Greg Gard had high praise for Jamison Battle, who he called one of the "best shooters" in the Big Ten.
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00:00 a gutty performance, I thought a defensive battle between two really good teams until
00:03 we were able to break free and make some shots there in the last five,
00:08 six minutes or so.
00:08 But really proud of how our guys hung in there.
00:12 Steve fought through his little bang up that he had, but
00:18 I thought we got great contributions.
00:19 And obviously Klusman catches fire there late, but
00:23 Nolan Winter gave us some good minutes.
00:24 Connor, Blackwell, everybody.
00:26 Obviously we get great contributions, so it makes this team really good.
00:31 So road wins are hard to get and you appreciate them when you get them.
00:37 But happy for this group because they did a good job of preparation and
00:43 they came to play tonight.
00:46 >> Next, here's.
00:48 >> Hey, Greg.
00:48 >> Yeah, sure.
00:50 >> And I can't hear it up here either, so I don't know where this is going.
00:53 >> Obviously you touched on some of Klusman's shooting in the second half.
00:56 I don't think you missed a shot, but also made things much tougher for battle.
00:59 Just what stood out really on both ends, specifically defensively though?
01:03 >> Well, I think once we settled in, I think it was like 17-13,
01:07 maybe the first media timeout on 13 possessions.
01:09 And we talked about how that was too many, that was well over one.
01:14 So we needed to settle in defensively.
01:15 And I thought it was that and we needed to start making some shots.
01:20 Other than the little stretch in the second half where I thought we took some
01:24 tough shots or some bad shots, shot selection was decent and
01:28 that we got decent looks.
01:29 But defensively, like I mentioned in this opening statement,
01:32 you could feel it was just a grinder, just a typical Big Ten.
01:36 Baskets are hard to get, easy baskets are almost impossible.
01:39 So, but I thought he was terrific on Jameson in the second half.
01:43 He, in the first half, we lost him in transition once right in front of our
01:47 bench cuz we didn't finish a play on the other end.
01:51 He got detached once late in the clock.
01:54 He had a tough one over Tyler.
01:56 We left him under penetration when we should have on his one across from us.
02:00 But then the second half, the league even gets a three off, right?
02:03 So that's, Max has become one of the better defenders in our league.
02:07 And he gets help too from John adding for a little bit and
02:10 Chuck even added in some situations.
02:13 >> Mike.
02:15 >> You said [INAUDIBLE]
02:21 >> Who are you talking about?
02:22 >> Max.
02:23 >> Okay, okay.
02:24 >> I was following Casey and I was just making sure he didn't get any shots off.
02:28 I guess, was this one of those games that he kind of thought he should come in and
02:31 potentially get some of those shots for himself?
02:35 >> Max?
02:35 >> Yeah. >> You talking about?
02:36 No, I mean, he's opportunistic.
02:38 I mean, he understands what his role is on this team and
02:40 he typically gets assigned one of the better perimeter players.
02:43 For that situation, having just guarded Tampanaga in the battles six inches bigger.
02:52 It was a similar game plan, similar, it wasn't a complete,
02:57 it was a lot different from what we had just gone through on Saturday.
03:00 So I think that maybe helps a little bit, but
03:03 James has made himself a really good player of the better shooters in the country.
03:07 So those are always challenges, but they got other guys.
03:11 I'd say before the game, I thought Bruce Gordon is one of the more approved guards
03:15 in the country and he showed that tonight and what they did on the glass.
03:20 Akbar, he's a force inside, so like I said,
03:24 we're just able to buckle down enough defensively in the second half and
03:28 then make some shots when we need to, to separate ourselves.