Postgame Quotes: Wisconsin vs. Northern Kentucky
November 14, 2014 | Men's Basketball
Recap | Final Stats | Notes | USA Today 
Nov. 14, 2014
Kohl Center - Madison, Wis.
Wisconsin Head Coach Bo Ryan
On Nigel Hayes’ work on the glass and Vitto Brown’s comfort on the court:
“Nigel was active. I thought defensively he did some good things. He maybe let the big fella catch the ball a couple times in the post. He could’ve maybe worked the guy a little harder. The strength that they brought in here with their quickness off the dribble-drives and throwbacks and things like that—they’re pretty effective with that. Defensively, Vitto and Nigel and the other guys did a great job of moving their feet and shutting off the driving lanes.”
On Wisconsin’s defensive play:
“Each team presents their strengths as we try to present ours. It’s very difficult to have film to look at (early in the season). Each game that we play, we get more footage. Each time we can see the opposition, the more footage we get on them. For the first time out playing a regulation game, it was pretty much what you expect—similar to a lot of other first games we’ve had. (There were) some good spots, (and) some rough spots.”
On Final Four banner being raised and pre-game ceremony:
“For the players, they were pretty excited. They felt the warmth from the fans. It was nice that the fans came early and were ready to honor those guys. The fact that we had the chance to have a couple of the other guys come back (Evan Anderson and Zach Bohannon)—of course Ben (Brust) couldn’t be here, but he did a nice little video—it was neat. It’s what people do. For our school to do it, it’s a tribute. As soon as we went back to that locker room it was, ‘Let’s get ready, let’s match up, let’s stick to the scouting report and let’s do our thing.’ But it was neat, especially for the players and fans.”
On how a two-guard starting lineup changes the team offensively:
“We take what the defense gives. The size of the players doesn’t mean you can’t go inside. We had all kinds of combinations out there. I don’t get hung up on the combinations because I figure with all the reps we have in practice, most players know two positions — some players know three positions — so it’s not any big deal over the course of the game.”
On feeling better about the defense compared to last season:
“If we stick to our rules and stay disciplined and keep working, I always feel any team you coach can get better. So, we’ll see how it plays out. I don’t expect from year-to-year anything different (whether it’s) from 2003 to 2004, or 2014 to 2015. When I’m doing the drills and showing them clips and trying to teach, you could mix them all together and they’d all be the same to me.”
On 3-point shooting tonight:
“4-for-17 is not what you want to shoot. That’s 12 points on 17 shots. We needed to make two more of those 3’s to be OK because then that’s 18 points on 17 shots. If you’re getting more points than the number of shots you take from 3 then it’s OK. But, obviously we didn’t do that. If we’re getting those same 17 looks, there are games where we can hit seven or eight of those.”
UW Player Quotes
Junior F Sam Dekker
On finally getting to play basketball after all the preseason hype:
“Well, after that first video (and) that little tribute, which was cool, I said to Josh, ‘You know, thank goodness we got this preseason stuff out of the way.’ Hype is good, it’s a good time and it’s cool and fun, but at some point you got to change the page from last year. I think after that everyone came back to earth. It was good to get back on the court against a different opponent in a game that matters now, standings wise. Yeah, it’s good to get out there again. It makes you excited. I think we were a little bit rusty at first, but I think we broke through it and played pretty good basketball tonight.”
On feeling better about the team defensively:
“It’s hard to compare. I think we did really well defensively tonight. Holding an opponent to 31 points is pretty good. We had a little slip up at the end, (and) we wanted to hold it under 30, but you know it’s a good start and hopefully we can build on it.”
On the assist total and playing team basketball to create offense:
“I think it has a little bit to do with the length in preseason (and) just getting to understand each other. But, we’re returning so many people from last year’s team, we understand how to play with each other already and you know we’re building on last year. Everyone knows each other’s strengths and we just try to play to that.”
On improving rebound and having an effective time doing so tonight:
“Our assistant coach, Coach (Gary) Close, always gave me a hard time about it last year, telling me I was a ‘terrible rebounder’ and ‘the worst rebounder in the country,’ etc. So this year going around I wanted to make improvements and rebounding was one of those. I felt like I got off to a good start. I still missed a couple out there, (and) he told me, but I would say it’s a pretty good start for the first game.”
On the confidence shown by teammate Vitto Brown:
“He looked a lot better. We still joked about him missing his free throws, but I think it was just him getting settled down. He shot – maybe you could count on one hand last year – and today he shot that same amount and went one for something. He let us know. I think once he gets some more playing time in the next couple of days, probably within 10 games in, he’ll probably be confident and just play normal.”
On making his first-career start:
“Last year I said it was good that I got to watch Sam and Frank and them run around and look good. I got to learn what to do and what I could get away with as far as what the other team was doing. Starting, I was just being prepared with coach and the scouting report. I knew what I was doing. It’s my second go-around with college basketball, so I was just more comfortable out there.”
