Ed DeChellis Quotations

If we get those two guys going, we've just got to get some guard production.

No disrespect, but North Dakota State went in there with a pretty good game plan, followed their game plan, challenged some shots -- they went in there and they were able to win. It's not impossible; a team just did it two days ago.

No one thought we could win except the 12 guys we have and three coaches. There was more pressure on their side.

I didn't want them to have that little breathing room. I wanted to try to keep this close as we possibly can.

I don't have any reason, there is no excuse.

We needed a game, we needed a confidence builder, and this is obviously one that was very important for us.

Last year, they knew exactly what they were doing. This year, this guy's starting, that guy's starting, probably because that's just the way it is. They're trying to find the right mixture.

Guys were excited to get back to work. We thought we improved as a program, but no one is satisfied, believe me. Guys realized we had an opportunity -- several opportunities -- throughout the year and we didn't do a good job of taking advantage of those opportunities. We felt like we should have had a couple more wins.

I don't think we were very crisp today. I think we played hard and we competed, I don't think we played well for 40 minutes.

Basically we've started to change the view of our program nationally. We've had three or four bad years, and then I think we've changed the perception of that.

I felt comfortable the whole way. I felt like we finally pushed the ball the last five minutes of the game and got some easy baskets and guarded them a little bit better.

I'm anxious to see how our team responds.

We're playing with more confidence, and that might be the most important thing.

We're playing with more confidence, and that might be the most important thing. We know it's going to be a tough task (against Ohio State), but we're looking forward to the challenge.

He was guarded, he pulled it, and the senior made a big shot. That's what seniors do this time of year.

Hopefully we can start to give him a break a little bit. But Geary's got to play 30 minutes a game for us.

He's done an unbelievable job, maybe one of the best in the country.

He's done some really nice things for us. Shooting the ball, making open threes ... sometimes it comes down to making shots and getting confidence.

Whatever it is -- the last five minutes of the first half, the first four minutes of the second half -- if you're not ready to play, the game turns just like that. We've got to play a complete game. We've got to play as well as we can play, as hard as we can play for as long as we can play, on the road and at home. That's just what it is.

We try to get them to understand where the shots are coming from. If the ball is shot on your side of the floor and you're a guard, get to the other side of the rim. Long shots are going to mean long rebounds.

Long-term, I think it's important for us. We started all over, and in two recruiting classes we've been able to put ourselves in postseason play.

Really, the pressure was on Illinois. No one gave us a chance to win, except for the 12 players on our side and three or four coaches. They had 16,000 on their side.

I thought we were decently sharp today. I think the kids had a little energy, a little pop to their step, and it worked out well.

Our guys did a great job. I'm not taking any credit.

Our guys gave it a great run, but we were a basket or two away from where we needed to be.

Our kids had some fun. They played with some energy and some emotion and got a couple dunks. That's the way the game needs to be played.

I'm impressed with how hard they play. They're better than their record shows; they've only played a couple home games.

It all comes back to the energy and the pop you have. Either you're gonna find the guy or you're not.

I talked to the team about building on the Indiana win. We didn't do that (after) the Illinois win. I tried to get them to under one win can lead to another win, and we'll work hard Monday to understand that this win could lead to another win.

Our team chemistry is pretty good. They really like each other and enjoy playing with one another ... which we really haven't had the last couple of years.

Our freshmen will be stronger, tougher, better, our sophomores will become juniors. We'll have some guys who have been through the wars.

I think guys feed off of that. When he's having success, and he's playing well, I think he's even more vocal.

Just looking at the numbers shows we're heading in the right direction.

I think that's the most disappointing thing to me is we had an opportunity and we didn't take advantage of our opportunity. Hopefully, we'll grow up and understand that only so many opportunities come around ... and you've got to be ready to grasp the opportunity and take it and move on.

I think we've come a long way. I think we've really improved. I think the kids played pretty well down the stretch.

I think you've got to get to a certain level in practice of a competitive spirit. If you never get there in practice for a couple days, then how are you gonna go play at that level?

I thought, defensively, we were very good this afternoon.

I thought defensively, we were very, very good this afternoon. We've been off for eight days, but I thought our kids played with a lot of confidence tonight. We've had three very good days of practice, and they were looking forward to the tournament.

I think it's been a different team and different feel from start to finish. It helps when you win some games, too, along the way. You don't have those stretches where you don't win for a month and it just wears on you. So I think that has helped our morale tremendously.

I thought Wisconsin was on all cylinders in the first half and really shot the ball well and played well.

I think we're a very worthy team. If that's (Ohio State) the number one team in our conference ... You saw a pretty good game out there. We're a team that's improved since the year's gone on. I hope our kids get the chance to play in the NIT.

I thought that each guy contributed in a certain way.

I thought we came out and played with energy and enthusiasm. Once we got on the plane, it was over. As a staff, we started talking about Iowa.

Travis finally broke out of it. He hasn't been playing particularly well, and Claxton was a warrior all night.

Travis has been good for us academically, socially and basketball-wise. He's been a model student-athlete here.

Travis has realized that this thing is coming to an end. He's played tremendously, him and Geary both.

Three of those guys are fifth-year guys. We're not that. Sometimes experience plays a critical part in this thing.

We came out ready to play and we got a pretty good start. The first 10 minutes of the game I thought we did a pretty good job.

When I saw him play in high school, he was a real athletic guy, he really played more inside than outside.

Well, obviously they just beat us from start to finish. I'll give credit to them ... I've never seen a team really shoot the ball the way they shot the ball and it wasn't just one guy. It was everybody.

We'll go back at it and run our stuff. I don't think there's any secrets. We've just got to execute a little better, and we just can't turn the ball over.

Those are the kinds of things we point out to our guys. But you want them to be confident, so it's a fine line you have to walk.

Those are things that people don't see, but for us, we know they're there now. I can tell those guys, 'I want you here today at 2:45.' Well, everybody's here at 2:45, because we just have that chemistry now.

We're up two, come out, run a play, score a basket, we're up four with the ball with 18 minutes to go. And then offensively, we just go crazy and not score.

We haven't talked about the big picture or that we wanted to get to 14 (wins). There's no magic number I want to get to, I just want to try to keep our team playing better and improving.

My big concern now is, we can't let a situation where we had a nice win on the road be the highlight of the season. Beginning today, we need to refocus on what we're all about and that's the last seven games, and trying to get better in practice every day.

We have not been a team that's been able to get up and stay up and continue to try and build on a lead. We have not been that kind of team. I guess that's the only disappointing thing about today.

We have a lot of firsts this year. We hadn't won a road game in several years and we won three. We hadn't had a winning record in a few years and now we have a winning record. I think we've built a foundation and now have to put the sides up. We just have to keep moving. I feel great about our kids and where we're going.

We are thrilled. We are excited. We are happy.

We'll use it to our advantage. We'll work out a little bit (today) and Friday, take off Saturday and Sunday to get our legs back and recover and get ready for the tournament.

We've got some things we haven't done in games. We haven't really played much zone. I think in the Big Ten we're going to have to mix our defenses up and try to keep people off balance. I don't think we're a team that can go out and play man-to-man for 40 minutes.

We really wanted to get to the free-throw line, that was one of our goals. We thought we could take them off the dribble, especially Geary, and I thought we did a pretty good job of that.

We really moved the basketball tonight. I liked our ball movement, our spacing, and we were very patient with the basketball.

We didn't do a good job of finding him. He's a good player and there are good players in this league and sometimes they get going.

We played well enough to win, but in the last couple of minutes, we didn't execute. Strickland made some big shots. ... He was guarded, but that's what seniors do.

There are a lot of positive things you can look at. We've built a foundation and now have put the sides up. We just have to keep moving.

We were very resilient. We just kept hanging in there and hanging in there.

We competed hard and had a chance to win. We had the lead and couldn't hit a shot when we needed it. And we couldn't find Shannon Brown in the second half.

We're not a big team. We have to continue to work on blocking out and offensive rebounding the ball -- getting after it.

There a very dangerous team, they've got all the pieces there. They've kind of struggled here lately. You're kind of hoping the breakout game isn't against you. We've seen what they've done when they really played well.

We're not ready at all. We're just not. I told those guys that defensively we're not ready. Offensively, I think we'll be able to score some points. Defensively, we're not ready for Big Ten basketball yet. In fairness, we haven't mixed things up and we've just played man-to-man defense.

We've come a long, long way from really not competing to competing and having a chance to win games. Hopefully, good things will continue for us on the horizon.

We were trying to run at him and make him get the ball to someone else to make some shots but he's very good. He scores the basketball when he has the ball in his hands, and he's very quick and he's very athletic and it's tough to keep the ball out of his hands.

When we came to town, it wasn't a (guaranteed) win anymore. You're gonna have to work hard and play well to beat us.

The zone has been pretty good for us. We'll try to see what we can do with it (tonight).

We were in pretty good shape at that point. But they got in a rhythm and have the experience over us. Three of those guys are fifth-year seniors. We are not that. They've got some experienced guys who stepped up and made some big plays. They just shot over us and made some big baskets.

As the game gets closer and closer, the rim gets a little smaller. We kept inching, inching, inching, and maybe they start to play a little tighter. The pressure's all on them.

We've got to figure out a way, but obviously, post defense starts with good perimeter defense. We've just got to continue to show improvement. We're not close to where we need to be offensively or defensively.

You get in a tournament like this, everybody's 0-0. Everybody's starting in the same position.

You gotta go in there, and you gotta go swing.

You can look at our front court all you want, but our back court didn't score.

We've had some wins to kind of pick us up when we needed it.

Everything they do at home is a little bit quicker, a little bit sharper than on the road.

The thing I'm trying to get these guys to realize is that we've had some opportunities that we really let slip by.

After the first half, I thought we were still OK. But we never could make any shots.

Two of them are in the game at all times. We gotta cover those two guys, but it's not like it's a crazy number of threes they're making.

That's kind of the thing going into it. I'm not as comfortable with right now as I wish I would be.

They're very big, and we can't change that, so we've got to figure out what we need to do to try to play the other end of it. We'll try to bring our posts away from the basket, make them guard on the perimeter maybe a little bit more than they're used to.

Sometimes experience plays a critical part in this game.

Sometimes as a coach, you get a gut feeling. I really never felt like we were out of things.

There's no defense for turnovers in the backcourt that lead to easy baskets.

The players understand they didn't play a great second half. It's not the way we have to play in the Big Ten. You can't play one half and expect to win.

You're always concerned about what's too much, and what's not enough. Where's the balance?

You're not going to win many games shooting 25 percent. I thought offensively we were just really bad tonight.

I keep telling them that our highlight is yet to come.

I never really felt bad for some reason. I kept thinking we were only a couple of baskets away from making this thing interesting.

I'm walking in here earlier today and you tell me that Iowa is going to score 65 points, I think we have a chance to win. I thought we had some open shots, but we just couldn't make anything.

I'm happy for these kids. They've really worked hard this past week and it was important for us to get the good feeling back.

I'm not done playing. I know our kids aren't. I just hope we get an opportunity to continue to play.

The next 6-7 days are about us trying to show improvement.