Iowa players on the loss to Ohio State

The Iowa players were hoping for another long stay in the Big Ten Tournament. Unfortunately after winning the tournament last year, the Hawkeyes are headed home following a tough 73-69 defeat to the Buckeyes in Chicago.

Following the loss, Hawkeye players Kris Murray, Tony Perkins, and Filip Rebraca met with the media to discuss the wild scramble play near the end of the game and their overall view of the defeat.

 Q. I’ll start with Kris. Did you guys feel like you had trouble getting going today? How would you explain kind of a little bit of a slow start?

KRIS MURRAY: I feel like we got open looks we wanted to get. They just weren’t falling. We were able to get stops too, so it was a close game going into halftime, I think.

Just making shots is the biggest thing, honestly, in the beginning. But both sides of the ball, I feel like we did pretty well.

Q. Tony, you really seemed to flip the switch in the second half playing with a lot of aggressiveness on both sides. How would you describe the change between the first half and the second half, and what was working well for you?

TONY PERKINS: I didn’t want to lose the game. So I tried to do the best I can, bring the most energy I can. I had my teammates bring the best energy that they could for these last 20 minutes. That was pretty much it.

I just told them lock in. We’ve got 20 minutes left. We’re down by one at halftime. Let’s get to it, bro.

Q. Kris and Tony, that wild scramble at the end, what happened there, in your opinion?

KRIS MURRAY: Just two teams going for the ball. Tough game. I mean, I’m not sure about the call at the end, but it just didn’t go our way, I guess, and they got the ball back.

I couldn’t tell you exactly what happened. There was a lot of chaos going on.

TONY PERKINS: We just tried to deny the ball, get steals, get a quick basket and tie the game. We could have tied it up, tied the ball up or get a jump ball or try to call timeout if we could get a full grip, but we couldn’t get a full grip on the ball.

Q. For any of you guys, you’ve seen Ohio State sort of at their best and their worst this season. What was it like preparing for them knowing their potential but also the fact they really struggled this year? What was it like preparing for them?

KRIS MURRAY: They’re a really talented team. We’ve kind of seen that all year. They’ve been in close games. They got a lot of talent, a lot of scoring. Guys could take over at any point in the game.

They’re a really good team. When they put it together, tough to beat, as you kind of saw these last couple games for them. As I said, they’re tough to beat when they’re hot and when they’re playing together.

Q. Filip, it seemed like one of those games where you just couldn’t get the momentum. You’d get up by three or four points but could never really stretch it out. Describe that on the floor when you just can’t stretch it out and the other team just keeps coming and coming.

FILIP REBRACA: We know they’re a team that’s not going to give up, so credit to them. When I felt that we made a run, they were able to make runs of their own and get stops.

Yeah, they’re not going to quit. So that’s what they showed.

Q. Filip, what was this week like in preparation? Did you feel like you guys had a good mojo coming in here like you did last year? And just as a followup, you get more rest this year is a plus, I suppose, but how do you look forward now to the NCAA Tournament?

FILIP REBRACA: Yeah, I felt like we did well preparing. I feel like we executed — I mean, during practice, what the coaches wanted, I feel like maybe we didn’t do everything in the game that they wanted tonight.

Then, yeah, I guess it’s a plus that we’re going to get more rest this year, but we never want that. We want to be playing for a championship on Sunday. Yeah, it just didn’t go our way.

Q. Tony, how about you? Just what are you looking for going forward? Obviously you had the first round loss in the NCAAs last year with the Big Ten title. Is it time to reverse the script in a way?

TONY PERKINS: Yeah, that’s the plan. We lost today, but the next game we get a chance to play, we’re most definitely going to turn it up a notch and make sure we win, make sure we make up for today.