A lot of it has to do with using a lot of energy, and teams kind of figure out what we're doing. Today we did a good job. A lot of it has to do with letting our offense dictate our defense. We didn't let that happen too much. We missed shots and still got back on defense. |
Against Michigan State, we just played lackadaisical. Here, it's a different setting. You hit one shot, and the crowd gets into it. |
Being more active takes a lot of the pressure off Dee. He's been carrying us lately. I wanted to come out with energy and hit the boards. I didn't play well the first time against them. |
Coach (Weber) always talks about how good of a team we can be. Like, he gave the example of how we beat Georgetown at home, and Georgetown beats Duke. I know it's a home win for us. But I think we're up there with some of the best teams. If we keep winning on the road and showing some character and keeping playing solid basketball, I think we can make a run at it. |
Coach Bruce Weber told me in a meeting that all I have to do is play pretty well. The rest of the guys are doing well now. It takes a lot of pressure off Dee and especially myself. Luther and Deron and all the assists and rebounds and all the points that were lost, somebody has to make them up. In reality, you can't do all that. |
Coach has been on us. But the guys have been taking it pretty good. When you're winning, you kind of get cocky. You're like, 'Let's keep doing what we're doing.' Now people are more excited to learn. A lot of people are listening. |
Dee was hitting everything. We had confidence in him and he took care of the business. |
Every game is going to be a battle and you have to play 100 percent every time. I think the young guys are starting to realize that. |
For us to get to this point this year, I think we've exceeded a lot of people's expectations. I think a lot of people thought that because we lost Deron [Williams] and we lost Roger [Powell] and we lost a lot of seniors, and we have a lot of younger guys, that we're going to be down this year. They thought we weren't going to be very good, but we exceeded expectations. |
He played great. He made the big play. He did what seniors are supposed to do. |
He was all over me. Once I met Dee, I was pretty locked into Illinois. |
He's expanding his game. He's been working hard in practice. He tries stuff he's not been able to do in a couple years. |
He's the same size as Roger, and he's a little quicker. He's amazing. He has a tremendous vertical jump. He can jump out of the gym. He's up there with Brian in jumping ability. |
Hopefully they'll be able to keep going and the program will get better. Coach Weber does a great job of recruiting and a great job developing players. They have a good base with a majority of players coming back. I don't see why anything would change. |
I don't usually get nervous for games, but I was nervous. I was sitting on the bench with two fouls and couldn't get calmed down. |