Minnesota post-game press conference notes

[lou v]

Minny head coach Richard Pitino

I thought our guys from the very beginning were poised and under control. Obviously, a big win.

We have a young team. When you hit 14 3s, and they're good ones, it's going to make for a good night.

What stands out about NU? Chris does a great job understanding that their young and sticking to their process... Every team that's young in this team goes through it at some point.

But you're young too. What's the difference? I can only talk about us. I thought Amir Coffey would be back, but he's in the NBA. Didn't think Eric Curry would go down with an ACL.

Guys leaving early: Problem is guys leaving early who don't get drafted. Lots of transfers. Rarely getting to junior or senior years with guys. So many new guys.

What did NU try to do to stop Oturu: He made some jump shots. They doubled him in the post. When you're hitting shots from 3, the ball screen is pretty effective.

 

[lou v]

NU head coach Chris Collins

Today was not one of our finer days, to say the least...Give credit to Minnesota. We had a very difficult time defending them...If they get Oturu going and they're hitting shots they are very hard to defend.

Our staff takes total responsibility for it. We have to get our guys ready....We need to practice. We played four games in 10 days, worried about over-practicing guys...Our habits were very poor. We didn't guard well. We've got a couple days to have a couple hard practices.

They have been a resilient bunch. They keep getting up and wanting to fight and see another day. Gonna try to finish this thing off right. I can be better for these guys.

On losing with a young team: It's not fun going through it. Seven of top nine guys are first or second year. Process you have to go through. We're all competitive, want it to happen right now. Not ready to play at a high level, you get exposes. We got exposed today.

We have to stick together. I like this group of guys. I think we have the talent to win in time. (He talked a lot about the 2014-15 team that lost 10 in a row, then won four in a row, and won 20 and 24 the next two years.)

Can't let it kill you. Days like today, it's got to burn, it's got to hurt. The next day, you have to come back to work.

Find a way to get a win. Put 40 minutes together.

I kinda lost interest in taking notes. It was a lot of the same things we've heard several times over the last several weeks.

 

[lou v]

Robbie Beran and Ryan Young

What take away from these losses: RY: Lessons to take away. Energy more than anything else. Tons of stuff to take away from losses. RB: Each game is unique. Learn from each game and not make same mistake twice.

Defense: RY: They were getting to the middle easily and hitting their shots.

How hard it is to go through 11-game losing streak: RY: I don't think anyone feels sorry for us out there. No excuses. We rely on each other. We're still a family. Rely on each other for energy. RB: At the end of the day, we're the only ones who know what it's like. Rally around each other.

Talk to BMac about enduring losing streak: RB: We talk to him. Stay together. Four games plus BTT. Keep working, keep improving, take it day by day. RY: Coach brings it up a lot. Examples in the conference, like Penn State. We've proven we can compete with anybody in the league. RB: We've shown we can compete at the highest level. Just need to put together a complete game.