Opening Statement

To begin with, I'd have to imagine that the Big Ten games are great for television ratings with these games coming down to the wire. Penn State coming off a really close game at Iowa where they played well on the road. And for this game to be back and forth and our guys to stay with it when things weren't going well. We didn't shoot free throws during a very pivotal moment in the second half. We missed shots around the rim that we typically make. We missed some open threes and for all that to happen and our guys not to drop their head and keep battling and fighting is a good sign going forward that they're poised. They're not resulting where they're looking at the scoreboard worried about what might happen. They're simply playing the game, taking in all the information and despite us not clicking yet, we do feel like we're making steps in the right direction on the things that are the most important and have the most staying power, which is communication, which is effort, things like that. Vlad shouldn't have played tonight. He was ill. We appreciate him giving it a run. We got different contributions. I thought Sam Walters really stepped up in the second half. Obviously, Tre is going to get a lot of the attention for this game. I thought Will Tschetter made a couple hustle plays late in the game. Two offensive rebounds and one possession where I feel like we probably had about seven shots and we finally got one to drop. Overall, just proud of our guys for staying the course. We're far from a finished product, but these games come at you quick and we've got to stay focused on getting better, improving, and not getting too high or too low.

On defensive guard intensity

Yeah, I thought we had great carryover from practice where those guys were. I thought our ball pressure was better tonight. They're a tough cover. They get downhill. They have a couple of real unique matchups. Their bigs are good physical ball screeners. We were on our heels a lot tonight. We overreacted a few times and gave up threes, but I thought our guys competed at a high level. You look at Penn State season, most games have been like this. They handled Purdue at home, completely dominated that game. They've been in a position, it's just the margin of air in the Big Ten is extremely small and when you look at the top of the conference, other than Michigan State who's played incredibly well, it seems like most games could go either way and the teams at the bottom have been in several one possession games that they just didn't find a way to win.

On the physicality compared to the Purdue and how much further it needs to go

We've got a long way to go, but we do believe in incremental gains, marginal gains a little bit day by day and we did simplify our approach. We literally put 100% of our focus on passing, catching, getting open and then our defensive energy, intensity, physicality and really neglected we typically add a counter. We typically try to tweak the Danny, Vlad, 4-5 combination, things like that. We stayed away from really everything. Special situations the last couple days and literally just locked in and said we're going to get better at these two things and maybe us simplifying that approach helped. Maybe it's a matter of just you never know when that bamboo is going to sprout up. You've planted it and you're waiting and so hopefully this is a good sign going forward because Penn State turns you over better than anyone in our league except Purdue. That was definitely a major factor in us finding a way to win.

On how the team responded and whether the losing streak was in their heads

No, just thank goodness they weren't thinking about oh this could be our third loss in four games or what happens if we lose because that's the distracting information that causes teams to lose. We want them to be in the moment time, score, what are we trying to do, who's guarding who. We want them to be thinking about all the things external that are important and nothing that's not important. No, absolutely not. UConn, I think their first national championship team a couple years ago, they lost three games in January and then they regrouped. Sometimes it's matchups. Sometimes it's health. Sometimes it could be a lot of things but we have a lot of meaningful games left to play and we're not going to get too high because we won this one and if we lost it it definitely wouldn't have been, it would have been a greater challenge because you've got to get off the mat again but the difference in winning and losing and this is kind of what our staff does a really good job of is our temperature doesn't change a lot. We're going to focus on the same things we need to do to get better in a win as we would have in a loss. Well Tre's had a couple end of game situations. I think it was the last game, overtime game here where he got to the rim and it just didn't drop. Made a really nice play three or four footer hung on the rim and it didn't drop so for him to still have the confidence to want to take the big shots I mean his pull up off the sideline out of bounds was a high level shot. He elevated, raised up, knocked it in and then the crowd really got into it when he made that shot and I thought defensively because of the energy in the building it elevated our defense, it distracted them and they made a turnover and then we had some success with the outside step up ball screens and so Danny in transition gave Trey a good hit and they were pushing back on him. They were forcing him to take the jump shots and he made a good decision, got to his go to move and knocked it down and then went up in traffic and made a real rebound and then came down and knocked down two huge free throws with four seconds left anything could happen so very very proud of his confidence, his belief his ability to stay the course. He continues to get better especially coming off the ankle injury where we didn't think he was going to play in LA and he's still not 100% but he's getting closer and closer but we need his leadership, we need his ability to generate plays outside of our offense.

On forcing turnovers

Well we've stressed that as well. Part of the defensive focus was we weren't being disruptive enough. Teams were just doing what they wanted to do and that's what happened to us. The scout got out that if you let these guys move the ball and be comfortable they could pick you apart and if the game's in flow they're really really good but if you can knock them off their spots, you can challenge everything. Purdue's not a team that's really denied and played the way they did against us. I thought they denied more passes than I had seen them in film and they did it very very well they were determined to do it and so when we took a look at ourselves we thought the same thing that we're letting these teams be too comfortable against us and are we willing to live with some of the mistakes, some of the downhill drives because we are closer to them and we're trying to be a little more disruptive and we decided that we are but our guys in practice they were disruptive, they were more physical and we're still adjusting to how the Big Ten games are being called because each night's a little or a lot different and so we've decided that we have to play with more physicality and if they're calling it then we've got to have the mental fortitude to just back it off and play smarter.

On whether it surprises him how games are called

You hear scuttlebutt, you hear no, throw it up, let's play we'll adjust to how it's being called.

On the team bouncing back from Purdue

Yeah, without a doubt but I also think when, did we start out 6-0 in the Big Ten? I think we were a little bit overconfident and we didn't realize how difficult how much more difficult it was going to get game by game so yeah, I choose to usually look at the positive anyway so I think this is great for his confidence and great for our belief in ourselves if those shots wouldn't have went in and we lost this game I'd be saying this is a great opportunity for us to get on the mat and go on the road and find a way to get this one back so that's my outlook but yeah, I do believe his confidence is growing and when you make those big shots when you look at the percentage of the best clutch shooters in the history of basketball they're usually like 30-40% so for him to step up and make two big shots and the free throws, it has to be good for his confidence going forward.

On Tre Donaldson's night

It shows that he was conscious of value in the basketball of he's a smart guy. The turnovers have been that's been our thing this year as discouraging as anything, I guess more so because we shoot the ball well typically. We're top 30 in offensive rebounding until tonight we probably dropped off a little bit tonight and we feel like when our defense is set we're a real sound, good quality defensive team and turnovers negate all three of the things that you do well as a team so if we're going to max out as a group then we're going to take care of the basketball better and part of it is you're learning a new league, the physicality, you're learning teammates that you're thinking he's cutting when he might be spacing, whatever the case and we probably have too much in our package right now as we've tried to figure out what we're going to do when the game slows down we have a lot of belief because of our guys intentionality and who they are that we'll continue to get these things fixed but we're not going to snap our fingers and be 100% better decision makers, we just got to work at it every day and that's what we're focused on, the decisions versus the results.

On managing Penn State's defensive pressure

I thought we managed the pressure well, I do think when we got to the rim we found shooters and especially off the offensive rebound, I thought we were just conscious of getting in the paint and kicking out for open looks and then it seemed like there was a lid on the rim for about an 8 or 10 minute stretch in the second half and for us to stay with it and continue to go at it and not drop our heads is once again a credit to our maturity and who we're becoming.

On team defense down the stretch of the game

Yes, and Vlad I thought had Kern was able to get downhill on us tonight at will he's a tough cover and we botched an assignment once or twice but for the most part he was dropping his head and he's done this entire career, he's really good at it and we had Vlad matched up on him late and I thought Vlad did a nice job of maintaining good spacing and distance and they had to get to the next thing and prior to that they were getting downhill we were overreacting to penetration and they were hitting fan out threes so I think it was a combination when we stopped the ball early and therefore there wasn't the penetration and the overreaction to the penetration.

On the home crowd and getting them into games

Yes, I noticed and I don't notice a lot so only when it gets really really loud would I notice the crowd and it erupted. It sounded comparatively to Mackey Arena the way you couldn't hear and it helped our defense without a doubt and what was the second part of the question?

On any secrets to extending the stretches where the crowd was in it

Yes, we're going to coach better and play better and then they're going to get louder. That's the only thing we can control.

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