Postgame Quotes
Wisconsin vs. Rutgers
Dec. 27, 2016
Kohl Center – Madison, Wis.

Wisconsin head coach Greg Gard
"I thought it played out almost as I envisioned it would in terms of how Rutgers would try to play and how scrappy they would be. It was referred to during the week by Coach (Joe) Krabbenhoft that it would be somewhat of a rock fight in terms of how hard they would play and by what they were trying to do defensively. They try to muddy the waters a bit. For the most part we responded to that pretty well. There was a stretch there in the second half I didn't think we did, but we were able to collect ourselves and finish off defensive possessions and obviously be more effective and efficient offensively. I'm happy for our guys because this is life in the Big Ten. They're all going to be similar to this in terms of the physicality and how hard teams will play. We have to try to match that and exceed that, specifically in those areas and be efficient and intelligent in the other categories. Happy for our guys. Now we're on to next."

On defense setting the tone early:
"For the most part, other than a few times when we lost the ball or didn't stop the ball in transition and then when (Mike) Williams got loose on us, specifically I think we got loose once in the first half and the other shot was a little more difficult and then in the second half we got detached a little bit, but I thought defensively we were pretty solid. Trying to make their looks tough. They have not shot a high percentage all year, so they are very reliant on the offensive glass. It's part of their make-up, their identity. To be able to sustain block outs and finish out possessions with rebounds – like I said, there were a lot of loose balls, balls flying off the rim, off hands, bouncing on the floor. With some of those 50-50 balls, you can be even more productive in terms of finishing off a possession. They were able to extend some possessions because we didn't clean up rebounds or get to loose balls at times, but down the stretch we did a much better job of that. Any time you can hold a team, I don't know what they're averaging 70-some (points) and hold them to 31 percent from the floor, that's usually pretty effective."

On Zak Showalter:
"In these types of games, he thrives. He likes the physicality. He likes to mix it up, stick your nose in, get knocked around, knock some people around. His offensive game has grown and grown. He's become very good away from the ball. You saw how he made the one cut when (Ethan) Happ had the ball in the post and he was able to backcut. His offensive repertoire has grown over the course of his career and he stays within his lane. He doesn't try to do things he isn't capable of. And how hard he plays, you never have to worry about him, practice or games. He's the same hard hat, lunch pail mentality and effort from him."

On progress of team now that the Big Ten season has started:
"We've gotten better. I don't think we're where we need to be. I think we can be more consistent. Specifically from guys that are coming in off the bench. That's one area that I'd like to continue to see growth. There are little things here and there, we can become more efficient for longer stretches of the game. We ended with 13 turnovers, and I'll have to go over and look at the tape, but very few were forced. It was a lot of self-inflicted decisions that we made, specifically in the first half. I think we've gotten better. There is always room for improvement. We're in late December, so there should be. They understand that. We've got to continue to get better."

On Nigel Hayes getting to the line and converting:
"He spends a lot of time on it and works very hard and it's important to him. So it's good to see him get rewarded. In order to get to the free throw line 10 times you have to absorb a lot of contact and attack the rim, which is something we've seen in the last 4-6 weeks, how much more efficient his game has become. A lot of that is his proximity he's playing from the rim has decreased. He's getting closer and made more attacks to the rim and using his skillset there. I'm happy for Nigel to convert as much as he did. He'll be there a lot. He's a match-up problem. It's good to see he's being rewarded for his work."


Nigel Hayes
On Rutgers coach Steve Pikiell calling the team systematic:
"If you don't know yourself and you don't know the opponent, it'll be chaos and battle. If you know yourself but don't know the opponent, there will still be a little chaos because you have no idea what they're doing. If you know yourself and you know what they're going to do, then you know it's going to be pretty good.

"My point is, we really don't hold the ball. It's kind of like, we just move it around and when you get out of position then we score on you. We can play up and down, we think we've shown that earlier in non-conference. We played games in the 90's, did we get a 100-point game? It's not that we play slow or that we want to play slow, we just try and take good shots. Good shots lead you to high percentage shots, more chance that the ball goes in. Some other teams that we play against have a different motto, maybe more shots equals more opportunities, more points. We go better shots equals more points."

On whether the team is taking better shots now as opposed to earlier in the season:
"Do you know the answer to that? I'm being serious, have we? I guess I agree with you, perhaps.

"Do I think we're taking better shots? Personally, I think I'm going about my shots better, I don't think I was necessarily taking bad shots too often, I just had to get in my flow and rhythm. As far as the rest of the team goes, I think we're settling in. Still working with the swing, we're trying to mix the swing with playing an up-tempo pace. Coach Gard has been telling us to take better shots, so it's extremely plausible that we are taking better shots, yes."

On how pleased he was with shooting 10-for-10 from the free throw line:
"Frickin' excited. Now when I go home and see my mom she will greet me with open arms and love instead of scorn and disgust because I made my free throws. It was wonderful.

"But seriously, free throws are easy points. Look at any scorers, in our league or any other league in the country and in the NBA, a lot of them get their points from the free throw line. James Harden is one of those guys, he actually shoots terribly from the field but he gets 10 to 14 points a game from the free throw line, so when he makes his four or five shots a game and there he is at 20-something. Sometimes he gets going and he gives you 30 or 40. 

"Me and Ethan are turning it around. Now that it's conference season, we've made a pact with one another we're going to turn this free throw thing around. We were bringing the team average down, just because we shoot the majority of them. We have to do a better job at that."

On how much Zak Showalter's scoring adds to the game:
"I think it shows how good we are as a whole, not just looking at, 'oh they have Nigel, they have Ethan, they have Bronson.' You can't guard everyone, so you're either going to help shade my way, help shade Ethan's way or Bronson's way and they're going to gamble and say, 'Alright we'll let Showy shoot' or 'we'll let Showy make plays.' I'm team Showy. Showy is going to make those plays and Showy is going to shoot. Showy got 18 points today so if team's keep doing that, there's another team, their coach blatantly said, 'we let Showy beat us,' and Showy did. Hopefully teams continue that and I got money on Showy that he's going to come through for us."


Ethan Happ
On whether the team is prepared for Big Ten play:
"We kind of had a little bit of a stretch there where we weren't as physical as we wanted to be and they were kind of beating us to some loose balls. I think we're not where we want to be but I think we are trending in that direction and I think that's what we did last year. We didn't start out where we wanted to be and finished at our best so we're hoping we can do that again."


Zak Showalter
On the team's start defensively:
"I think I had four steals, not that I'm greedy or anything. Got opportunities to get my hand on balls and that led to some quick points on the break in the early game. Keep doing that and hopefully get some easy buckets."


Rutgers Head Coach Steve Pikiell
Opening Statement:
"Obviously it was a tough opener for us, playing a great Wisconsin team. Greg does a great job. Well-coached, good players. On our end, we certainly have to play a lot better. We got off to a bad start, turned the ball over 12 times and we were helping them - they don't need any help. So tough game, credit to Wisconsin. A lot of good players, very hard team to prepare for in a couple days coming off of Christmas break."

On Wisconsin's depth:
"They have good players at all the positions, I like their bench players too, real deep. You try to do a great job on (Nigel) Hayes, he's a tough matchup obviously for us. He's a tough matchup for anyone probably in the league. His versatility causes problems and (Zak) Showalter does a lot of little things that don't show up sometimes on the box score, I really like him a great deal. They share the game, they play the right way. Just a lot of respect for the program.

"Coming into today, I thought their program, they program systematically. They hold the ball, they don't turn it over. We turned the ball over way too much in the first half for no reason, giving them an edge in those areas. I like their whole team."