UW-Green Bay (82), Northern Illinois (76)  

Feb. 17, 2007 - DeKalb, Illinois

 

Northern Illinois Head Coach Rob Judson

 "Our last three games, we held our opponent under 40 percent shooting and today, especially in the first half, Green Bay really shot it.  We talked at the half about tightening up our defense and we did a better job in the second half.

 

"The difference in this game was the free throw line.  Usually, a team attacking the paint goes to the free throw line more than the team that takes a lot of threes.  And we had more points in the paint, and they shot more threes.  And they shot 29 free throws and we shot 14.  It's disappointing to have that margin.

 

"We changed our line-up.  Our guys practice with a lot of energy and enthusiasm.  James has come off the bench the last couple games but today we thought we had a good match-up with Schachtner and we went to him successfully early.  I'm sure they didn't expect that line-up.  It was a good start for us.  I thought through the whole game, offensively, we played well.  The difference was the free throws.

 

"In the last 4-5 minutes, our shot selection was not what we needed in several spots and we ended up turning the ball over. Our secondary options were not as sharp as the shot clock winds down.  We didn't get what we needed in those situations.

 

"I thought in the Ball State game, we had a good second half, but we started slow.  One of our keys today was instant energy.

 

"It's disappointing that we can't have success here in our last couple of games after the wins over Bowling Green and Ohio, and the two-point loss to Ball State.  This time of year you want the guys improving and practicing hard, and these guys are."

 

NIU Center James Hughes

 "The big thing this week was to play with energy early in the game.  That's what we were trying to do early."

 

NIU Forward Zach Pancratz

"If you hit a few [shots] in the beginning, a team is going to stay on you and it's a lot harder to make them late."

 

Wisconsin-Green Bay Head Coach Todd Kowalczyk

"This was certainly a nice win for us.  I have a lot of respect for Rob Judson and how hard that team plays.  I told our guys, you're not going to win a shoot out with this team, but we did. What won the game for us was the 8 minute to 2 minute time period, we grinded it out.

"We defended him (NIU's Zach Pancratz) three different ways, none of it worked to our liking.  Our poor rotations were one reason, but give them credit, they passed it around and found the open man. We're a conservative defensive team, we don't run and jump at people.

"You don't win in February and March without good senior leadership."

 

UWGB Forward Mike Schachtner

"[In the last 8 minutes of the game], we finally started to rebound the ball and get defensive stops which was huge. Before, we were trading baskets. 

 

(On stopping Zach Pancratz late) "We tried to crowd him and make him put the ball on the floor."

 

UWGB Guard Ryan Tillema

"I feel comfortable with my shot.  It's coming together now.  I needed a game or two to have a good game to get my confidence back.  Right now we have to get together and play our best basketball."