2011-2012 Season

Video, Notes & Quotes: John Beilein recaps comeback victory in Evanston

John Beilein met with the media following Michigan’s 67-55 overtime win over Northwestern. Here’s video of Beilein’s press conference, followed by notes and quotes after the jump.

  • Opening statement: “I have so much respect for Northwestern and the way they play the game, and the great season that they’ve had thus far. There was a lot on the line today as far as they’re playing to get into the NCAA tournament and we’re trying to play for a Big Ten Championship, and I think the game and the spirit of the game reflected that. Thank goodness we got out to a good start, and then when they went zone, it took us a little bit to adjust to it. It’s a very good zone, and it’s right there with some of those really good teams I had at West Virginia. It’s difficult.”
  • On foul trouble: “If you look at the old Princeton teams, it was more of a passing offense. They really drove it at us and drove it at us, and the officials started calling it very tight, and it was the right calls. We just hung in there. Foul trouble hurt us in the first half. Jordan Morgan is a big presence in there, and helps us because they were really getting the offensive rebounds. But those things are going to happen. It’s sudden change, you just have to get used to it.”
  • On 3-point shooting: “Well you have to. Knowing the 1-3-1 zone, it’s really tough to drive the ball to the basket. So what you have to have is not schematic, it’s a bunch of guys who see the floor and who can be and who will be selfless in their game. I thought in the overtime in particular, Timmy hit the big shot to tie it, so we must have hit four in a row, or close to it. We had to shoot. We shot 38 of them, that’s a lot. We’ll have to get some ice on those arms.”
  • On taking the 3-pointer away from Northwestern: “You have to make choices with them. Their 3-point game is as good as anybody. We try to learn from the way they play and try to make some adjustments. Make them make twos.”
  • On Trey Burke, who had just two turnovers in 45 minutes: “You cannot turn the ball over against this team, and they’re good at [forcing turnovers] against some teams. I liked our poise and Trey’s obviously got the ball most of the time in all 45 minutes that he played.”
  • On the last shot of regulation: ” We wanted (Trey) to turn that corner and make something happen. It’s something that we work on, and he just saw the hedge and he stopped. He should have just continued to go on that other side or throw back to Zack when they double teamed him, and he missed both of them. We were trying to get him down the line and Timmy making a cut at the same time and Zack stepping back.”
  • On Matt Vogrich: “That was big for him to come off the bench. He’s been a big part of this little surge we’re having right now. We need that. We’ve struggled at times with our bench play. He’s done a good job.”
  • On attacking the zone: “I really liked the job Evan did rebounding. We didn’t use him as a shooter in there. It’s tough to have five shooters out there against a zone. Maybe I should have tried it, but the spacing is bad, so we tried to just spread the floor. With the bigs in there, what was really hurting us was they were getting offensive rebounds and we were not getting offensive rebounds. In the second half we did a better job.”
  • On defending John Shurna: “There were multiple guys guarding him. We had some different things that we feel you have to do. You cannot do certain things, because he’s just too good. So we really tried to do some things that would not allow him to feel comfort, even in the NBA range.”
  • On if Northwestern is an NCAA tournament team: “Absolutely. We have beaten them twice in overtime. This league is so good. Both those times, Marcotullio missed a foul shot and here they had a last shot that could have gone in, and we would be 0 and 2 and they’re in the tournament. That’s how close this thing is. You watch them play, it’s absolutely a thing of beauty.”
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