Video of John Beilein’s post0game press conference following Michigan’s 80-57 loss to Purdue.
Notes and quotes are after the jump. The full post game recap will be up late tonight.
- “Had some bad lulls offensively,” which hurt Michigan early and led to bad defense. Purdue came out very physical early. “We’re not at a level where we really know how to counter aggressively against a team like that.”
- Very disappointed with the way his team played defense in the second half. “We made some mental breakdowns defensively.” Fouled JaJuan Johnson too many times down the stretch.
- Tough start to the Big Ten season, playing one of the league’s toughest teams for the first game.
- Didn’t want to let in so many 3-pointers. Knew Johnson and Moore were going to get theirs, but Ryne Smith killed the Wolverines from beyond the arc.
- On Darius Morris not starting: “I don’t know how much that affected us in the game, but as a coach you have to make short-term decisions for long-term gain.” Was a one-game thing.
- Hard not to let struggles on offense affect how you play defense. “Zack Novak doesn’t have trouble doing it. But we really need more guys who have that focus on both ends.”
- “Basketball is a game of poise and at the end of the first half we needed to just control the tempo.” Instead let Purdue get up by four instead of going for the last shot.
- Liked the way Stu Douglass responded to Purdue’s pressure, thought maybe some of the guys forgot what that kind of pressure felt like.
