WASHINGTON, D.C. — After the Badgers’ 70-60 win over Indiana, here’s what Greg Gard and the Badgers had to say.
WHAT IT TAKES TO BE SUCCESSFUL IN MARCH
COACH GARD: ” I think having a looseness about us, too, helps. I don’t try to pump any more into the moment than what is, already what comes from the outside sources. ”
“I just tell them, Hey, play. March is for players. Go play. This is your time of the year.”
“I told them before the game, I’m not going to reinvent the wheel here. There’s probably nothing I’m going to say in this pre game speech that you haven’t heard the last four or five months. Here are a few keys, go play and have some fun with it.”
PLAY OF TRICE
BRONSON KOENIG: “I’m extremely proud of him (Trice). I just got a question asked in the locker room about, have I said anything to him about March. I pretty much just said, I don’t even really need to say anything about March because of his background, where he comes from. I just need to give him all the confidence out on the court.”
Q: After that six-game stretch, now these last three, is there a sense that everything is starting to come together for this team?
D’MITRIK TRICE: “Yeah, definitely. After the Minnesota game, we definitely felt good about how we played, whether that was defense or making shots. I believe we’re finally clicking on all cylinders as of right now. We’re finally back to how we should be playing.”
BRONSON KOENIG: “Yeah, I think we kind of picked up where we left off during the Minnesota game. We all kind of, I don’t know, are playing more together, playing as a unit. We’re having fun again.”
ETHAN HAPP: “I think for a while there, our offense kind of sputtered. Our defense was keeping us together. Once we got the offense going, our defense was lacking. Now, we’re focusing on both. We’ve been doing a good job of maintaining both, not letting one lapse.”
Q: You had a rough Big Ten tournament last March. Any difference between a year ago versus now?
ETHAN HAPP: “I think when we sputtered towards the end of the year, we really picked up a sense of urgency. Not that we didn’t play urgent last year against Nebraska. I think we just feel like there’s more on the line.”