Payton Sandfort Interview
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00:00 Peyton from the jump, it was a packed house, a lot of energy
00:03 early.
00:03 How did that feel, and how did you guys feed off of that?
00:05 It was good.
00:06 I mean, I think we've earned that.
00:09 I'm really proud of the way the fans showed up.
00:11 Hopefully, it can be like that every night.
00:13 But it was fun.
00:13 It gave us a good boost, especially at the start.
00:16 Kind of let them down, but we're going to get it right.
00:19 What frustrated you was the rebound margin?
00:22 I mean, it just seemed like they just
00:23 were getting everything.
00:24 Yeah.
00:25 Obviously, it was a huge focal point going into the game.
00:27 We knew we had to do it to win.
00:28 But obviously, we didn't execute to the best of our ability.
00:31 A lot of times, we were fighting and just didn't get bounces.
00:34 And sometimes, that's the way it goes.
00:35 But we probably need to be more locked in, more physical,
00:38 and something we'll just continue to improve on.
00:40 I heard you had a huge run in the first half,
00:43 and you guys kind of had to play catch up after.
00:45 Just in that stretch, what did you see kind of go wrong?
00:50 I mean, just kind of attention to detail.
00:53 Obviously, we missed some shots, but they
00:55 got a lot of offensive rebounds in that stretch,
00:57 hit a lot of wide open shots.
00:58 So we knew that we couldn't play from behind, probably,
01:02 and beat this team.
01:02 So got out to a good start, but just kind of let down
01:05 for three or four minutes.
01:06 And they're good enough that that was enough to get it done.
01:10 There are no moral injuries, of course,
01:12 but you guys cut the deficit, I think,
01:14 to eight with about a couple of minutes left.
01:16 And you had some good looks.
01:18 I guess, overall, how do you feel like you guys played
01:22 against the number two team?
01:25 I thought there was times we were really good.
01:26 We did a good job of getting ourselves good looks.
01:29 A lot seemed like they were halfway down, didn't go in.
01:32 But we need to be better on the defensive end,
01:34 better on the glass.
01:35 And that's something that we're going to improve on.
01:38 It felt like a game we could have won,
01:40 but part of the way we played, some of the time,
01:43 and some of the time, we got to be better.
01:46 I guess, how much of a challenge is it when they have a 7 foot 4
01:49 guy for you guys to kind of have to double and triple team him?
01:51 How tough is it to kind of contain the perimeter
01:53 when they got the ranked national player there?
01:55 Yeah, obviously, he requires so much gravity from our defense.
02:00 You have to respect him so much that you kind of just
02:04 have to scramble.
02:05 That's how you have to play defense against them.
02:07 And we did good at times.
02:09 There were some times they got wide open looks.
02:11 But when they get those wide open looks,
02:13 we got to get the first rebound.
02:14 And that was something we kind of struggled with.
02:16 And that's what got us.
02:17 Generally, did you like the way your team played defense on 80?
02:20 Would you do basically the same thing again
02:22 if you had to play them again?
02:23 Yeah, I mean, I think we did a pretty good job.
02:26 Obviously, still had a big number.
02:28 A lot were at the line.
02:29 But he's a really tough cover.
02:30 He's obviously the best player in the nation last year.
02:34 Might win it again.
02:34 So we obviously respect him.
02:38 And I love the way that the guys off the bench were fighting him
02:41 and Owen and Ben.
02:43 And it's a total team effort.
02:44 And we did good a lot.
02:45 But sometimes, he just got us in his spots.
02:47 And if we can minimize that, that's really
02:49 the best you can do on him.
02:51 That rebounding discrepancy, is that just kind of--
02:54 sometimes, that's the way the ball bounces.
02:56 I mean, Edie just being a huge--
02:58 what would you attribute that to?
03:01 I think it's a combo of things.
03:03 They're really good on the glass.
03:05 It's what they pride themselves on.
03:06 It's what they recruit for.
03:07 So obviously, that's what they're trying to do.
03:09 There were some times we got bad bounces.
03:11 There were some times we weren't physical enough.
03:13 And it takes a total team effort every single possession
03:16 to get the rebound against Purdue.
03:19 And we just, we didn't execute every time.