John Beilein addressed the media after Michigan’s loss to Iowa and talked about the decision to bench Trey Burke with two fouls, what went wrong and how Michigan will grow from the performance.
Notes and quotes after the jump. Many thanks to HawkeyeDrive.com for helping out with video footage.
- “Great win for Iowa. They really played very well. I told my people and my team that I thought they were more like the Wisconsin win and the Minnesota win than the games against Michigan State and Ohio State. They showed that today and we didn’t play one of our better games. Iowa was the reason for that.”
- On sitting Trey Burke early: “I missed the first foul. I was taking him out because I thought he had one on him but he actually had two and we just miscommunicated on the bench. I think we still could have gotten out of that better. We took a couple ‘hope’ threes and threw a couple ‘hope’ passes. We had eight turnovers in the first half, they weren’t because we didn’t have a point guard – although we missed him – we just didn’t do what you have to do in the road in that half. Having to come back and come back on the road is always tough.”
- More on Burke: “It was five or seven (points), if it got to double digits [I would have put him in] – it didn’t get to double digits until the buzzer. I didn’t see that as being the issue. The issue was some wide open looks that we didn’t hit and then we made some bad choices that weren’t his plays anyhow.”
- On Jordan Morgan not getting many touches: “He gets a lot of his touches off of ball screens and they did a really good job defending ball screens in the first half when Trey was not in there.”
- On Smotrycz’s struggles: “He didn’t make shots. We just have to keep practicing and practicing. There’s no formula. He’s going to practice hard and he’s going to get better. It’s like a hitter that’s all of the sudden hitting the ball right at the short stop or center fielder. It happens in basketball too, you go through these things and there’s no magic formula except to work it out.”
- On being able to sustain a comeback: “We couldn’t string anything together. We had some good looks that we needed to hit. What we had been able to do previously, against Northwestern, was get second possessions. Iowa did a great job of blocking out and we didn’t get extra opportunities.”
- On the Iowa’s zone: “They kept changing (defenses). We have to keep changing and adjusting and adjusting and they induced us to taking ill advised quick shots just because it was different. When you play against changing defenses like they do, you really have to be on target with how you are executing. We didn’t do that enough today.”
- On Devyn Marble: “He’s a great, great player. His best is yet to come. He’s got a young birthday, he’s just 19 and he’s sophomore and will be a great Big Ten player.”
- On Hardaway struggling: “I think all of our guys have to keep working. He’s our leading scorer but just like Evan he’ll keep working. We don’t beat Northwestern if he doesn’t go on a run and hit four or five in a row in the first half. Maybe trying to get better shots but it’s part of basketball and anyone that’s really a good perimeter player is going to go through this.”
- On four games in eleven days: “It is what it is, it’s a tough schedule and we have to get ready for Michigan State. It’s college basketball and we have to seize everything as an opportunity to grow and get better.”
- On Hardaway not forcing things “I don’t have to tell him, he knows not to press. But he might have put some extra pressure on himself with Trey out. Our film session tomorrow, where we always really grow, it’s not a love fest even after wins but it is a lot of teaching moments after defeats. It hits home a little bit harder when they see they can play better.”
