Tubby and Trevor embrace as the senior walks off the floor for the last time.
Hey guys – as always, these are rough notes typing live while they talk…
Austin Hollins:
We didn’t want to lose our focus, we wanted to dog deep, we knew they could get hot and start shooing well
We limited the turnovers, we came out with the defensive intensity in the past two games too
We knew we couldn’t let PSU come in and beat us on our own floor. We don’t want to lose any more games.
(On the seniors leaving) It feels weird, it’s going to be sad. They’ve had great careers, it’s been a joy playing with them.
All the seniors scored within the fist 3 minutes
Andre Ingram
It was cool, it was fun while I was here
Starting was cool, it was nothing special to me, the win was more important to me
Rodney Williams
My family was buying tickets a long time ago (since he had so many people at the game)
I didn’t get too emotional, I just wanted to have fun today
I was talking to a couple of my hs coaches after the game, they said they were proud
A few years were real tough here, sophomore year, losing 10 out of 11, Freshman year – made it to the NCAA tourney, last year – the NIT, played in the garden, which is every kid’s dream. We still have to write the last chapter, hopefully in the Final Four.
We didn’t even practice with this line up (of seniors), but we know we have good team chemistry
Confidence came off last IU game, the bench added a lot, even if they didn’t play.
Growing up, you always want to have a big man like Trevor, I am fortunate to play w one of the best big men in the country
Trevor Mbakwe
We’re not going to have easy games, but it will be an ongoing test for us
We want to take the choice our of the selection committed hands and win out
On his Gopher experience – it’s been all over the place, this roller coaster career, and dominate this from beginning to end, in front of a packed house.
On the best memory as a Gopher – Tuesday night was the best memory (beating IU)
Tubby Smith
• I was concerned about how we’d respond after the good win we had against IU, but being a home game, and Sr. Day, I felt our guys were really focused and committed to sending out our seniors in a good way
• We started out with a strong defensive tempo. It was impressive with the way we defended today, we’ve been on the other end of that before. They came off a big win against MI.
• Trevor was his usual self, Rodney had that incredible dunk, I haven’t really seen it, but everyone “ooo” and “ahhed” about it.
• I think we went back to the fundamentals #1, right after we lost the last game. With 17 TO’s and 24 against IA and Ohio State. We needed to go back and work on that part of our game. Maybe we did some things to make them realize, maybe we can’t turn the ball over. We narrowed what we did offensively as well, we limited what they could do with the ball.
• There are times when we should have been playing with a little more urgency, Trevor set the tone again today, with his force and his will. He still needs to get better with his D, picking up 4 fouls. I liked his energy.
• We’ve played some pretty good teams on the road. We expected to have some more wins, but it’s a tough league this year. They have untied as one, sort of an us against the world type thing. This is a great group of guys, I enjoy coaching them. Sometimes I want to be a little more aggressive, both defensively and offensively . That’s something we lack, that toughness, that tough guy. The thing we need more out of our players, is that toughness.
• I’m just a little under the weather today, I don’t feel good, so my spirit is a little down – I need to go down and get to bed (he sounded very sick today). I tell them all the times about the relationships that you build with your teammates, sustain you for the rest of your lives.
• Since those losses, Iowa and OSU losses, we recommitted ourselves to playing better. It showed in our performance.
• It was amazing that he could catch the ball, because it was a bad pass, but Rodney is spectacular when it comes to that stuff.