March 9, 2006
Recap |
Box Score |
Notes |
Photo Gallery
Penn State Head Coach Ed DeChellis:
"I thought defensively our guys played a very good game tonight. We've worked hard the last three days in trying to find No. 11 (Vedran Vukusic), No. 20 (Craig Moore) and No. 24 (Evan Seacat). We also really worked hard at trying to keep (Mohamed) Hachad off the glass. Defensively I thought we were very, very good this afternoon."
On the progress the team has made:
"We're a little better defensively and I think we're a little better offensively as well. Three weeks ago we figured out how to share the ball a little more, we found out how to go inside and outside and we're playing with more confidence. Those are three important things.
"I think confidence may be the most important thing. I thought our guys played with a lot of confidence today. We've had three good days of practice and they were looking forward to the tournament. We know it's going to be a tough task tomorrow playing the No. 1 seed and a program like Ohio State, but I think our kids are looking forward to the challenge. We'll show up tomorrow and see what happens."
On Penn State being a program on the rise:
"We have had a lot of firsts this year. We hadn't won a road game in several years and I think we won three. We hadn't had a winning record in a few years and now we have a winning record. We have good young players mixed in with Travis (Parker) being the only senior. So there are positive things you can look at, including being the eighth seed instead of the eleventh seed.
"You can just look at the numbers and see that this thing is going in the right direction. I think we played well today. We played poorly at times too, but we played well more than we played poorly. I think our kids believe in everything we're doing. We have a great group of kids, a great coaching staff and a great administration who have been very supportive in giving us what we need to build this program. I think we've built a foundation and now have put the sides up. We just have to keep moving. I feel great about our kids and where we're going."
Geary Claxton:
On the impressive start:
"I'm not going to say it was surprising. We're just trying to go out there and play hard and do everything that Coach (Ed DeChellis) tells us to do. We did that and things happened like they did. We just went out there and had fun and it showed out there on the score board."
On facing Ohio State tomorrow:
"For tomorrow's game, we have to come out ready to play. We just have to work hard as a team and just have fun. We have improved a lot since the last time we played them. It's going to be an interesting game. We just have to keep fighting."
Travis Parker:
On Northwestern opening the game in man-to-man:
"We expect anything. We know they like to play zone a lot. We just tried to expose some of their little men. We tried to get the ball into our big men so (Northwestern) had to come over and double. It was to our advantage."
On defending Vedran Vukasic:
"Vukasic is a great player. Coach said to keep an eye on him every time and we had to keep calling out who is who. We just kept talking and kept talking and we did a pretty good job on him. Everytime he caught the ball, we were up on him and he really couldn't get an open shot. I think we did a really good job on him today."
Northwestern Head Coach Bill Carmody:
On the match-up:
"I didn't like the match-up when I saw it, No. 8 (seed) vs. No. 9, because we haven't played well against Penn State. They seemed to have our number. I thought we prepared adequately for it, but it certainly didn't appear that way. They got their lead early, right from the get-go, and we were never in the game. We said we weren't going to take 33 (3-pointers) like we did the last time we played them, but I just looked at the stats coming over here and we took 31. We don't really have an inside presence, and when you don't have that inside presence you have to rely on shooters, and we just couldn't get it done."
On the play of Vedran Vukusic:
"It's tough when you are a senior and you lose. We didn't play well and a lot of that had to do with Penn State. They knew what they were doing on offense and defense. They were certainly well prepared."
On postseason hopes:
"I am not worried about that right now. I just wanted to play every game and play well, and see where the chips fall."
On possible confusion on the court:
"At the start of the game, we simplified it and just went with a couple of things. When then that didn't work, we probably went to a couple pipe dream things that didn't work and might have confused our guys a little bit. I don't think that was the answer; I think Penn State played really well, and they have been playing pretty well for a while now."
Mohamed Hachad:
On the team's effort:
"I am definitely disappointed with the effort. Coach (Bill Carmody) had us play harder for the game and we could have been more physical. We just had something missing.
"It was not our greatest game against Penn State. We weren't trying. This game obviously meant a lot to us. We didn't want it to be the end."
Evan Seacat:
On the game:
"Well the coaches definitely had us prepared for this week more than any game this year, but you would have thought with the guys that we had up there, we would have played smarter, but we weren't able to do that. There's no one to blame but ourselves. We were doing different things on offense that we don't normally do. This is something we are going to have to look back on for the rest of our lives."
