Post Game Quotes: Minnesota 66, Northwestern 72

Feb. 19, 2015

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Minnesota head coach, Richard Pitino

On playing man-to-man...

No I mean we were giving up threes, I don't remember our exact posessions, but you know you give up 18 threes and last game so you know you have to try something else and obviously it didn't work. They hit some tough tough threes, I'm not sure I wanna go back and watch. You give up 18 threes last game and 15 in this one something is not working, so the better team won, you gotta give them the credit.

On tonight's loss and Northwestern hitting tough shots...

Hard to tell, like it was a six point game and three minutes to go and Nate got screened there, that's where Joey needed to be up on the level of the screen and communicate, they hit a three. And Joey went and trapped out of no where in the half court and they hit a three. So I think a little bit of it was communication but they did hit some tough shots from what I watched. Then again give them credit, they deserved to win, they were the better team.They just hit a ton of tough shots early and you could tell that they were very confident. They hit the first half 3 two point baskets so they were a

very confident group. I knew this would be a tough game, I knew it would be. That team was playing with confidence and they were playing loose. They were understanding the process of the whole thing, and they have been close against a lot of teams. You know Chris is building it the right way so we knew it would be difficult. I don't think we overlooked them, because we knew they would be a good team.

On playing zone and then transitioning to man-to-man...

I don't know, it depends on the match up. I thought we could play a decent amount in the zone but obviously they were hitting tough shots. So we were talking about 3 point line and then we just didn't do a good job. They are a young talent and Chris is doing a good job with them. I don't know I think we just continue to stick with what we do.

On tonight's line up...

No I don't think that's the case, I mean nothing was really good defensively so I am not sure if it was one lineup vs. another.

Senior Guard DeAndre Mathieu

On what the defense needs to improve...

We need to close out faster on the opponent's shots. They were hitting some contested shots and we just need to keep contesting and eventually it will go our way. We also need to rebound on defense. The wide open kick out threes really killed us tonight.

On trying to stay positive...

We still play Wisconsin, Michigan State, schools that can really give us a boost. The Big Ten Tournament is coming up, which is going to be just as tough with good teams across the board. There are still opportunities to make some noise and try to win some games.

Freshman Guard Nate Mason

On how the defense will improve...

We need to contest more shots. We need to have better communication on the perimeter on defense. Getting better and working on that in the gym at practice tomorrow is really important.

On playing teams down the stretch in his Freshman season in the Big Ten...

I'm definitely excited. We have an opportunity to play two games against a top team. That's definitely a boost for us. We need to put this game behind us and try to win our last four games.

Northwestern head coach, Chris Collins

On the night's win...
I'm just so happy for our guys. We rededicated ourselves after Michigan State and we started fresh. I think about the fact that we lost 10 games in a row."

On his young team...
We have a lot of young players and as easy as it can be sometimes to over react and get competitive, I really just wanted to stay the course. We did start fresh. To our guys credit they're really tough.

On playing at the Barn...
This is not an easy place to win. It's one of the great atmospheres and I just love playing here. It's a cool college environment and I have a lot of respect, Richard and I came into the league together and I have amazing respect for him. We're friends and we had similar up bringings having fathers who were coaches. So, we have so much in common and both of our dads go nuts when we're coaching close games.

On the team effort...
We wouldn't have won without any of the guys who played. Our four freshman combined for 39 points on the road. That was Vic Law's best game. I knew he was going to play well because one of my assistants came in before the game and said this is the most focused he has ever looked before a game. He's got a great strut going, he's making game shots at game speed and a lot of times those are the little things with freshman that they have to learn.

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Nate Mason

DeAndre Mathieu

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