Post-game press conference notes

[lou v]

Vic Law has a lower body injury and will be evaluated later.

Chris Collins

Congratulates Purdue for a share of the B1G title.

"To me, it's about honoring a great group of guys today. I knew they would fight...that's the kind of character we have on this team."

Commends his seniors for believing in the program "when there wasn't a whole lot to believe in."

"It was a vision and belief they had in me and the program...they'll always be very special to me," he said, his voice cracking and tears welling in his eyes. "I'm really proud of those guys."

"I'm really disappointed for Vic." He said Saw caught a knee to the shin and was bleeding.


What will he remember about Vic Law: Talked about going to St. Rita to get Vic Law. "Fortunately for me, he believed in me."

"It takes a lot of courage to say yes."

"We'll always have a bond and he'll always be special."

"He's had an outstanding career."


What he will remember about Pardon: "What is a Northwestern basketball player? He's a special guy." Collins is openly crying now. You can see how much he cares about these guys.

"I'm so proud of the man he's become, and the player."


On Purdue: Collins talks about beating Purdue in his first year on their Senior Day, when the Boilers had five wins. He admires the job Painter did in getting back to "Purdue basketball."


On Vic's injury: Vic was on a curl and Edwards' knee caught him in the shin and opened "a nice cut." 'He's going through the tests and we'll figure it out."


Kopp and Nance's development: "Both of those guys got a chance to be in the fire today, and that's how you get better."

"Both of those guys are gonna be key foundational parts of the future of this program."

 

[lou v]

Matt Painter


What it says about his program: We had some guys off the bench last year that started this year. Sometimes you have to wait your turn. We continued to play harder. Our guys improved. Our guys got better. "Our guys were really professional (about playing time), and it was hard for them."


On what winning Big Ten titles means, ones he won and Keady won: "You remember the ones that you should've won." (That's the coach's mindset in a statement, right there.) "I've always used Wisconsin as kind of a model...they figure it out."


What he was thinking about out there during celebration: "The players" .... "I love it when people tell you you can't do something." Talks about his seniors, especially Eifert and Cline, who didn't play for two years.


"If you have people who can make threes, that offsets things. We have guys who can do that."


Offensive rebounding: NU double-teaming Edwards opened up the offensive rebounds.


Recruiting: "You, me and your grandma can rank the best 20 guys. Numbers 21 through 300 are a crapshoot"... "You can't measure what's in a guy." "There's a lot of mistakes made (there).".. "You have to have pieces around (those studs)."


On NU: "Things go in cycles." We went to six straight tournaments then they missed two. Pardon and Law were really good players for them. "They lose by 2 to Indiana, they lost by 2 to Michigan...it's just a possession."

"He's done it here. He knows what it takes. He's a very good coach. He's a good guy."... "He'll be fine."

 

[lou v]

Dererk Pardon and Charlie Hall

CH on starting: "It was awesome. It meant a lot." ... "It was really a surreal moment and not something I was expecting." (Found out this morning.)

DP on reflecting on his career: "It's something I can't really put into words... I never thought I would be here....I want to say thank you to Northwestern and Coach Collins to give me a chance to go there."

CH on signs supporting him in the crowd: "I like any sign referencing me." That kid is hilarious. His mom was standing right behind me in the media room, recording Charlie's press conference on her phone.

There were a couple more questions but not much.