Transcript: Gard reflects on wins, previews week ahead

MADISON, Wis. -- Wisconsin men's basketball head coach Greg Gard addressed the media at Wisconsin's weekly Monday news conference at the Kohl Center. A full transcript follows and complete video can be watched above.

COACH GARD: "First of all, going back to Saturday night's film, I found several things that we can continue to get better on and we will need to get better on as we move forward, on both ends of the floor. But also, there were a lot of positive signs of growth and maturity and things that since January 9th when we played [Maryland] last time, we've come leaps and bounds, which is evident. For our guys to show maturity to go into that environment and execute pretty much from start to finish, it wasn't flawless, like I said, we have several things we'll look at today on film, but to be able to stem the tide and handle foul trouble and be able to close that game out, I thought that really showed how far this team has come.

"This week with Michigan State, it doesn't get any easier and Coach (Tom) Izzo's team is playing really well. They looked good yesterday, and (like a) typical Michigan State team, they're starting to crescendo as the season wears on. We look forward to that challenge as we prepare and go there Thursday."

Q. Coach, you said earlier this season that you weren't looking at the results, but that you were just looking at the process. Obviously the process has gotten better and the results have gotten better. Was it difficult then to get the players to buy into ignoring the results and just look at the process?
COACH GARD: "It wasn't difficult from a standpoint of we knew what we had to do. It was maybe getting them to understand what the process was going to be, because having so many young guys and not a lot of leadership returning or inexperienced leadership, if there is such a term, that they had to understand what the steps were going to be.

"It wasn't about refocusing on it, it was just, 'What do we do? How do we get there?' It was growth in a lot of areas, but understanding that process and how we had to do that step-by-step. You've heard me throughout all the verbiage that I put with 'step-by-step,' 'day-by-day,' 'play-by-play,' 'possession-by-possession.' They've really bought into that, and they've taken on that mantra and it was evident Saturday night.

"That's how you go in and be able to come out on the left-hand side in that type of game. You have to do it possession-by-possession. When things didn't go well, when they made the run to go up 14-7 or when they made the run in the second half to be able to close it, they needed the maturity and the moxie to say, 'Alright, go get the next one.' Really, that second half when I didn't want to burn timeouts, it was kind of (saying), 'You're in deep water, we'll see if you can swim.' That was part of that process of maturing and it showed there."

Q. You guys shot well from 3-point range. Does that mask some of the issues finishing around the rim? Is that one of the things when you look back on Saturday's game that you thought you could have done better?
COACH GARD: "I think we could have. There were a couple of instances where we didn't touch the post where we had guys open and we threw it in, kicked it back out, and we didn't throw it back in again when we reposted. We'll take a look at that.

"There were a couple of non-finishes or poorly executed finishes that we've got to continue to get better at, but also with them I think we've gotten better. It's not so much maybe what the 3s have done. The 3s are a result of us being better away from the ball. Some of it is because they're putting more attention defensively on what we're doing inside with Nigel (Hayes) and Ethan (Happ), specifically, but also we've got so much better away from the ball.

"We understand spacing better. We understand the extra pass better. We understand movement. Early in the year we were standing. When we would throw it inside, we would stand and watch and allow the defense to do two things at once, help on the post and cover up anybody on the perimeter, especially on the ball side. That has taken a while for that to evolve and grow and mature and improve.

"Getting better at that has allowed us to take better 3s and also we've made some pretty good decisions. I thought Ethan (Happ) did a good job of finding guys on the perimeter when he got doubled or they sent extra help toward him on Saturday night and played at a more mature level from that standpoint than what he has in a while in terms of maintaining composure and finding the open guy and not rushing and falling down.

"I think there's a lot of things that contribute to that 3-point shooting, but I think our understanding of that on the perimeter is probably the one that stands out the most for me."

Q. I imagine there were years when you were an assistant that you could walk through a mall or a grocery store and not be recognized. Has that changed now that you're the interim head coach and particularly lately that you're having success in big games?
COACH GARD: "Yes. It changed the first day after the Green Bay game. That was on the 23rd of December, if I remember right. Typical male, last-minute Christmas shopping that I went to do on the 24th. I put on a Toronto Blue Jays hat that I got a few years ago at the stadium and I think I had some non-Wisconsin sweatshirt on, just trying to be incognito. I didn't put on the glasses and the mustache. Obviously with the (coaching) debut the night before and being able to win that game and everything, I had a few taps on the shoulder in the mall. I had a few followers who were at the game or thought they recognized me, and you get those looks, and they turn around and follow you. Pretty soon you get a tap on the shoulder and, 'Hey, coach, good job last night!' So that was the first one. That I noticed.

"It's all good. The fans around here are terrific. Wisconsin fans are great. Being in the state I understand the passion for this program. I love the Packers as much as they do. I understand everything and where they're coming from and they've been phenomenal with the reception that I've gotten. It helps when you are successful, but I think with my background and roots within the state, they see me as one of them and I see them as me. I understand what this state is about and how important this university is to the state. It's been special from that standpoint."

Q. Greg, a consistent compliment that this program has been paid over the years is its toughness and its mental approach to the game. It's been accentuated with your team and the ability to come together. Where does that come from? Is there a singular ingredient in your mind and how does a coach make that evolve?
COACH GARD: "I think it starts in the locker room. As you've heard me say before, and there's been some articles written on it, the culture and the chemistry and how that's improved and grown. What people have seen on the floor in terms of improvement and success, it's been tenfold behind closed doors and underneath the surface in terms of how they've grown and come together off the court.

"You don't have that type of success on the floor if you're not together and have each other's back. We've always won games that way. We've had very talented players here, don't get me wrong, we had several last year in recent memory, but over the course of time we've always, traditionally, won or had more success with culture being right. Cohesiveness, chemistry, maturity, experience, when you have the right blend of that you can exceed, maybe, individual talent that's on the other bench. That has always been a mantra and it was before I was here. I mean, that's how Coach (Dick) Bennett did it and that's how Coach (Bo) Ryan's teams at (UW) Platteville were. That's always the fabric that I've grown up in and matured as a coach in. I understand maybe that there are ways that you are inexperienced here or there or you've lost talented players, but how can you find a way? The toughness and the physicalness is always an important piece of it and that mindset of how we have to battle.

"Usually when we leave the locker room, one of the last things I say to them is that we understand how good we are when we're the more physical team and how we struggle when we're not. That's the DNA that has grown within this group and the identity they've taken on because we had to. I don't think there is any doubt that we had to find a way to maybe muddy the waters and make it a rock fight in the trenches. That toughness, in this league you have to have it. You look at the teams that have traditionally been at the top or near the top and have sustained over the course of time—we're playing one on Thursday night. What do you think about Michigan State? Its toughness and those things come to mind first. I think that has been part of this program, too. An important part. I knew it was much more than Xs and Os when I took over in December. That toughness and that ability to stick your face in and go toe-to-toe and not flinch was a big piece of it that had to be grown and had to be developed. They've absorbed and taken that challenge on and have really improved in that area."

Q. Greg, you just came from a place that not many road teams go into and have much success at. You guys haven't had a lot of success recently at Michigan State, even though you haven't played there for a couple of years. I think Zak Showalter is the only player who has been in that building and played. Does that experience, or lack thereof, is it going to be a positive or a negative either way in this game, or not?
COACH GARD: "I don't think it really matters, because it will be a possession-by-possession game, just like Saturday night's game. That's how you win in any road game. I don't think it's been the venue, so to speak, that we've gone into, whether it be Michigan State or Maryland. I think it's because Maryland has been very good; the team they have on the floor is very good. Coach (Tom) Izzo's teams that he puts on the floor are very good and sometimes the venue gets overblown.

"I think we have had success here because we have had very good teams on the floor, very good players that understood that whole thing about culture and chemistry and playing together that I just talked about.

"Obviously, the fan base there (at Michigan State) is terrific. That's a great environment for college basketball. But as I told the team Saturday night before we were in the pregame, those 17- or 18,000 that are in there, they don't matter. They don't play defense, they don't rebound, they can't shoot, so it's just our five against their five, and then our four or five, six, whoever comes off the bench. Just do your job. That was actually one of the things we threw on the Smart Board. I guess they're called that now? We show our video on a Smart Board. I can't say "screen" anymore. On the Smart Board, I threw up a picture of Rob Gronkowski during AFC Championship week. He wore a hat and now he has a YouTube side video called, 'Do Your Job.'

"It's simple. 'Hey, do your job this weekend. Do your job today in practice, when we get there, when we fly there.' I've tried to simplify things, but give them visual reminders of how good we can be when we're together and everybody does their part and pulls their weight. That was a simple message that we walked out of the door to load the bus to go to the airport with, 'Do your job,' and they did it."

Q. Coach, I was wondering if you could give us insight into Vitto Brown's character? (After he was involved in a player scuffle that resulted in double technical fouls called between each team) He kind of went ham in the second half. Can you give some insight on his character, please?
COACH GARD: "He's matured in so many ways, which is great to see as a coach. When you have somebody come into your program that is trying to learn the game and learn different parts of the game and how important, maybe, statistical numbers are, sometimes young players get so caught up in numbers they don't understand other pieces of the game. I think Vitto has come through that process where he's understood the intangibles in the game and that's helped his numbers grow.

"He's always been a pretty decent perimeter shooter, but for him to understand how he can get those shots, why he gets those shots, how to play better defense, all those things he had to grow through and learn I think helped him become a more complete player. He's going along the typical train or track that a lot of our bigger-than-average-guys have gone through here. Going back to Mike Wilkinson, Zach Morley, (Brian) Butch, (Jon) Leuer, Frank (Kaminsky) and Duje (Dukan) last year, all guys that can stretch a defense. Those are great weapons when you can put two of those guys on the floor together, or if you have a significant post threat like Nigel (Hayes) and Ethan (Happ). They can't send another big guy to the rim as much or as easily, so that's helped us. I think his maturity level of handling the incident -- obviously we know it's an emotional game at times, and things happen -- to be able to collect yourself, that was my message to him in that little huddle with 1.8 (seconds) to go when they were deciding what to do. 'This is far from over, but we're going to use this 1.8 to try to score,' not knowing exactly where the ball was going to be taken out at the time, but we were going to try to score to get another basket before halftime. But we had 20 more minutes of 30 to 40 possessions where we were going to have to be really good to close it out. It wasn't going to be over, so move on from that emotional incident and get back to what's important."

Q. It's been two months since you've taken over. How would you characterize those two months?
COACH GARD: "It's been rewarding from a standpoint of you always envision yourself in this position as a long-time assistant. To be able to have your own program and how you would react or handle things in that, as I mentioned before, it's been very natural, extremely seamless in large part due to the 17 guys in the locker room and our staff that surrounds me. Without those type of people involved, this is impossible, but for me it's been great. It's been everything I thought it would be and more. I haven't hit any unexpected road blocks. Obviously, there are always challenges, but I think I've been well prepared for it with my last quarter century plus with different people.

"For me it's been terrific. It's been a lot of fun. I'm having fun doing it. I don't always maybe show it on the sideline, because I try to stay calm, cool and collected as I've been labeled. But I have always thought, 'Hey, I don't need to show (emotion).' If I come unglued, what message does that show my team? There are times when I need to get emotional and send a message in a louder or more direct tone of voice, but like I said, it has fun standing in the background and watching all these guys go through things and grow and develop and when light bulbs go on.

"I've been asked several times, 'How do you stay so calm?' when people are watching on TV or in the stands or whatever. I find myself way calmer as a head coach, standing up on the sideline, than I ever did as an assistant or watching. It's been a long time since I've been invested in a game watching on TV, but I've been much, much calmer. I don't know why? It's because you're laser focused, zeroed in on it and you have 100 things going through your mind about what's going to be next. For me it's been about as natural as riding a bike. I haven't ridden a bike in a long time, either, though."

Q. What do you think Coach (Tom) Izzo is going to think when he hears your comments that you are going to muddy the waters and have a rock fight in East Lansing?
COACH GARD: "That's how our games have always been. They've been physical. They've been battles. Regardless of teams' records, regardless of the past games leading up to that game, in terms of we're on a streak, they had a hard-fought game at Purdue and then they played really well, especially in the second half yesterday (vs. Indiana).

"[Tom Izzo] does a lot of things in his program based on football mentality with the pads. He's taken a step further with shoulder pads and helmets. I haven't gotten to that point yet. I'll have to ask Coach (Paul) Chryst to use those maybe in the offseason someday! But I have a lot of respect for him and I have a lot of respect for his program, how he's done it, being in his home state. I know the correlations have been drawn between us in terms of career paths and being at one institution for a long time, but he has treated me exceptionally well when he didn't have to. There was no reason or benefit for him to take me under his wing professionally, so that showed me a long time ago how sincere and honest and heartfelt he was to be able to take that time and do that. That's meant a lot to me."

Q. Greg, you talked about how the quality of 3-point shots has improved significantly in the season but you still have to knock them down. There are teams that get good looks but don't hit them. Have you been surprised at the high rate they are shooting lately? Do you expect at some point it's going to come down to a more normal level?
COACH GARD: "I think as long as you're taking good shots you know there are going to be trends. I get more worried—or my blood pressure goes up with those guys more—when I see bad shots being taken. I don't get frustrated with good shots that are missed. I don't like no-pass possessions, as I've started to call them.

"Especially when you're trying to do things on the road, like we were Saturday night. But I think as you continue to grow as a team with confidence with shooting it, you understand there are going to be nights like that. That's why we try not to be dependent upon it. That's why I've tried to emphasize touching the post and getting to the free throw line and making sure that we are sound, because there are going to be nights when the ball doesn't go in for whatever reason. When the other team is better defensively, you succumb to worse shots than you were normally taking, so you have to find a way and play the percentages, so to speak, where you can be consistent. Can we consistently take care of the ball and get good shoots each time? Can we consistently make sure we are good in transition defensively? Can we consistently make sure we are good on the defensive backboard and blocking out? Those things that maybe don't involve as much athletic talent; as we've always said be good at the things that don't take talent, but can you be good at the little things and simple things? Then when those other things fall into place, like 3-point shooting, or you get a guy or two that gets hot, then you can ride that wave a little bit more. But to still understand that we have to be solid at very simple things, and when we would do that, for the most part, some nights free throws can carry us, some nights our defense will have to carry us, some nights maybe we will be able to knock down more 3s and not be so singular dependent on one component.

"That's why I like to keep it simple, take high-percentage shots and make sure that we are playing the percentages over the course of forty minutes and over the course of a season that give us the best chance."

Q. Greg, Nigel's offensive ability has been written about quite a bit. Do you think his defense gets overlooked? He usually pulls one of the toughest assignments for you guys. Do you think he's getting overlooked?
COACH GARD: "I don't know that he's getting overlooked, but he's starting to gain more and more of my confidence, in terms of putting him on a more prolific offensive player. Typically we decide that as we go through the week. Last week because of the injury to (Shavon) Shields, we shifted [Nigel] within the last couple of days to Andrew White. I thought he did a good job with him and made his looks difficult. At Maryland it changes a little bit because (Melo) Trimble you look at on the perimeter and there were other matchups with (Jake) Layman and (Robert) Carter that we had to handle on the wing and the power forward spot. I think being versatile defensively helps him.

"I think the job he did, last possession in regulation against Indiana, when we intentionally got him switched onto Yogi Ferrell, for him to avoid that foul—we played him some at the 4, he's had to guard bigger guys at times—he's very versatile. People always talk about unselfishness offensively. You have to have an unselfishness to you defensively as well, and he's growing in those areas and growing as a leader.

"That's the biggest thing, and the thing that I'm probably most proud of him, is how he's grown as a leader. By him growing as a leader and becoming more and more unselfish with all of his teammates, not that he was selfish in a bad way, but, hey, he's done with those younger guys what Coach (Tom) Izzo has done with me, taken them under his wing and given them some advice. It's helped those younger guys and it's made them look up to him a little bit more and respect what he's done more. I would say I think that's made him a better player as a result of it. Things he's done in the locker room and communication with the team has really helped us."

Q. You've talked about how far this offense has come in the last eight weeks or so. Can you assess the defense and how far that's come and how pleased are you with that?
COACH GARD: "I think we're still growing and we're not where we need to be yet. I think Saturday night was as good for as long of a stretch as we played. I thought we did a good job of pinching gaps and making dribble-drive alleys for them to get through, pretty hard. I thought Charlie Thomas did a really good job, in fact we will show it here on film in a little while, he has struggled with ball screens at times and that has limited his minutes for the most part. He did a really good job in a few sequences where he bottled up (Melo) Trimble and yet got back to the big that was rolling to the rim. There's huge signs there of growing in the right direction.

"Numbers maybe always don't bear it out. I think we're positionally better. I think we're last in the league in 3-point field goal percentage defense, but we're first in terms of fewest number of attempts taken against, at least we were the last time I looked. I haven't looked since the weekend, but we've had the fewest made against us. Part of that is how we play defensively at the 3-point line and that's one of the stats you can look at and can be skewed a little bit in percentages. Actually, number of attempts and makes can off-set each other a little bit, so we are growing. There is no doubt we have improved, but I always see areas where we can get better.

"We were pretty decent in the post. We made Diamond (Stone) have to really work for positioning. We made a few mistakes on him. We made a mistake late in a ball screen where we came up too high with Ethan (Happ), and he got a rim roll for a dunk. But in the most part, we're going the right direction."

Q. Greg, some of the guys talked about getting together as just players only shortly after the loss to Northwestern and sometimes you will see something like that contribute to a turn-around. I'm curious, do you like that when players take things into their own hands? Do you think players' meetings are overrated? How do you view those?
COACH GARD: "As I've told them, it's their team, their program, so what they feel is necessary it's up to them. As much as I do something through the locker room and training room and make sure I see them in other avenues, other lights, other than just on the floor, they stop by my office quite a bit. I call them. They text back and so forth. Those type of things. I try to develop a relationship with them away from the practice court with them as well, but I've always tried to make sure the locker room is sacred for them.

"That's a place where they need to handle issues, they handle them in there, and, like I said, that's an area that we have grown in. I think our leadership has grown. We talk about the younger guys and how they've improved, and the bench, and those type of things. But as I mentioned in the start, we have grown tenfold off the court as they have grown on the court. If they felt that was necessary, there are times -- that's not been the first in the course of the time I've been here, and it probably won't be the last. As long as they're handled in the right manner, they can be beneficial."

Q. Going back to that sequence at the end of the first half at Maryland (double technical foul), would you have handled that differently in your previous role (associate head coach)?
COACH GARD: "Probably not. I did not see what really happened. When the rebound came off the glass and it was a scrum and the whole pile tipped over, so to speak, guys went in front of me and I didn't see what happened. Neither did Coach (Mark) Turgeon. I didn't see the video. I saw a clip of it at halftime, but it was on a dark screen cell phone and my mind was totally in other places. I wasn't worried about that. It was time to play the next 20 minutes and prepare for that.

"I didn't see it in full light and clarity until after the game, so from my standpoint I trust what the officials and their decisions. There is a process if there is something that needs to be reviewed with the league office there are steps that can be taken and go through and trust what our conference office will do. My main focus and my job was to coach our team and to make sure we didn't get distracted from that little scrum and to refocus on what was important.

"I talked about the calmness on the bench that I've kind of -- you just feel like you've got to move on to what's next and there are other things that are more important than what happened there as they all rolled to the floor. Let's see if we can get a bucket in 1.8 (seconds) and prepare for the second half, because this game is not over."

Transcript: Gard reflects on wins, previews week ahead

Players Mentioned

Vitto Brown

Zak Showalter

Charles Thomas, IV

University of Wisconsin Athletics