March 3, 2010
Iowa Head Coach Todd Lickliter
Post-game quotes
Opening statement:
“It’s obvious how good Wisconsin is. They’ve been ranked most of the year and they’re just an excellent team. When (Jon) Leuer goes 8-9…they’ve just got so many guys. They have five guys who have scored over 20 points. They’re very well-schooled. We haven’t been at a level to come into a place like this and concentrate on the task at hand and be successful. It’s a possession game and there’s no way we could play that way. We panicked. When you panic against Wisconsin you’re in trouble. We went in a stretch where they got easy scores and we got anxious and played a hurry. That played right into their hands and we weren’t going to get it back. They’re not going to throw it away and continue to work the clock and get the shots they want. Excellent team, great environment. Tonight we didn’t play the way we needed to play against a team of that caliber.”
On Wisconsin’s 18-0 run:
“I don’t know if it was an overall panic, but we got anxious during possessions. They got easy scores on our defensive mistakes and we got anxious. We know how good they are. We know the situation. We know we’re in trouble and you’re percentage of play goes down, unfortunately. You can’t do that. You have to forget about the score and just focus on the task at hand.”
On the problem with offensive efficiency:
“I think we just shot quick shots. We had a game plan coming in and we knew the shots we might be able to generate. Until late in the game Aaron (Fuller) wasn’t able to drive with (Keaton) Nankivil and (Jon) Leuer. He could sometimes get a drive but couldn’t get over them. That put a damper on that. He’s really good at scoring in there and we needed him to score. Jarryd’s (Cole) two fouls didn’t help us obviously, but that’s not the total package. I thought the anxiousness really had an effect. If they score quick, you don’t want to hurry up and try to counter it quickly. Just remain patient. We weren’t able to do that.”