Nov. 28, 2009
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NORTH CAROLINA CENTRAL VS. IOWA
NOVEMBER 28, 2009
POST-GAME QUOTES
Iowa Head Coach Todd Lickliter
“The good news is we had 18 assists, bad news is we had 16 times we didn’t have a chance to. I really thought North Carolina Central did a good job, they drove it at us, spaced well, extended the floor and caused us problems with that. They did a good job; they shot it better than we did. That has been helping us a little bit lately, however 14-for-18 from the line is really nice. And we had 15 offensive rebounds. I do think we need more prosperity so we know how to handle it. We’ve been up in a couple of games and I didn’t feel like we were very effective with the lead. I would like to get the lead a few more games and practice doing a better job with the lead. It’s good to be back at Carver and to get a win.”
On free throws
“They shot free throws well. I’ve said this all along; we better have more than one way to score. I thought we found Jarryd inside, Brennan Cougill is a great interior passer and that was big. I’ve been saying all along that we need to go inside more, and we were effective in there. Then when we got to the line we made them. Maybe someday the threes will drop, it will all be clicking, and we will be playing very good offense.”
On Jarryd Cole
“I thought he was very patient. He played one on one in there. We have been stressing to look in, our guys passed the ball in well-they found him. Again I think Brennan Cougill did a nice job, he is a very good interior passer. Jarryd was patient, he shot shots he could make and plus he went to the glass hard.”
On seeing the full court press
“I’ve got to think seeing it helps, they showed two or three different alignments and they trapped at various times. I told the team we need to quit relearning, we have to learn and not relearn. I guess you haven’t really learned it if you haven’t internalized it. In full court pressure, once you beat one line they’re not going to stop, they’re going to come back, so we need to do some things there. But I thought we hit the middle and Brennan Cougill did a good job again alleviating pressure for us, if we threw back he could get it across. Eric May caught and faced up a couple times. We were running hard, I thought we attacked the basket better when they extended the defense and that is important because if you don’t make them pay they will just keep doing it.”
On Matt Gatens
“Matt was able to complement the three. He hasn’t shot it particularly well, we know he is a good shooter; he was able to do some other things. I don’t want to lose, and I am upset about the losing obviously. But I can’t be mad at these guys for missing shots; they weren’t trying to miss shots they just happened to do it. I thought they continued to guard during this stretch, they are tough minded, good guys. I told them at half time; I’ve never seen guys make shots that aren’t smiling. I just feel like we are a little bit too tight right now, we are going to have to smile a little bit and shoot it in.”
North Carolina Central Head Coach LeVelle Moton
“I thought we did a poor job of keeping them off the backboards. The difference in the game was that they out rebounded us by 21 rebounds. Rebounds normally dictate second-chance points, and we were outscored in that department, so that was the ballgame.”
On positive points despite the loss
“Our pressure forced them to make 16 turnovers. I’m not one for moral victories though. That’s what we want to do if we want to grow and get our program to be a competitive D-1 basketball program, we can’t accept moral victories. The truth is we just have to go back to the drawing board.”
On Iowa
“They’re extremely well coached, they have wonderful floor spacing, and they can shoot. They’re not as athletic as the big men in the past, but these guys have high basketball I.Q.’s and if you make one slight mistake, they’ll kill you. They made us pay for giving them second chance opportunities.”Qu
#5 Matt Gatens
On moving the ball around the floor…”We passed the ball well because we’re an unselfish team. We got the ball up the floor and when you do that against a zone press, you’re going to get guys running toward the hole. We found them and its fun when you get on a run a little bit.”
On taking it inside more than shooting the outside shot…
“Coach is preaching hard to get it inside to the big guys. They’re working hard to get open and as you saw tonight, they’re doing a great job finishing. Jarryd did a great job with his moves in there, getting to the hole and getting to the line. We have a lot of weapons we could use, but we’ll get that outside shot back. We just need to get our confidence back and keep shooting it because that’s the only way we’re going to get that back.”
#50 Jarryd Cole
On why he saw the ball so much…
“Mainly it was the flow of the game. The guys found me open. I was working hard to get open and we were just successful doing it.”
Do you need to score double digits for this team to be successful?
“I don’t need to be a double-digit scorer, but I’m looking to be some sort of a force. I need to be accounted for so I can take pressure off of the guards and the other post and everything. I think that’s what is most important, is being a force.”