Juwan Howard met with the media today and spent a great deal of time talking about the development of both the team as a whole and particularly the freshmen. He also touched on three-point defense and the challenges posed by Rutgers' team and fans.

For everything Howard said, check out the transcript below.

On whether he thinks players on the team bought into the preseason hype and assumed they would win games

"No, I have not sensed anything like that with our group. Our team understands the big picture but they also understands no team wins in preseason, that you win in April, March and April.

"We're very humble. We're also a group that will continue to do whatever we can to continue to get better and better and look at it game-by-game, not always looking ahead because that's not realistic."

On the freshmen's development and what Big Ten competition can do for their development

"Oh, I love where our freshmens are from a headspace as well as from a talent level and the improvement that I'm seeing from our freshmen in practice as well as some of the work that they put in individually when I'm not around because of the amount of hours that we're allowed to be around because of (inaudible) hours.

"But it has to be stated that freshmen, it takes freshmen time to be able to make an adjustment right out of high school and to--some expect all freshmen to hit the ground running and play at a high level. Now how some of these freshmen are being rated like five-stars and four-stars, you get the assumption that five-stars, because they've seen some that have dominated at others programs, that all five-stars are supposed to dominate when they first arrive in live game action, but it takes time to develop and I have patience for it and our staff has the patience for it.

"The beauty of it is when you get student-athletes like our group that ask questions, and are so passionate about working out and very disciplined and have that attitude of the growth mindset, it's just a beauty to coach guys like that and that's what we have on our team."

On what stood out from film of Rutgers' win over Purdue

"Well, they've played some games, as you know, after the Purdue game and they've had some success and they also haven't had it; they lost a game to the University of Illinois. So to get back to the Purdue game, it's been such a long time ago.

"They're a tough team to play at home. It's been that way since the time when I became the coach two years ago and going to Rutgers, the building's very loud, the fans are sitting right behind you and some of the student section, they can be a little bit wild. We've had beer cans thrown at us. That can be a little bit intimidating but what I saw from the Purdue game is a well-coached team. I think there's a lot of toughness and they also did a really good job protecting the basket. They also were active in passing lanes.

"Defensively, they've always been a team to really get after you and try to take away a lot of things that you try to run offensively, some of your strengths. But when you have a guy like Geo (Baker) back, which now they have pretty much all their guys back, I know coach Steve (Pikiell) is really excited about having one of his top dogs back."

On the message to the players as Big Ten season begins

"(Audio was garbled) whether it's the nonconference schedule was one of--maybe one of the toughest in the country, but that's for a reason, because we wanted to prepare us for Big Ten season that you're going to play against some high-level teams like Purdue and Michigan State, Rutgers, and the names keep going on and on and on.

"Our goal is always to prepare our guys to compete at a high level and make sure that we are preparing to practice to get better and better and to be one of the last standing teams toward the end of Big Ten conference play. We're 1-1 We lost one at home and won one on the road. We're just going to take it one game at a time.

"Now we're going into the lion's den which is tomorrow at Rutgers. It's going to be a tough one. I'm looking forward to seeing our guys showing their level of competitiveness, which I know that they will be ready to compete start to finish."

On the players saying that opposing offenses haven't felt them enough and what has to change for the defense to be more physical

"Well, we've just got to learn how to finish games and eliminate the mistakes. Every time that we have a defensive breakdown or mistake we always get hurt the wrong way, and that's either with a three or a three-point play from our opponent at the wrong time but that's a part of learning how to win, and I believe we are doing that."

On where the team hasn't been beating the standards they expect on the defensive end

"Well, we gave up 51% shooting on field goals last game and 40% from three and some of the shots that Central Florida made were well-contested shots. Some were with a guy in his face and got a handball contest and the guy made a stepback three or pushed off and then got open and shot a three.

"We haven't had those possessions consistently where we haven't run into a team that wasn't shooting the ball well against us. I look back on the North Carolina game where a young man, Caleb Love, hit some deep, deep, deep threes and I don't think I've seen him make any other deep threes like that other than when he played against us.

"We will get better on the defensive end. We've shown it. We will continue to teach it, grow it, continue to show it on film. We have a lot of different defensive schemes that we trust that we will continue to improve on and we will stay positive through this process."

On becoming a better second half team and what isn't carrying over from the first to second half

"I will say this: we will continue to learn how to win games or finish games and compete and try to play with a level of togetherness, toughness for 40 minutes."

On Moussa Diabate's offensive evolution as the season has gone on

"The guy puts in the work. He puts in the work in practice. He puts in a lot of work individually with me and he does it on his own, but it's not just the package of being able to deliver on the offensive end. He will continue to work on his defensive prowess out there on the floor because we need not only just Moussa but all of our guys to have an impact on the game on both ends of the floor.

"But Moussa has an opportunity to be special because of how his mindset is wired. He's not going to half-ass it. He's going to put in full effort for everything he does."

On the next step for Kobe Bufkin

"He's getting better and better, man. I expect some great things from Kobe throughout the year and I'm just happy that Kobe is wearing that maize and blue uniform because I wouldn't want to see him in any other uniform because the kid's going to be--he's going to do some special things for the University of Michigan because of the way how he's so skilled and athletic, and he also has that mindset like Moussa. Hard worker. Not going to shortcut anything, asks great questions, and wants to help the team win."

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