Iowa Basketball Press Conference
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00:00 17-0 in transition points.
00:01 Was that a focus coming into the night?
00:03 Absolutely.
00:03 I think it's kind of always a focus.
00:05 But especially with this team, they're
00:06 really good in transition.
00:07 I mean, Thornton and Gale are--
00:09 they're speed guys.
00:10 They get downhill.
00:11 They make plays.
00:11 So we did a great job well enough.
00:13 We still couldn't get that big stop coming down
00:16 the stretch of that big rebound.
00:17 But we did enough, made enough plays to get it done.
00:19 And that's a big win.
00:21 It's a big win.
00:22 How does it feel to win one of these close games here?
00:24 Yeah.
00:24 I mean, it felt like we couldn't get one.
00:27 In Indiana, the shot was a three.
00:30 So I took that off.
00:32 And then they hit some tough ones.
00:34 And that's kind of how it goes.
00:35 But I'm really proud of us.
00:37 It's been a long and really tough stretch.
00:39 We haven't had an off day for, it seems like,
00:42 three or four weeks.
00:42 We've been back to back.
00:43 We've been on the road.
00:44 And we've really stuck together.
00:47 There's times we could have got down on ourselves.
00:49 In Indiana, I thought we played really well the last 30
00:51 minutes of the game.
00:52 But we did a great job responding and finishing
00:54 this one out.
00:55 And this is the type of win that gives you momentum and gets
00:59 you to string something together.
01:00 How much are you guys benefiting from Tony's senior leadership?
01:02 He seems to be doing so many different things for you guys.
01:04 Yeah.
01:05 He's doing phenomenal.
01:06 And he's kind of becoming a vocal leader.
01:08 I think that's something he's never really had to do
01:10 or something he's really been comfortable with.
01:11 But he's starting to do that at the end of games,
01:13 which is crucial.
01:14 And we've really executed down the stretch.
01:16 Our out of bounds plays, our fouling, getting rebounds.
01:19 And I'm just proud of him.
01:21 He's playing at definitely an All-Big Ten level.
01:24 And he's my favorite point guard in the league right now.
01:27 Can you walk through the strategy of fouling late?
01:30 What was Fran telling you guys, I guess?
01:33 We wanted to foul under 10.
01:37 We fouled a little early on the first one.
01:39 But that one wasn't really intentional on Lodgy.
01:41 It was kind of just a hedge.
01:42 But we did a good job getting it in quick.
01:44 And shout out Patrick.
01:45 He's been through a tough stretch.
01:46 But he really stepped up and knocked him down.
01:48 And then they came back down a couple of times.
01:51 And we're just trying to foul, put him on the line.
01:54 And obviously, they made the first two.
01:55 And then you have to rebound.
01:57 And it was a perfect miss.
01:58 But Lodgy did a great job getting his hands on it.
02:00 And then we just went after the ball and time ran out.
02:03 Lodgy really went through a rough stretch
02:05 when Big Ten play started.
02:06 But it just seemed like tonight, when he came in defensively,
02:08 rebounding-wise, it just seemed like he added a ton of value,
02:11 even though he won't show up on stat sheet, I guess.
02:13 What can you describe about his defensive effort?
02:15 Yeah, he was awesome.
02:16 And even when he was going through that tough stretch,
02:18 I thought he was really good defensively.
02:19 He was battling.
02:21 Obviously, it's a jump play at this level.
02:23 And it's an adjustment for him.
02:24 But he's starting to figure it out,
02:26 starting to figure out his role.
02:27 And he's one of the best pure rebounders I've ever seen.
02:29 And he got some huge ones tonight.
02:31 He did a great job.
02:32 He got his hand on it.
02:33 From my point of view, it looked like Akbar got that rebound
02:36 with four seconds left.
02:37 But he got his hand on it, pulled it out of there.
02:39 And that was the play of the game.
02:41 For all of Patrick's struggles, those free throws at the end
02:44 were huge.
02:45 He went 8 of 8 from the free throw line tonight.
02:47 How big was that for you guys?
02:49 I think that's huge, especially for him.
02:51 He's been struggling.
02:52 And that's not saying that he's not working on it.
02:55 Because, I mean, he's been in the gym all the time.
02:57 He's been very active in practice
02:59 and been a good leader.
03:00 So I'm really happy for him.
03:02 That was big for him and big for us.
03:04 And I think I'm just really proud of him.
03:08 When you got Josh Dix kind of just in the groove
03:10 in the game, he had a couple of mid-range jumpers.
03:12 What kind of boost did that give to the team?
03:14 Yeah, I think that mid-range, to me, feels automatic.
03:16 I feel like I've never seen him miss it.
03:18 And before the game, I kind of told him,
03:19 we're going to need you tonight.
03:21 I mean, coming off those two road games,
03:23 you get a little tired.
03:24 I was a little fatigued at the end.
03:26 Tony was a little fatigued.
03:26 I'm like, you're going to have to step up.
03:28 And he did just that.
03:30 He could be like that all the time if he ever figured out
03:33 his aggressive mindset.
03:34 And I mean, I get it.
03:35 It's hard coming in.
03:36 But he's a very special player.
03:37 I think he's going to do a lot of special things
03:40 in his basketball career.
03:41 And I'm really proud of him, the way
03:42 that he emerged so far this season,
03:44 and especially in that game.
03:45 Those were big shots.
03:46 You guys have been in similar situations
03:48 against Maryland, Indiana.
03:50 What was different down the stretch in this game,
03:52 do you feel like?
03:53 I feel like, honestly, it was our offensive execution.
03:56 We still need to get that big stop, big rebound, which
03:58 it felt like we never did.
03:59 But in those Maryland games and Indiana,
04:02 we kind of just lost focus on the offensive end
04:05 and couldn't replicate what they did to us.
04:07 So Indiana, they hit that three.
04:09 But we come down and turn it over.
04:11 And it was our third turnover of the game.
04:13 So if we execute on that end, we still need to get that stop.
04:16 And that's something that we have
04:17 to have a lot more pride in.
04:18 That was a big time performance on the offensive end
04:21 down the stretch.
04:23 All right.
04:23 Thanks, guys.
04:24 Thanks, Ben.