Jan. 18, 2012
Recap | Box Score | Photo Gallery 
Wisconsin vs. Northwestern
Jan. 18, 2012
Kohl Center - Madison, Wis.
Wisconsin Head Coach Bo Ryan
On the team going from a 1-3 record to 4-3 so quickly:
“I don’t even think about that part of it. It’s still about what’s next and, you know, we don’t practice saying, well, this happened here—no, here’s what we’ve got to do to get ready for Northwestern. Now we’ve got to do things to get ready for Illinois.
The game doesn’t change for us what we’re trying to do. It’s just at times, everybody goes through this with shooting. I’ve seen it more in the past couple years than probably 10 years combined—just kind of the swings, in shooting percentages, in guys’ confidence, in guys being comfortable in what they’re doing.
But what’s changed? We’ve done some good things—defensively, we’ve stayed true to ourselves. On offense we got to the line—maybe not as much tonight as I would have liked to. We were trying to shorten the game at the end—we weren’t trying to rush possessions. When you have that kind of lead and they’re playing that aggressively, we were hoping to try to get some more fouls but we were doing a good job with their traps. When they put it on the first time, we knocked down those 3s and then they got out of it. But we were a little soft in attacking the rim in the late part of the second half—which we’ve gotta do a better job of.”
On the team’s shooting:
“Well, whatever the defense presents. There’s been other times when we’ve had feet squared, shoulders squared on the catch and you just keep working it. You don’t whine, you don’t complain, you don’t feel sorry for yourself—you just play and practice and practice and practice some more. So, it’s always all smiles when the ball’s going down. But yeah, you get that many assists or that many baskets, that’s good ball movement. The only turnover Jordan [Taylor] had was the beginning of the half when he over-penetrated a little bit. But great floor game and he was open and knocked the shots down. So, he was a key— both he and Ryan [Evans] offensively, especially in the second half.”
On teams not double-teaming Ryan Evans and how important he is with one-on-one looks:
“Well he’s one player on a team, but he’s worked at some things in his game and he has strengths. And the more he plays to his strengths, the better team player he is because he gets results—he can get fouled, he can get to the line, he can get to the glass, he can face up. And then he’s not really a 3-point shooter, so he really doesn’t spend a lot of time out there. But he moves away from the ball at times extremely well. He’s just gotta keep working on being as consistent as he can with that. So as far as double-teaming, some guys double automatically in the post, some guys will double in corners—those are all things you work on in practice, and I think Ryan’s handled those fairly well. In the last game he forgot the reverse pivot and clear and it cost him a few turnovers, but he’s worked at it.”
Junior F Mike Bruesewitz
On team’s streaky 3-point shooting:
“I think a lot of guys spent a lot of time in the gym, myself included. I think everybody has done that. There have been a lot of extra hours after practice, before practice. We do that anyways, but we’ve been in kind of a slump. Also we’re moving quite a bit better without the basketball. We’re making good cuts and getting a little bit more open shots, and that’s why they are falling.”
Junior G/F Ryan Evans
On success of the offense:
“I think the big thing is these guys knocking down shots, and then I was able to operate inside and work my way outside. Since our scoring is so balanced, other teams have to cover everybody on our team every night. That’s big because you don’t know who is going to be hot, and you can’t just focus on one person.”
On defending John Shurna:
“Well, I was kind of clowning in the locker room, I’m a little bit old, so it takes me a while to get going, so Mike (Bruesewitz) had to switch off on him for a little bit there. We were able to contain him in the second half a little bit better. He [Shurna] is a great player, and I have nothing but respect for both him and (Drew) Crawford. You can tell that they’re both really genuine kids, and he’s averaging 18 in the league.”
On if tonight’s alley-oop was the best of his career:
“I don’t know, it felt good though. Rob (Wilson) was saying I couldn’t jump anymore, so I had to show him a little something. “
Senior G Jordan Taylor
On Why the offense was so effective:
“It always helps when ball’s going in the basket. It makes it look a lot better. I think we’re just doing a better job like Mike (Bruesewitz) said, moving without the ball. We’re passing up good shots for great shots. There were several instances when Josh (Gasser) had one in the corner, passed it up to Mike (Bruesewitz) for a good shot. Even if those shots don’t go down, it’s just kind of contagious-you just kind of build up that confidence in your teammates.”
On if he’s surprised how quickly things can turn around:
“No, not really. We knew that going into the year that it was going to be a night-in, night-out grind, even more so than it normally is in the league just because there are so many good teams. From what I hear, Nebraska beat Indiana tonight. Twelve could beat one on any given night, and right now I know there are like six, two’s, whatever it’s all jumbled. Anybody can beat anybody, so you’ve got to bring your ‘A’ game every night. We knew that coming in, and we’ve just kind of got to forget about the slumps and have amnesia and turn it around as quick as you can because you can’t stay down too long.”
On hitting shots late in the shot clock:
“It always looks better when shots are going down. Obviously, I haven’t been shooting the ball as well as last year if you want to compare it, but for me I’m just trying to never hang your head, never get too low or too high. It’s a constant grind, and you just rely on your teammates. Like we’ve been saying from the start of the year, we’ve got plenty of guys who can put the ball in the hole, so I’m just trying to help my team win in any way, whether it’s with an assist or points or defensive plays, or whatever it is.”
Northwestern Head Coach Bill Carmody
Opening statement:
"We started the game and their first three shots were 3s and they knocked them down. I called a timeout and thought we settled things down. I thought we played pretty well in the first half until maybe the last three minutes, and it seemed like the game changed in those minutes. They started the second half the same way, banging four straight 3s or something like that. My pregame and halftime talks certainly weren't that effective. They're a good shooting team. They've had some struggles in some games, but they're shooting 40 percent on the year. We know they can shoot the ball, and we were prepared to not let them shoot or get the shot off, but I don't even know how many they made. It seemed like a lot.
"I thought [Ryan] Evans did a really good job. He was posting up our guys, and he finished a lot of stuff down there, hit some baseline jumpers, and he seemed like the x factor to me. He's a hard guard and we certainly didn't do it tonight. It's a tough place to play. I know everyone says that. They just played like the Wisconsin teams I've seen before. They shot the ball well, passed the ball well and didn't turn it over. "
On switching from man to zone defense at halftime:
"They were hurting us. At the end of the clock he [Jordan Taylor] looked like the guy last year that for 10 games was the best player in his conference. At the end of the clock when we were playing man-to-man, he was banging 3s so we switched on him, but he still found some space on our center and knocked them down. We were just trying to change it around, but they found we were late getting out there and there wasn't pressure on the ball like there needed to be. They handled both our man and one-three-one very well."
On if he expected some momentum coming off the Michigan State win:
"I think we were confident, but they came out shooting the ball really well. The looks were too open, and that's discouraging because we worked on that. I thought for about 12-14 minutes in the first half we played really good basketball offensively, and defensively we improved as well. There was no fight. They got the ball in the low post and we didn't contest that shot, and that bothers me."
On how Drew Crawford's hand is:
"It's fine."
On if he'll be able to win in the upcoming week with only seven healthy scholarship players:
"I always play seven guys anyway. People always bitch to me about that. I'm used to playing only seven, I just wish sometimes it was a different seven. We're going to have to. We play on Sunday and then we have a week off, so maybe by then [Alex] Marcotullio and [JerShon] Cobb will be back. That will help because John [Shurna] needs a blow out there and Drew [Crawford] needs a blow out there. They were both tired in different stretches."
