post game locker room as graveyard like as I have ever seen. Talked to a few guys. Nunn said his shooting is mental right now, just can't get into a rhythm. Also, said Michigan didn't do anything they didn't expect. Egwu said they didn't play hard enough. Hill said they just kicked our ass.
COACH GROCE: Obviously we're disappointed we didn't play
very well today. Certainly don't want to
take anything away from Michigan. I thought
they were terrific. We didn't have any
answers for stopping them. I didn't
think our defense was very good. When
we've been good this year, our defense has been good, and we just didn't have
any answers on that end of the floor, and when we played well here late, we've
been able to get stops, and we weren't able to do that today very successfully.
Then, on the other end, I thought
the ball stuck too much. Obviously we
didn't have the assist number we would have liked on the ratio of made field goals. Thought the ball was really sticky, just did
not play very well. Give them a lot of
credit. I thought they had a lot of
energy, thought they executed well, and did what they needed to do to win the
game. Obviously, again, we're
disappointed because we played better than that, a lot better than that, and
obviously we didn't have it today.
Q.
Surprising to start slowly and not have a push, an answer in the second
half? Does that really take you back at
all?
NNANNA EGWU: We're disappointed in the way we played. We practiced better than that, and there was
just a point where we didn't come out ‑‑ we came out, we punched back once
they struck first, but there was a point we couldn't make the second effort to
come back.
Q.
Can both of you just address the last two games? You had a lot riding on both games and both
were disappointing efforts. What do you
think changed? What do you think
happened the last two games?
RAYVONTE RICE: They just threw the first punch, and we was
just unable to answer. Just gave it all
we got. They were just a better team.
NNANNA EGWU: I mean, regardless of what we have riding or
anything, at the end of the day, when we play for Illinois, we've got to play
hard and we've got to play with effort. The
last two games we didn't do that for 40 minutes and that's the reason we
lost. It was nothing about what
happened. It's just when you come here
to play, we expect to play hard, and at the end of the day, we lost because we
didn't play hard enough.
Q.
How do you describe the disappointment of losing this game?
RAYVONTE RICE: I mean, we can't control like what the
committee decides, but we're just going to look at the film tomorrow, see what
we can get better at and just see where we end up.
Q.
Would you agree that the effort was lacking the last two games, and
today?
COACH GROCE: No, nothing against Nnanna, I love Nnanna
like he's my own son. I didn't think we
were necessarily desperate enough during Purdue's run to end the first half and
the beginning of the second half. That
was an 18‑7 run in the span of about three minutes. The other 37, like, played pretty well, did
some good things. But the room for error
is small as we know in this league, and certainly when you're playing on the
road. I thought that was the bigger
culprit there in that one.
Today, I would probably agree with
them a little bit more. For whatever
reason we just didn't have it. I liked
our response when we got down 14‑2 and we came back. I thought it was a big, big, big swing when
we went foul, technical foul, they make two free throws, they get the ball back
and then they make a 25‑foot bomb. My
assistant says, that's a hard shot, and I said, no, it's karma. Don't get the technical foul. We've got to be more poised than that. That led to a five‑point play, and I think
that really spurred that run, David, at the end of the first half. I thought we had more energy than we did
today, which was disappointing because you've got guys that played 38, 39 and
38, we're playing an eight‑man rotation today basically. I just was disappointed in that.
But at the end of the day, it's easy
to blame it all on that. There's going
to be an execution part of this, too, now.
You can't give them transition threes, three of them in the first half,
or we don't get matched up in transition.
That's not just effort, that's the old analogy I give them with
Christmas Vacation when the guy comes out to the front lawn and the daughter
says to grandpa about Chevy Chase, he worked real hard, and the grandpa says,
so do washing machines. There is an
execution piece to this too now. You've
got to talk. You can run real hard back,
but if you don't talk and get matched up, your effort could be spectacular, but
your execution doesn't merit, then that's a problem. I thought today it was both.
Q.
Did the official tell you what precipitated the technical foul, what it
was?
COACH GROCE: Just ‑‑ I trust those guys. We have those guys all year. They're really good. They said, I looked at the monitor, it was a
no‑brainer. Leron has got to be a little
more poised there. I think it was an
elbow or something. That was their take
on it, so I trusted those guys' judgment.
Q.
You were really pleased a year ago with the way the players connected
with what you were telling them. Do you
feel like you're being heard as well this time this year?
COACH GROCE: I don't think it's about being heard. We just didn't play very well today. Obviously we've taken a lot of pride in doing
very well in tournament settings for years.
Today we just did not play very well, so we're all going to have to look
ourselves in the mirror and own this one and figure out how to be mentally and
physically more prepared the next time.
I didn't see this one coming. Nnanna said, we practiced really, really
well, had a great spirit about it, got a very close group, just didn't play
very well, and I thought they played really well, so again, I don't want to
take anything away from them. I thought
their execution was terrific and they had a lot of answers on the offensive
end.
Q.
Down the stretch it seems like Malcolm and Kendrick have struggled to
find their shot consistently. Is that
just them going cold or is there more to it?
COACH GROCE: I'll have to watch the film from today, but
the Purdue game I thought we missed shots, in particular Kendrick. I thought he had great shots. I thought Malcolm had a couple chances to
finish layups around the basket today, and he didn't. I thought the one at the end of the half would
have been huge on the side‑out play to kind of maybe give us a little bit of
momentum, and he drove it left, and for whatever reason it didn't go in, and he
didn't make it. Sometimes that
happens. But you're right, those guys
are better shooting the ball than what they have shot here lately.
This post was edited on 3/12 2:23 PM by Brad S
COACH GROCE: Obviously we're disappointed we didn't play
very well today. Certainly don't want to
take anything away from Michigan. I thought
they were terrific. We didn't have any
answers for stopping them. I didn't
think our defense was very good. When
we've been good this year, our defense has been good, and we just didn't have
any answers on that end of the floor, and when we played well here late, we've
been able to get stops, and we weren't able to do that today very successfully.
Then, on the other end, I thought
the ball stuck too much. Obviously we
didn't have the assist number we would have liked on the ratio of made field goals. Thought the ball was really sticky, just did
not play very well. Give them a lot of
credit. I thought they had a lot of
energy, thought they executed well, and did what they needed to do to win the
game. Obviously, again, we're
disappointed because we played better than that, a lot better than that, and
obviously we didn't have it today.
Q.
Surprising to start slowly and not have a push, an answer in the second
half? Does that really take you back at
all?
NNANNA EGWU: We're disappointed in the way we played. We practiced better than that, and there was
just a point where we didn't come out ‑‑ we came out, we punched back once
they struck first, but there was a point we couldn't make the second effort to
come back.
Q.
Can both of you just address the last two games? You had a lot riding on both games and both
were disappointing efforts. What do you
think changed? What do you think
happened the last two games?
RAYVONTE RICE: They just threw the first punch, and we was
just unable to answer. Just gave it all
we got. They were just a better team.
NNANNA EGWU: I mean, regardless of what we have riding or
anything, at the end of the day, when we play for Illinois, we've got to play
hard and we've got to play with effort. The
last two games we didn't do that for 40 minutes and that's the reason we
lost. It was nothing about what
happened. It's just when you come here
to play, we expect to play hard, and at the end of the day, we lost because we
didn't play hard enough.
Q.
How do you describe the disappointment of losing this game?
RAYVONTE RICE: I mean, we can't control like what the
committee decides, but we're just going to look at the film tomorrow, see what
we can get better at and just see where we end up.
Q.
Would you agree that the effort was lacking the last two games, and
today?
COACH GROCE: No, nothing against Nnanna, I love Nnanna
like he's my own son. I didn't think we
were necessarily desperate enough during Purdue's run to end the first half and
the beginning of the second half. That
was an 18‑7 run in the span of about three minutes. The other 37, like, played pretty well, did
some good things. But the room for error
is small as we know in this league, and certainly when you're playing on the
road. I thought that was the bigger
culprit there in that one.
Today, I would probably agree with
them a little bit more. For whatever
reason we just didn't have it. I liked
our response when we got down 14‑2 and we came back. I thought it was a big, big, big swing when
we went foul, technical foul, they make two free throws, they get the ball back
and then they make a 25‑foot bomb. My
assistant says, that's a hard shot, and I said, no, it's karma. Don't get the technical foul. We've got to be more poised than that. That led to a five‑point play, and I think
that really spurred that run, David, at the end of the first half. I thought we had more energy than we did
today, which was disappointing because you've got guys that played 38, 39 and
38, we're playing an eight‑man rotation today basically. I just was disappointed in that.
But at the end of the day, it's easy
to blame it all on that. There's going
to be an execution part of this, too, now.
You can't give them transition threes, three of them in the first half,
or we don't get matched up in transition.
That's not just effort, that's the old analogy I give them with
Christmas Vacation when the guy comes out to the front lawn and the daughter
says to grandpa about Chevy Chase, he worked real hard, and the grandpa says,
so do washing machines. There is an
execution piece to this too now. You've
got to talk. You can run real hard back,
but if you don't talk and get matched up, your effort could be spectacular, but
your execution doesn't merit, then that's a problem. I thought today it was both.
Q.
Did the official tell you what precipitated the technical foul, what it
was?
COACH GROCE: Just ‑‑ I trust those guys. We have those guys all year. They're really good. They said, I looked at the monitor, it was a
no‑brainer. Leron has got to be a little
more poised there. I think it was an
elbow or something. That was their take
on it, so I trusted those guys' judgment.
Q.
You were really pleased a year ago with the way the players connected
with what you were telling them. Do you
feel like you're being heard as well this time this year?
COACH GROCE: I don't think it's about being heard. We just didn't play very well today. Obviously we've taken a lot of pride in doing
very well in tournament settings for years.
Today we just did not play very well, so we're all going to have to look
ourselves in the mirror and own this one and figure out how to be mentally and
physically more prepared the next time.
I didn't see this one coming. Nnanna said, we practiced really, really
well, had a great spirit about it, got a very close group, just didn't play
very well, and I thought they played really well, so again, I don't want to
take anything away from them. I thought
their execution was terrific and they had a lot of answers on the offensive
end.
Q.
Down the stretch it seems like Malcolm and Kendrick have struggled to
find their shot consistently. Is that
just them going cold or is there more to it?
COACH GROCE: I'll have to watch the film from today, but
the Purdue game I thought we missed shots, in particular Kendrick. I thought he had great shots. I thought Malcolm had a couple chances to
finish layups around the basket today, and he didn't. I thought the one at the end of the half would
have been huge on the side‑out play to kind of maybe give us a little bit of
momentum, and he drove it left, and for whatever reason it didn't go in, and he
didn't make it. Sometimes that
happens. But you're right, those guys
are better shooting the ball than what they have shot here lately.
This post was edited on 3/12 2:23 PM by Brad S
