Jan. 12, 2010
Recap | Box Score | Photo Gallery 
Head Coach Todd Lickliter
Opening Statement…
“I knew this team would be difficult to play against when I watched tape. They won at Detroit and I know that is not an easy thing to do. They’ve played well at Alabama and Vanderbilt. Coach John Cooper has done a good job in his first year; he has a nice team who shoots it well. I thought we did a better job throughout the course of the game of handling the extended defense, which is a real positive for us. That’s a good thing because that is something we’re going to have to be able to attack better.
“I thought the pass Aaron Fuller made at the end to Cully Payne was a really nice play. Cully had to make the shot of course, but I really thought that was a nice play. Matt Gatens sprained his ankle in the first half; he played the whole second half. He only sat out a few seconds in the first, or maybe it was in the second. He showed a lot of courage and toughness to play. I am hoping that playing through it will help him keep it loose. I appreciate his effort. And if he weren’t my son, I would say those two charges drawn by No. 34 (John Lickliter) were big plays. I thought those were really nice, savvy plays. I thought he gave us a lift by getting us the ball back those two times. I thought it was going to be a tough game, it was a tough game. I am hoping it was good for us.”
On the final possession and Aaron Fuller rebound…
“Cully had a little heat check, he just held it there and shot that 40 footer. Aaron got the rebound and even had the presence to bring the ball back out. We then got it to Matt, which is a great move; he is shooting around 90 percent. You look at the team that made that play, then you have that same group make another play now and then and you think those aren’t the same guys. We show them tape of the good plays and we just need to do more of those. Easier said then done but we made some strides today, I think.”
On team confidence…
“Confidence, I think, is somewhat overrated. I mean, they are all Division I players, they have all had success, they know they can play but we need, honestly, is the humility to say this is a really high level and I better concentrate on the task at hand. If I do that, I can be successful. Confidence sometimes concerns me because it leads to careless play. Guys who are very confident a lot of times play carelessly. I think when you do things well and you know that they are successful, what that should do is lead you to do more of those.”
Tennessee State Head Coach John Cooper
Comparisons between Northwestern and Iowa…
“It’s two different styles of play. Both of them shoot the three ball, but when you look at Northwestern it’s obviously going to be more Princeton, more back cuts. They’re both going to run sets, and Northwestern is going to play the zone, they zone you up. Both teams are tough minded, tough mentally, tough physically which is where we have to get better. They played well and they made shots and baskets when they needed to tonight.”
On the stretch of road games…
“I mean, you know it is what it is. At our level we’re going to have to play a lot of road games until we get to our conference games. We’re used to it. It’s not an excuse. We’re rested, I thought. We got here last night and had no problems getting in, but once again we didn’t take care of business down the stretch, which has been the story with us. It’s a whole new staff, it’s a whole new group, we’ve gotten better and we compete hard, but once again we don’t understand the value down the stretch in the last four minutes of the game, good shots and rebounds, those kinds of things.”
Iowa Player Quotes
#3 Cully Payne
How will this game help your confidence going into the Penn State game?…
“I think it’s huge. Penn State is a really good team. We have them at home and it’s huge for our guys’ confidence. Fuller played good, Matt tweaked his ankle a little bit but he played good. I think it’s a good confidence builder.”
Keys to winning against Penn State…
“They’re good and Battle’s good; he’s a really good point guard. In the transition, we have to work hard to get back. They’re a really good team and we’ll have to prepare the next couple of days and get ready to go.”
#24 Aaron Fuller
How will this game help your confidence going into the Penn State game?…
“This game gives us a little bit of confidence. We’re in a little bit of a slump right now but hopefully this gives us momentum that we can carry over to Penn State.”
Do you feel like the team this year is improved despite your record?…
“I feel like we’re a better team. We have stretches where we’re we do well on defense but we need to do a better job of taking care of the ball. I feel like we just need to be more consistent. If we play defense like we did the last five minutes of the game throughout the entire game that really makes a difference. When we really get down on defense and take care of the ball, we just need to do that more consistently.”
On improving scoring in the post…
“When we get in the post, we really need to be strong with it. If they come to double team, we need to kick it out to our guys who are ready to shoot. We need to bounce it out a little bit. If we get switched onto a guard, we can really post them up, but if they come and double team we can kick it out to our guys who can knock it down.”