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No. 3 Wisconsin vs. Boise State
Nov. 19, 2014
Kohl Center – Madison, Wis.
On closing the first half on a strong note:
“If you watch games at this time of the year, you got teams that a lot of times are playing for the first time. It’s kind of that sparring that goes on in a boxing match, and you’re trying to figure out where you can exploit. What’s the strength in the other team? What are they looking to do? What can we do to take away? So, 22-18 for us doesn’t mean anything. Of course, you’d like it 22-2 if you could, but it just means each team has found a way to get things done. One team may be a little bit better and then it’s just a matter of the rest of possessions, who’s going to get the upper hand? We managed to get the rest of the possessions to get the upper hand.”
On Kaminsky’s performance:
“On those two shots he missed, we had to talk about those. Frank just keeps playing, keeps working at it every day. It’s just an example of a guy being committed to what he’s doing. Even if you hit a rough spot, maybe defensively, or you miss a rebound or do this or that, his whole attitude now as he’s matured, physically and mentally, as a player, he’s able to handle all that. He’ll have nights like this and then, you know, there might be some nights where obviously the numbers will be tough to stay the same like this, and his teammates can count on him. It’s awfully nice to have a big that can make good decisions and that can help defensively. His all-around game just keeps getting better.”
On the team’s work ethic:
“Those guys work so hard every day in practice. There’s no difference in our players and how hard they work, it’s just some players are further ahead right now and get more minutes. So, those guys that aren’t getting the minutes, they’re hoping they can get more, but they also know that, ‘Hey, I get to play.’ That’s the thrill. Why would young men spend four years, sometimes more, sometimes less, and work hard every day get a couple minutes on the floor and be happy? It takes special people. It takes dedicated people. It takes people who are very giving, people who want to get better, and people who want to learn. In my ‘x’ number of years in coaching, I’ve been very fortunate to have that as a culture. I don’t have the problems that I hear other people talk about with players that are immature, players that say ‘Well, I didn’t get this or that.’ Maybe they do, but they don’t do it around me. So those guys know that if they get a chance to play I’ll put them in.”
On Boise State double teaming him defensively:
“It just goes along with versatility. They were double teaming on the post and it wasn’t working, (so) I’m going to try and post up and look for someone else or try and take it out to the perimeter. They left me open a couple of times and I was able to knock it down.”
On the team’s defense:
“It’s getting better every game. We are learning things from previous games that we can take going forward and hopefully we keep building on it.”
On his impressive shooting against Boise State:
“I was getting some open looks. My teammates were doing a good job of finding me on some 3s. I was able to get some stuff to the rim so it was just going well.”
On if he felt like he could make any shot:
“It was just one of those nights where everything feels good and the ball is just going in.”
On late night basketball and a 9 p.m. (CT) tip vs. Boise State:
“I don’t like it. It’s already eleven o’clock and it’s past my bedtime.”
Boise State Head Coach Leon Rice
On his opening statement:
“Watching Wisconsin on tape is… you don’t know what you’re getting into until you get here. It’s a heck of a basketball team. Just the way they play, I’m looking around here to find a weakness, and I’m not sure I can find anything. Usually, everybody’s got something. I’m just so impressed watching them on tape, and then to see them on the court like I did. It’s a really impressive team. There’s a lot of teams that are ranked high to start the season, and they’re ranked on potential, but I said, this is not one of those. This is a team that’s clicking and they know how to play and knows how to play together, and you can’t get them out of what they do. Really impressive.”
On what shut Anthony Drmic down in tonight’s game:
“You know, we’re not clicking as well as we will, and as well as we need to be offensively. We’re going to get better at that. We only had eight assists tonight. We’re a good basketball team when we set each other up, and like I said, we’re not doing a good enough job of that right now. When guys give Anthony (Drmic) shots, he’ll make them. That’s something we have to get a lot better at.”
On what Frank Kaminsky does so well on the court: “He is so impressive, because there’s a lot of big guys with skill, but maybe they don’t have the basketball minds that maybe a point guard has, or another guy with that skill level has. That’s probably the thing that impresses me the most, how he doesn’t get bored with the simple plays. I saw a film where he was leading the break, and he just stops and makes an easy play like a guard would do, like a John Stockton would do. His stroke is just so pure that you can’t give him an open look, he can go to the post, he can spin back. He can just score in so many different ways. But all that being said, I think it’s his intellect that impresses me so much.”
On his assessment of the team’s play as a whole:
“Well, like I said, you’re playing a team that’s playing really good, and a team that not only is going to be good in November, they’re going to be good all throughout the year. It’s one of those things where there’s a lot of things here and there: we missed a few lanes, have to try to keep that thing closed, we missed a few free throws, you can’t do that against a great team, you have to play nearly perfect. It’s one of those things, you go back on the film and you look at it, and there’s some plays that we have to do a better job of, and there’s some things you look at it and go, well, that’s just a great play by Wisconsin.”
On whether of not they were trying to beat Wisconsin by making them shoot from the outside:
“Well, we know what they can do on the block, we know what they can do when you open up driving lanes. We didn’t want them to shoot 40 free throws, they do such a good job with that too. It’s a bit of a pick your poison, and when you pick your poison on a good team, they’re going to make you swallow it.”
