Chris Collins
Proud of my team tonight. Gotta show maturity. EWU is an established program. They won two years ago at Assembly Hall in Bloomington. They're very hard to guard. First game they made 16 3s. NU took away their 3s and Bliznyuk was fantastic.
Vic Law was sensational, made a lot of big plays. Scottie, six assists, six rebounds. BMac brought us home down the stretch. Pardon's blocks in the last few minutes were huge plays.
We would not have won this game if my guys didn't prepare (like they did) for this game. Law and Mac on bench in second half, five on floor extended the lead. "That was huge."
No comment on Vassar situation. "We'll handle that behind closed doors."
Tried to make Bliznyuk play defense to tire him out. "He was killing us on the other end."
Pardon energy: He got really sick three weeks ago and lost about 15 pounds (!). I thought he was really good tonight.
17 assists, five turnovers. That's been a staple of our program.
Our guys are excited for the (Butler) game.
EWU is a lot better than you give them credit for. This was a really good win for us tonight.
Benson didn't play: Matchups. They didn't play any bigs. "We're trying to win every game. This isn't a time for experimentation."
Law: He played with great confidence. I liked the way he attacked the basket -- especially after shooting 1-of-7 from the line last game. Can't just be a jump shooting team. We went 23 of 26 from the line.
Falzon/Taphorn played combined 5 minutes. "You coach by feel sometimes." Vic had it going - we're going to play them. It was just a feel thing. Went with seven guys.
Defensive identity: We got exposed a little bit on our ability to contain the dribble. It was tough because they shoot so well. "We had to be closer to those guys, which opened up more lanes for driving." We're working on it hard. We got the stops late, which was encouraging.
Proud of my team tonight. Gotta show maturity. EWU is an established program. They won two years ago at Assembly Hall in Bloomington. They're very hard to guard. First game they made 16 3s. NU took away their 3s and Bliznyuk was fantastic.
Vic Law was sensational, made a lot of big plays. Scottie, six assists, six rebounds. BMac brought us home down the stretch. Pardon's blocks in the last few minutes were huge plays.
We would not have won this game if my guys didn't prepare (like they did) for this game. Law and Mac on bench in second half, five on floor extended the lead. "That was huge."
No comment on Vassar situation. "We'll handle that behind closed doors."
Tried to make Bliznyuk play defense to tire him out. "He was killing us on the other end."
Pardon energy: He got really sick three weeks ago and lost about 15 pounds (!). I thought he was really good tonight.
17 assists, five turnovers. That's been a staple of our program.
Our guys are excited for the (Butler) game.
EWU is a lot better than you give them credit for. This was a really good win for us tonight.
Benson didn't play: Matchups. They didn't play any bigs. "We're trying to win every game. This isn't a time for experimentation."
Law: He played with great confidence. I liked the way he attacked the basket -- especially after shooting 1-of-7 from the line last game. Can't just be a jump shooting team. We went 23 of 26 from the line.
Falzon/Taphorn played combined 5 minutes. "You coach by feel sometimes." Vic had it going - we're going to play them. It was just a feel thing. Went with seven guys.
Defensive identity: We got exposed a little bit on our ability to contain the dribble. It was tough because they shoot so well. "We had to be closer to those guys, which opened up more lanes for driving." We're working on it hard. We got the stops late, which was encouraging.