Post-game press conference notes

[lou v]

Maryland coach Mark Turgeon

Didn't play with great energy in the first half. Got on them at halftime. Defense got us going in the second half, got our press going. Got to the rim, got to the foul line. We were good in the second half. Really proud of the guys.

Difference in second half: Told them we're going to lose again if we don't do a better job guarding. Guys guarded smart. They shot really well in the first half to get that seven-point lead.

Getting first road win since Dec. 3: Guys were determined to change things. To get to 9-9, we had to beat Northwestern.

Getting to 9-9: We've been playing really good for about a month. You can see the guys believe in each other.

NU's year: I thought they were terrific for 30 minutes. After Saturday's game, they responded the right way. They have good young players playing for them. Sometimes it just happened that way.

 

[lou v]

We had a good first half. Turnovers were the story. We don't have McIntosh. We got sloppy. Our inability to take care of the ball cost us the game.

Zone vs. man: They have a lot of shooting. They stretch you more. Still played zone. We got too spread out. Cowan got into the paint, picked up fouls. We didn't do a good job of shrinking the floor.

Mental side of game: I tried to move forward. Early, it was sloppy for both teams. Played well in second half of first half. Disintegrated with our turnovers. It's been frustrating all year. That's my fault as a coach. We haven't rallied out of it. Haven't closed out games in the last three games. You have to dig down and come together. We haven't been able to win these games.

McIntosh: Day-to-day. We're not sure. It's his shooting shoulder. I'd love to get him out there on Thursday night (senior night). He's meant so much to us. Praying for him.

Law's ankle: Rolled ankle. Will get more information. Mental and physical fatigue tonight.

Message to team: Just move forward. That's all you can do. Lost four in a row. Three of them we should have won. We didn't take advantage of those opportunities. That's the fine line at this level.

What happened to offense: Turnovers. Four turnovers in first half, scored 37 points.

Brown: He gave us a spark offensively. He can score. He's forced into action now. Vic and Scottie in foul trouble. He did some good things out there.

 

[lou v]

Dererk Pardon

Consistency on offensive end: Taking my shots, knowing my limits.

Coping with season: Keep fighting. Let's move on and let's get better.

Motivation now: To win. We lost the last four. Winning is the only thing on our minds right now. By any means.

Difference in two halves: People started to get tired. Tried to do things individually.

Law's ankle: He's fine.

Going to man: They ran a lot of man offense vs. our zone. Switched to try to negate cutting.

 

[Wrestlerneverdiesasacatfan]

We really miss Mac and Ash out there! Congrats to our boys for playing well with a thin roster.

 

[Walker Fan]

Too bad CC has not figured out that we needed that spark off the bench in Brown for many games now. NU went from a 7 point deficit to a 9 point lead with Brown leading the point in the first half. IB looked like a good PG during those limited minutes in the first half. 11 points in 16 minutes for a player who could have helped in the Creighton, GTech, OSU, Rutgers, UNL and at UM losses. Those are six tight games where the team ran out of gas in the last 5 minutes of the game because of failures to use the bench and then the starters having tired legs and making poor decisions with 5 minutes or less in the game. IB could not have helped in those tight losses. Wrong!

Oh well, hopefully, CC learns from this. A team who lacks offensive play-making can not throw a player into coaches' purgatory and not play them for 4-5 games. This isn't Duke where they can pull McDonald's AA off the bench at any time. Also, failure to feed Pardon more is another error in the coaching staff who should prioritize Pardon getting more than 6 shots. Well, at least he made 5 of those 6 shots to maximize his offensive efficiency.

 

[Catreporter]

Maryland was doubling Pardon every time he got the ball in the first half. Came off that defensive strategy in the second half which paid off because our other players had trouble getting open vs. their man-to-man.