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Coach Postgame Quotes
No. 4 Wisconsin vs. Penn State
Dec. 31, 2014
Kohl Center- Madison, Wis.
Wisconsin Head Coach Bo Ryan
On whether or not he was expecting such a sharp shooting performance:
"People saw the way we shot in the first half against Buffalo, but that's basketball. Penn State is going to beat a lot of people. Fortunately, we're 1.4-something on our points per possession. 90-some percent of the time, you give up 1.1, and we gave 1.16 to Penn State. You're on the right hand side of the score, so we had to shoot it well to get this win."
On if he thought spacing and sharing was good:
"What happens is that we would give a shot fake and then attack - you don't get an assist. How many times do we go to the free throw line where a guy could've gotten an assist? I still don't know why they don't give assists for players who get fouled in the act of shooting after somebody's made a good pass. I've been fighting that statistical category for a long time, having been a point guard. Nine can be deceiving, but sometimes it's how the other team is playing defense, where we're getting baskets off the bounce and where we pull up and hit a jump shot or get to the rim, and then that doesn't count as an assist."
On if he was pleased to see the direction the team is going in terms of being steady throughout the game:
"We can have four guys with seven, eight, nine (points) in a game where you score in the 60s and it's the same effects. But doubles look real good on that stat sheet. We were more production. Actually, we had 63 possessions. We've had games where we've scored 63 points with 63 possessions. Productivity was pretty good today."
On how tough of a matchup D.J. Newbill was:
"He's really tough. He can get a shot. Whether or not they're going to go in, his first six were good. He found the bottom of the net. He's very good offensively. He's hard to read, he can stretch you with the 3. He's strong enough to take you off the bounce. He uses good head fakes, good balance and he'll step by you. You definitely need help to go to him."
Wisconsin Players
Senior Forward Frank Kaminsky
On sharing the ball despite the statistics not showing it with nine assists on thirty shots:
"Yeah, I think the way the college assists is set up, some of those plays could have been assists maybe. But we were moving the ball a lot better in the second half. We were attacking the rim, getting some stuff in the post. It opened it up for us and once we got the lead, we didn't give it up."
On the points in the paint, and finding success against 7-foot-1 Jordan Dickerson:
"I tried to attack the rim and get something going inside because when we can get stuff going inside it, opens up the perimeter for us. We were able to get the ball inside on a couple post-ups, and kick it out for open 3-pointers and we were able to knock them down and that really kind of spurred a run for us. So personally, I was just trying to do whatever I could to get into the lane and either finish, or find someone else."
On if they paid attention to Big Ten road wins from Maryland, Iowa and Northwestern yesterday:
"We were watching the games and anything can happen in this league. I've seen a lot of crazy wins, a lot of crazy losses over my last three years in the Big Ten. We know that every game is going to be a battle and every team knows how to defend and run stuff against other teams. So we were prepared for them, we had a couple days to get ready for them, so we were able to go out there and execute our game plan."
On Penn State's D.J. Newbill scoring 29 points and Wisconsin's defense:
"Well if you look at D.J. he has 29 points, and then you look at the rest of their team, there's not much balance there. So if you look at our offensive stats, we have a pretty balanced attack and we had everyone going tonight. If D.J. is going to go off - because we know he is one of the best players in the Big Ten and he's a great scorer - if he is having a night like he's had tonight where it seemed like he was hitting everything, we did a great job at containing the rest of the players on their team and not letting them get easy buckets."
On what starting 1-0 in the Big Ten means:
"I said it before the game to our team and it's something I really mean, every game has to be treated like a championship game. One of our goals the last three years I've been here is to win a Big Ten title, and we haven't done that yet. So we have to approach every single game like it's a championship game, because to be champions we have to play like champions every game."
Junior Forward Sam Dekker
On what changed for Wisconsin offensively in the second half:
"A little more movement. We moved the ball a little bit better and we got paint touches. When we get in the paint, obviously that puts a strain on the defense to try and stop it. When we have guys like Frank (Kaminsky), Nigel (Hayes) and myself, and Trae (Jackson) that are real strong inside, it gets tough to stop. Then the defense translates into offense so if we get stops we're a much better offensive team."
On how much he enjoys the balanced scoring:
"It's cool and pretty tough to stop. That's four guys with pretty good numbers there, so it's good to see from us that we weren't just going to one guy. More than one stepped up tonight and that's the thing about this team that I've said from day one. We have more than one guy that can control the offensive end. And then when we have four like we did tonight, it puts the defense on their heels and makes it tough for them to defend."
Penn State Head Coach Patrick Chambers
Opening statement:
"Obviously, we ran into a bus. They're really good. You take one thing away, they go to the next thing. You take that away, they go to the third option. You take that away, and they go to the fourth. Frank (Kaminsky) and Nigel (Hayes) played extremely well, but their top four guys were very difficult to defend today when they're making shots like that. Obviously, there were a few open shots, but I thought they hit some tough ones as well. Give them credit. Give them a lot of credit for sharing the basketball and doing the little things that they do."
On how tough of a matchup Kaminsky, Dekker and Hayes are for Penn State specifically:
"They're tough because Frank (Kaminsky) can do so much. The way they're playing on the perimeter, it's very difficult to guard, especially with traditional fives. They're not used to playing on the perimeter. There's the mismatch. Nigel (Hayes) is playing a lot more outside now, and he's going off the bounce, and Bo (Ryan) is giving him a lot more freedom to make plays. I think he had a 3, too. They're a tough matchup. They're going to be a tough matchup for anybody and if they're not hitting their shots from the outside, they're going to go inside. You're always concerned about their 3- point shooting because (Josh) Gasser's out there and (Sam) Dekker's out there, and they bring in the guys off the bench."
