March 12, 2006
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Iowa Head Coach Steve Alford
Opening statement:
"This is a very special day for our program and the student-athletes who have worked very hard to get to this point. Our seniors have been terrific their entire careers and have developed, matured, and gotten better and better; now they are reaping the benefits from an awful lot of hard work. Jeff Horner and Greg Brunner have really been the catalysts of what we have all been about, with getting through the hard times and fighting back. Jeff and Greg have both fought through there injuries. This is a very special win in a lot ways for our program and we are really appreciative of these two guys."
On subbing Greg Brunner for Alex Thompson:
"We had an awful lot of the game still left and just didn't feel right when Brunner received that fourth foul because the game was tight. We talked long and hard about it and (Alex) has been a backup for Brunner for a long time. This has really built his courage and confidence; he made great passes and had great rebounding in the last stretch. We went two minutes without Brunner and brought him back in the end. "
On Jeff Horner:
"He is the catalyst, the spirit of the team, and the guys feed off his energy. The start of the game and first half had a lot to do with him. He was stretching in the locker room and injured his rib and I saw a blank look on his face. We were concerned about it because when he hurts the whole team hurts. We told him in the first half, `you're such a tough individual, you have to find a way to fight through this because your teammates are really looking at you.' His demeanor in the first half vs. the second changed. Jeff just said there are no more excuses. I know Jeff was hurting and he ended phenomenal in the second half."
Jeff Horner
On the game:
"In the first half, I came out a little too excited and took bad shots. I think everyone was really riled up and I was trying to get my teammates a little more involved too. In the second half, we needed someone to step up and a lot of people did step up. I just got lucky and made the shot. The ball came my way. I beat my man off the dribble a couple of times which people say I can't do. I think that's pretty funny but that stuff happens. It's all a team effort and it was awesome tonight. It finally seems like we deserved what we got."
On Adam Haluska's shot:
"I just couldn't believe it was happening. I didn't really know what was going on. Adam got the ball and he just threw it up and came running down (the floor) then (Greg Brunner) came and gave me a big hug. It's a moment we've been waiting for and as a kid you grew up watching and you want to live it one day."
On chances of returning to Indianapolis:
"I said back on Senior Day when Coach (Alford) said `We're going to play a few more games this season.' I stepped up and said `We have nine more games to be exact.' We're down to six games now and we'd love to come back here. It would be amazing but we're focused on Northwestern State."
Greg Brunner
On Adam Haluska's shot:
"I wasn't even looking at (Haluska's shot), I was all the way at the other end (of the floor) running. I came back into the play because I realized that time was running out. It was one of the situations where I was so excited that I just took off. It was one of the greatest feelings I've had in a long time."
On his health:
"(My ankle) feels the best it has felt the whole week. (Our trainers) did a great job when they stretched under there and it finally popped. It loosened up after that point. It felt really good."
On Alex Thompson:
"He's a great player. I see that every day in practice. He's very tough to defend. He's young still and people don't understand that. He's only a sophomore and he hasn't (played) a lot of minutes. It's one of those situations where he is going to prosper and become a great player. I know that (after) seeing him every day in practice because he beats me a lot. These next two years he's going to be a true Hawkeye. That's probably the biggest shot of his career so far and it won the game for us. That's why I took off and went after him. He's the kid I've taken under my wing and I appreciate everything he does. Without that shot and without that pass to Jeff (Horner) we wouldn't have won this game."
Ohio State Head Coach Thad Matta
Opening statement:
"I'm proud of our guys. I think it was pretty obvious we ran out of gas there down the stretch. We just didn't have enough to finish it off. I couldn't be proud enough of the effort these guys brought and the intensity they played with. We put ourselves in position to win the game but (Iowa) made the plays down the stretch and we went cold. We could not get one to go in. As I told the team, by no means do we get down. We shift into another gear and get ourselves ready to play in the NCAA Tournament."
On Je'Kel Foster's two three-point field goals:
"I have such an appreciation for him and I know how bad he wanted to make shots. It was just so exciting for me to finally see it go down, and I was hoping he could take a deep breath and get back to knocking shots down. I think he can shoot it outside and we'll get him back and ready to make shots on Thursday or Friday. He brings so much to our table in so many different ways. I love the kid so much, and I just want him to do well because I know how much he cares."
On Jamar Butler:
"I was watching him on defense and we knew it was going to come down to the last couple of minutes. He was going as hard as he possibly could. I was just watching him breathe, and he was struggling to get his breath. I think there was 12:10 on the clock, so we pulled him out right there before the media (timeout). He, like Je'Kel, just goes so hard all the time."
On Terence Dials in the NCAA Tournament:
"I think that with television today, you are seen so many times. So I think people have a pretty good idea of what he is going to do and how he is going to do it. Terence is a great player and I don't think he is a secret anymore. The thing about Terence is that he loves to play in big games, and these are going to be big games now."
On the team's depth:
"I don't want to take anything away from Iowa. Iowa is a very, very good basketball team. They are a great basketball team, in my opinion. It did hurt us a little bit though, when we didn't have both Matt (Sylvester) and Terence (Dials). Down the stretch, defensively we just weren't sharp as we needed to be. Their guys got a couple of easy baskets. They got some tough baskets, too. I think we competed; we played hard. It was just one of those games that didn't go our way."
Terence Dials
On the game:
"We were pretty much in the same situation as we were when we played in Iowa City. We were in control of the whole game and then went cold at the end. The ball didn't bounce our way and you have to give credit to Iowa because they made some shots at the end. They are a pretty good team."
On his fouls:
"Things of that nature happen and you can't let your emotions take over. Sometimes you feel as though it's not a foul and you just have to play through it."
On the NCAA Tournament:
"Like Coach (Thad Matta) said we need to shift into another gear. You either lose or continue to play. If you lose, you go home and that's the last game. So we are going to play every game like it's our last and try to continue this run. By no means are we disappointed with what happened. We are sad that we lost, but we are 25-5 and we will probably get a high seed in the tournament and we are happy about that. We have to look at the positive instead of the negative right now.
"We don't know the other teams and they don't know us and I'm sure Coach (Matta) will have plenty of film on any of the teams we play. It is short preparation, but I think that is the advantage because you can run your plays and teams don't know much about you. So it will be an advantage in the tournament to go out and play teams that you haven't played all year. "
J.J. Sullinger
On the game:
"I think you have to give credit to Iowa because they probably made some halftime adjustments and took advantage. We felt like we had to get some defensive stops near the end especially when the ball wasn't falling in the basket. So offensively we tried to get some stops, but Iowa made some pretty big plays and they made the plays to put themselves in a situation for success. We line up to shoot the ball the same every time, but our shots weren't falling for us. Iowa played good defense. We felt like we had the looks, it just didn't fall for us. We're confident in our system and we know that those same shots will fall for us sometime next week."
On Je'Kel Foster:
"He wasn't hitting (shots) the way he has in the past and that's no secret. He definitely can get going at any given time and shooters have to keep shooting. He was knocking back three's and hopefully that will carry over into next week, but we're not worried about him because he does so many other things for us. He's valuable to our program no matter what and we have no doubt in our minds that he will be hitting next week."
