Nov. 8, 2009
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MARIAN UNIVERSITY VS. IOWA (EXHIBITION)
NOVEMBER 8, 2009
POST-GAME QUOTES
Iowa Head Coach Todd Lickliter
“It’s fun to play under the lights and sort of rehearse and test and see -for our guys to experience what that’s like on a trial basis. There will be no more make-believe from here on out. One of the reasons I wanted to play this team was that I have known John for a number of years, I respect what he does. He’s been at it for 34 years and he’s had some real good teams. A lot of his players would come over and play with our guys in open gyms at different times. I knew that the team will not beat themselves, they’re not going to fall apart, they are going to be poised, they will make open shots and play hard. So, it was a good experience for us. It is a good experience for our guys to learn that it’s just a possession-by-possession game. You don’t ever hurry up and win you execute, execute and stay the course. We had three freshman play a lot so that was a good experience for them. I think all and all it was what we hoped for.”
On Aaron Fuller’s 15 rebounds
“I’ll tell you, I’ve been watching him now for a number of weeks… I was wondering if it was an issue of him not being able to block out or was he a more aggressive stronger rebounder and usually rebounds on the offense end, although you better give them credit for blocking out they maintained position well, but Aaron has a knack, not only a knack, but he peruses balls that are outside of his area, which is a good talent to have.”
On Devan Bawinkel’s progression
“It doesn’t surprise me at all, I don’t know who I heard this quote from but they said, `Be a star in your role.’ That is Devan Bawinkel, he is a star in his role. He’s not concerned with anything but helping us. It doesn’t surprise me. He has been a terrific teammate since day one and I got a great feeling he’s going to remain that way. He’s always been a terrific shooter; I predict he will get to the end of the line by the end of the season.
On Anthony Tucker
“I thought he looked awfully sore a couple of weeks ago and I am glad he is moving better. I think that Anthony has got a skill that you have to work at but it’s one that you should appreciate. It’s a funny thing, I told him I never had this problem — my coach never jumped on me for not shooting. It’d be a nice problem to have. If we feel like he has an open look that is when he gets in trouble if he doesn’t shoot it. He’s not alone, Matt Gatens has been shooting the ball really well you saw him start off, shooting the three well. Anthony, I feel like he has really made strides. I thought going overseas was a good thing, for him to get back on the court and it has paid dividends.”
Marian University Head Coach John Grimes
“I want to comment on the University of Iowa and having us up here for this opportunity for our kids. This is really a special thing to have them up here to play against a Big Ten opponent. Not very many small colleges get to do what we did this weekend. I was very excited about it. In all my 34 years of coaching I’ve always wanted to play a Big Ten team in their arena in an exhibition game. When the NCAA made the decision to let the big schools play schools like us, it was a tremendous thing for us. I hope we helped Iowa prepare for their season, and I’m glad we got the opportunity to play a Big Ten team.”
On Iowa Head Coach Todd Lickliter and the Iowa team
“I really appreciate your coach, I think he does a heck of a job. I think the future for Iowa basketball is very good. I think you’re going to see in the next two or three years you’ll get players in here who play how they want to play. The level of play will continue to get better.”
On what Marion takes away from this game
“I’m proud of our team. I think they did a terrific job battling. I think the size difference hurt us a bit in the second half. It was partly my fault, we were rolling playing our high offense and I took us out of it in the beginning of the second half trying to do something different and it got us stymied a bit, playing stationary. I think we lost our zip a little bit for four or five minutes. The main thing we can take away is confidence. If our young men aren’t confident that they can play at our level after playing a team like this today, then we would have wasted our time coming up here. Also, we have five freshmen playing in our post and I think this was good for them because now we can show them what we’ve been talking about for five weeks and their inability to do some things that we need them to do as post players, so watching this tape will be good for that.”