March 5, 2014
Recap | Final Stats | Notes
Postgame Quotes
Wisconsin vs. Purdue
March 5, 2014
Kohl Center – Madison, Wis.
Wisconsin Head Coach Bo Ryan
On Frank Kaminsky’s big night and efficiency from the field:
“Well, Frank has it in him. He’s already proven that. He was opportunistic. Guys got him the ball in some good spots and he finished. We have multiple guys that can have anywhere from 14 to 20 (points). This isn’t unusual.”
On how he thought his team responded to Senior Night:
“I try not to talk about it too much other than just show respect for teammates ad try your best. But basically that’s what we’re saying every game. You just reiterate all the points that you’ve made from the first day they’ve been on campus. Their teammates will take care of the rest usually. We battled through some things. Purdue was playing very hard. They’re attacking like crazy and dribbling right into us. I’m still trying to figure out what our guys can do defensively other than absorb the contact. We’ll just keep working at it, moving our feet a little bit better. To me, Senior Night is just like any other night. It’s 40 minutes of basketball.”
On Traevon Jackson’s play of late (eight turnovers in the past six games):
“Is that all? Eight to me seems like 28. It’s too many. No, he’s doing a good job directing traffic. He gets a lot of contact by defenders. He gets a lot of guys picking at him, digging up on him, reaching up on him. So he’s got to be strong. He’s got to be mentally tough as well as physically tough. And he’s trying to do that.”
Purdue Head Coach Matt Painter
On how Frank Kaminsky’s improvement has helped Wisconsin:
“Well, I just think their ability to stretch the defense, even with (Nigel) Hayes, both of those guys, Hayes will sit and shoot that 17-footer or drive you, and both of them can pass the basketball. But Frank (Kaminsky) has done a really good job of taking what the defense gives him. If he feels like he has a mismatch, he is going to look to drive. He does a good job picking his spots and anytime you can shoot it 11 times and get 22 points, that’s pretty efficient.”
On the difference between the Badgers today vs. when they played Purdue earlier this season:
“Well, they beat us both times, so I don’t see a whole lot of difference. They are a good team, you have to keep them off the free throw line. If you’re going to let them get to the free throw line, they went 23-for-31 tonight, and that’s probably struggling for them. But you have to keep them off the free throw line. They have good balance, they have five guys out there that can pass it and shoot it and they really put you in a bind. They will pick their spots where they get aggressive and they go, but for the most part they are just going to move the basketball and let you break down. (Bo) has always had teams where he tries to get you to score over them. In the past, we’ve been able to show more patience and probe the defense. We’ve always tried to attack them in transition, we’ve always tried to attack when we’ve had angles. But once we went against their set defense, if you want to go quick on them, you are going to play right into their hand. I’ve always felt to beat a Bo Ryan team in Wisconsin you have to play like them. You have to beat them at their own game, because if you try to dictate tempo or try and get them to change, I just think you get beat. We have to show more patience, and we don’t have that right now as a young team and understand that fully to be able to beat a quality team coached by him.”
Senior Ben Brust
On how sweet it is to go out with a win in regular-season play:
“It was nice to have everyone smiling in the locker room and smiling after the game. It makes it much better for everyone and the seniors especially. It’s much better to get a win on your last time on the home floor. I’ve had some amazing experiences here at the Kohl Center and I’m looking forward to seeing what we can do the rest of the way.”
On moving forward this season:
“We play a great team on Sunday at Nebraska. From what I’ve heard it’s one of the hardest places to play at in the Big Ten, a great venue, and they’re going to bring the energy there. So we’re going to get prepared for them, and then moving forward we have the Big Ten tournament. Nothing’s guaranteed other than the first game you have so we just gotta stay on it and keep working on getting better as a team and stick together through everything.”
Junior Frank Kaminsky
On how important it was to send the seniors out on a good note:
“Very important for us. You know, we love them. I’ve been with them for three years now and developed great relationships with all of them. Last year, it was kind of tough sending the seniors out on a sour note, and we didn’t want that to happen again. We wanted to do it for them.”
On his improvement this season and reading the defense:
“Yeah, that goes for everybody. If somebody’s going under ball screens on Trae (Jackson) and he doesn’t shoot the ball, I’m going to get upset with him like he said. It’s different for every player. Everyone’s got to learn throughout the Big Ten what defenders are going to give you and just try and exploit that. I think it’s been a little bit of a learning curve this year. I think I’m starting to understand it.”
Junior Traevon Jackson
On his efficiency early in the game:
“We were just taking what they were giving us. It was good to get some shots going down. The second half, it was good to get the ball moving, get them in foul trouble a little bit and get to the free throw line. I thought we did a good job. I thought the score was a little misrepresentative of the game just because I thought we did a good job throughout the entire game keeping control of it. Throughout the end of the game they got a lot of fouls, which was tough, had to adjust to it. But I thought we played well.”
