Up and down, we’ve had our moments. Played really well at times. Mentioned how tough the schedule has been of late with three Big Ten games in six days. Two wins is pretty good. Someone mentioned it’s been a while since this team was 3-2 (in conference play). We’re playing really good teams, some nights you’re gonna get beat. If you win, get ready for the next one, if you lose, you gotta dust yourself off. Every game counts, every game is a round, and your job is to win each round.
Wisconsin coach Greg Gard:
His impressions of the Wildcats: Chris has a good team this year. Been building, been through rough times and been knocked around, kind of like our young guys are going through. Lot of their success stemmed from McIntosh playing downhill. Said his team needed to get into the paint more. We’re not a team that plays from the perimeter too much. Defensively, we were not as sharp as we had been in other big games.
On adjustments made after McIntosh’s fast start (3-for-3 field goals for six points before the first media timeout): We adjusted right at the first media timeout. Switched from soft hedge to switching screens after he got hot early. Not the first time we’ve ever done it. Our guards have to do better on bigs. That’s where (Dererk) Pardon (6 points, 4 rebounds) made his presence felt, on passes in and on the offensive glass. Also thought his team struggled containing the dribble penetration.
On McIntosh as a player: He’s a really good player, always had been. Thought he was undercounted out of high school, and now he’s even better with experience under his belt. Whenever you have good guards, you always have a chance. Our good teams over the years always had a good backcourt. He’s good with the ball, shoots the three well, but also has the ability to hit the runner, get you downhill and backpedaling.
Tonight was the first night we didn’t do so well against good guards. Our bigs struggled against the pick-and-roll more than against Melo Trimble and Yogi Ferrell in their last two games.
Sanjay Lumpkin:
On McIntosh’s play: BMac really started us off, made big plays at the beginning of the game. Makes good plays every night. He’s our floor general, he keeps us going.
On the team’s mentality when they’re not hitting threes: We just have to play our game. At halftime we just said we gotta worry about defense and keep taking shots.
On rebounding and defending out of the zone (Northwestern out-rebounded Wisconsin 34-25, despite no Wildcat player having more than five rebounds. Lumpkin and Fakzon led the team with five apiece):
When (Alex) Olah went down, everyone had to step up on the rebounding edge. It’s difficult to rebound out of the zone, everyone has to contribute a little more.
Our communication on defense didn’t happen overnight. It requires a lot of talk. Thought they talked best in the Minnesota game. Tonight’s zone was definitely different than against Minnesota, more of a matchup where we stuck with Hayes. Really required a lot of communication.
Bryant McIntosh:
On Collins’ advice when he got a big switched onto him: Coach was telling me just to back it out and attack their big. If he backed up I would pull up for three, if not I would drive by him.
On balancing scoring and facilitating: That’s the toughest thing as a point guard, getting everyone involved but also keeping yourself involved. Tough on a night when I had it going, cause I’d rather get other guys going and get other people shots.
On how he feels currently about his game: I’m feeling a lot different, just cause I’ve been through a lot. The 10-game skid last year helped me grow a lot. Feels like a completely different player than last year.
On winning despite having not getting much from beyond the arc: That’s what all good teams do, they just find a way to win. Main takeaway is we’re a good team, not a one-dimensional team. We can find a away to win. When we weren’t hitting threes we attacked the basket, got them into foul trouble.
On defending home court: We’ve talked a lot about how we need to protect our home court and come ready to play. Hadn’t been happy with how we were playing at home, this win was important.
Whether he’s one of the best players in the Big Ten: I don’t look at stuff like that, I’m just trying to help us win. We have too much as a team going on for me to look at that.
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