Northwestern - Postgame Notes and Quotes

Notes

*-Benny Parker set or tied career bests in points (17, previous high 12 at Hawaii, 12/22/13); assists (7, 7 vs. Tulane, 11/21/12) and 3-pointers (5, two, five previous times). Parker also matched his season high with five rebounds.

*-Nebraska’s six turnovers was a season low (11 vs. Arkansas Pine Bluff). 
*-Nebraska’s 18 assists was the second-highest assist total of the season
*-Andrew White III finished with 22 points, marking his fourth 20-point game of the year. White also hit a career-high five 3-pointers (previous high was four on three occasions).
*-Nebraska allowed an opponent to shoot over 50 percent for just the third time in the last 58 contests dating back to 2013-14.
*-Nebraska’s 40-25 rebounding deficit was its lowest of the season, and marked the fifth time in 14 games NU was out-rebounded.
*-Derek Pardon’s 28 points and 12 rebounds were highs for a Nebraska opponent this season.

Head Coach Tim Miles

On Nebraska’s rebounding struggles

“I think that we did some different things. Usually when you don’t box out well you don’t get the ball under control. If you’ve got (Tre) Demps and (Bryant) McIntosh driving the ball and getting a shot up on the rim. If your defense is broke down like that it’s hard to get a rebound. That’s where (Dererk) Pardon had his six offensive rebounds at and I don’t know how many of them he just stuck back in or got fouled and scored on. It felt like all of them. We went small and I knew that would hurt our rebound a little bit, with Jack (McVeigh) and Nick (Fuller) for a few possessions. It was good for us at the end of the first-half and I waited to use it until later in the game. We were up nine and I think they scored 34 points on 19 possessions and we didn’t get a stop the last ten possessions until they ran out the clock. They scored 21 points off of that there was 5:31 left in the game and then we got six points out of Tai (Webster) and then nothing else. We didn’t play defense all night let alone get a rebound.”

On what was said in the huddle after Benny Parker’s layup in the second half

“First of all, I told Benny (Parker) to keep going and you can do it. I just told our guys that we’ve got to string stops together. You want this process thinking with them. You don’t want to ride the wave of emotion too much, but you want them to have some emotion into it. I think what I told them, as I recall, we’ve got to string stops together and build on this and keep going. And we didn’t.”

On the team’s performance

“It was just a really disappointing game. I thought our fans were great. It was a good college basketball game for a long time. Down the stretch I thought we got hesitant after Andrew (White III) went on his little burst and run. It seemed like after that no one wanted to shoot. We called a couple sets and guys just looked away and looked off shots and broke two of them off. Anytime your guys are breaking off their sets or plays, something’s up. They’re not confident in that action working and I know the guys felt that in the high post they were getting matched up to. It felt like a box and one so we tried some things on the baseline. I thought Shavon (Shields) went on a dry spell after he hit his first few shots then we couldn’t get him going. If it wasn’t for Benny (Parker) we would have really been in trouble. Glynn (Watson Jr.) had some troubles defensively on (Tre) Demps and (Bryant) McIntosh tonight. We had too many defensive errors.”

On Benny Parker’s performance

“I’m happy for Benny (Parker). He’s put in a lot of work and that had to be really fun for him there for a long time. He deserves that. I’m certainly encouraged, anytime you see a guy like that just keep stepping up and keep stepping up. He also had seven assists and just the one turnover where he tried to throw it down to Ed (Morrow Jr.) instead of out to Tai (Webster) or Andrew (White III). That drive you’ve got to throw out and not down. The play is not there but I think we only had six or seven turnovers so turnovers were not the biggest problem.”

 

Andrew White III & Benny Parker

On the most frustrating part of the loss 
Andrew White III: “Not coming out with it honestly. We were right there the whole game. It just shows that there is a fine line between winning and losing in the Big Ten. I have to credit their team, they made a lot of plays in the crucial moments. I’ve been saying it this whole season, when you have tight games there are going to be a handful of crucial moments and they won most of that. That’s probably the most frustrating part is just not quite getting over the hump. We gave up some big rebounds, a couple little defensive errors here and there and they made us pay for every one of them.”

On if they worked out the rebound problems within the last few practices
Andrew White III: “I don’t know the exact numbers off the top of my head but that is always an area that we are looking in to. I mean you could have a good spurt of rebounding games but I don’t think that is something you can solve game to game you just have to go in to the game. That is something that doesn’t necessarily carry over. So that is always something that we are going to have to focus on just because the biggest translation of rebounds is size. Which we are a little under size so that is where I am on that.”

On the first half and how it was very efficient and what went right
Benny Parker: “I think we were just moving the ball and we were sticking to our game plan. I think halfway through the second half we fell away from that. We kind of had a mental breakdown and then it just kept going with all our mistakes.”

On not having a lot of film Derek Pardon and trying to keep him from doing his thing 
Andrew White III: “He wasn’t a guy that you had to watch a lot of tape on. He did simple things, he made simple plays and the kind of stuff he did you can’t necessarily scout. He crashed the boards. He rolled well and he was just aggressive. When you have a big man like that, usually your effort can give you a game like that if you’re in to it. So I don’t think the scouting report on him was the reason for his good game. I think he just went out there and played hard and confident. His team got him going. He dumped off some easy buckets.”

On if he thought they were going to take control in the second half
Benny Parker: “I think that is what really messed us up to be honest. I think we got kind of comfortable at that point. I think coming out of that time out we would have had a couple of turnovers and they hit a couple of three’s after that. I wasn’t thinking the game was over but I think some people just got comfortable at that point in time of the game.”

On if they feel like they kind of gave this game away
Benny Parker: “I mean yes. It’s always a tough feeling losing. Being beat up by eleven or whatever it was. We let it slip away. Of course we’re going to have a down feeling in the locker room. Guys are doubting themselves and the mistakes that they made. We have to bounce back.”

On if he felt warmed up today offensively 
Benny Parker: “Honestly my teammates just kept telling me to shoot the ball. So that boost my confidence even more. I just kept shooting the ball because that is what they wanted me to do.”

Northwestern Head Coach Chris Collins

Opening Statement

“Well, Big Ten play is here. It’s amazing when the conference season starts how the level of the games just raises to another intensity. It’s always a great venue to come in here and play. I love this building. I love the fans here. There’s a great energy. I thought Coach Miles had his team really ready to play. They were really sharp offensively. Parker’s play in the first half was tremendous. You have to pick your poison a little bit, White and Shields are such great players. We wanted to help a little bit off Benny and to his credit he really made us pay. We got off to a poor start in the second half down twelve there. They scored thirteen points in a row to start the second half. We were down twelve. We challenged our guys a little bit about who they want to be. Do they want to lie down and roll over or do you want to fight back. I thought we finally started getting some stops and made some timely shots. To win on the road is not easy. They all count the same and I have a lot of respect for Nebraska’s program. Coach Miles is a really good coach. It’s really hard to score on them. They play really hard. We’re going to enjoy this one then tomorrow we are going to get ready for the next game.”

On Northwestern’s poise

“They’re showing a lot of heart. Last year we suffered a lot of heartache. A lot of heartbreak. We seem to be on the losing end of all those games. Whether it was self-induced of another team just played great against us and beat us. I think sometimes when you go through those tough times, you find out what you’re made of. We lost ten straight elite games last year after winning our first one. That was not a fun six weeks. We had guys laying it all out there and losing games in the last minute or the buzzer or overtime. You find out how badly you want it. You find out how badly that hurts and you don’t want to go back to that place. I think our guys have drawn upon those experiences and it’s really helped us in close games this year.”

On adjustments made after Benny Parker’s first half

“We wanted to just give him a little more attention. Quite frankly, we were okay with him shooting jump shots. We were so afraid of Shavon (Shields) driving and getting us in foul trouble. Then obviously, you have to pay close attention to Andrew (White III) with his shooting. Benny was kind of the guy we wanted to use his man as a helper. Fortunately, it went dry for him. I thought he had some good looks that he just didn’t make. Credit to him. Great performance. Senior guard. I’ve always been a big fan of his game. His defensive intensity. He was a key guy for them.”