On if this was the kind of game he wanted against a team that was executing well:
Yeah, it was, but the issue to start the half, we tried to trick them in pick-and-roll defense. Any time we tried to trick them, we trick ourselves. Their fours and fives had 28 out of 32 points. We switched back to the way we normally play pick and roll, but Georgia didn't go anywhere. They played, they balled. You've got to give them credit. They're a good team. I thought the last five minutes our defense, play-making down the stretch was pretty good. We had to do some stuff to get Karl the ball in the post. Karl did well. I thought Marcus Lee and Dakari were terrific. The guards were good. Andrew made a huge three when we were down nine. He and Andrew and Aaron and Tyler and Devin all played pretty well. Trey didn't play particularly well, but he started the game like he was going to have 30.
On what it says about Karl-Anthony Towns to step up the way he did down the stretch:
Well, that and the fact that I've got enough confidence in him to go to him to shoot free throws. That's how much I think of him. I know he has the courage and he has the skill and the ability. That's what we did: we went to him late.
On if the staff recognized Towns' hook shot was unstoppable tonight:
Nah. The only play that bothered me, he tried another hero's play. They double-teamed him and he had Tyler Ulis wide open and he ball faked. Why? Then he charged the guy. Throw it to the open (man). Don't be a hero. That's the thing he's learning: easy play. Quit trying to -- he is so good. 'You don't have to do crazy stuff. Other guys do. They've got to do crazy stuff to stand out. Don't. Why are you doing that?' So, you know, but he was good.Willie was nowhere to be found until the last four minutes of the game. I told him, 'You better figure out why you had this mindset, because we can't afford to have this as we go forward.'
On telling Cauley-Stein in the first half to 'Do anything':
Well he played good defense the last few minutes. We were down nine because Willie and Aaron had a couple breakdowns. I left him in too long, and all of the sudden we're down nine. I had to get guys out -- Trey. So we had to find the combination. See that's the one thing when you have this many guys: you just got to find the combination and we'll ride it. And that's what I kind of did today. But it wasn't -- again -- anything I did. You have kids here that have a will to win and they believe they can win and they made the plays that they needed to make. Big offensive rebound of a missed free throw. Huge play. Willie grabbed the ball and dunked 'em. Huge play, and they were all plays that we needed to have.
On the timeout where someone said 'let's get three stops' and Andrew Harrison said, 'let's get five':
They're starting to be empowered. They're starting. Last year it was about this time that they said, 'All right we can listen to everybody make excuses for us, tell us it's not me personally, it's somebody else, or we can come together and do this.' And they did it. This year, right now, I don't want them relying so much on me. I want them to be about themselves. You noticed they huddled and I let them out of the huddle and they went to mid court and they stood there for a minute in the huddle. I want more of that. That's what I want to see, and then I want to just get out of the way. Right now I had to fight them half the game again. Stuff that we were doing -- again, I come back to the pick-and-roll defense was so bad in the first half. And again anytime I try to do something, I'm going to trick somebody, watch this trick, I always trick my guys.
On if the team turned to Andrew tonight:
They are. Tyler really has a confidence in Andrew. Tyler probably has more confidence in Andrew than anybody on the team. When I say to him, 'Who do you want out there with you in the second half?' He'll say Andrew. Never blinks. 'I want Andrew out there with me.' So it's him, Andrew and Devin. That's why I like two together, because they both can score, the can play the one. I don't know if it was true, but it looked like we had no turnovers at half. (You had none). Well, there was a play where -- I thought there was a long pass. (They called it a missed layup). They called it a missed layup? Great, we had no turnovers. It screwed up our shooting percentage though.
On Towns having seven points after his fourth foul:
Well we had to do some stuff instead of him just playing mush-mouth and move people to get him a better space. Again, he's a freshman. He's just trying to do what he can do. So we started moving them, swinging and then posting from there, and that's when they couldn't really guard.
On if Georgia did anything that surprised him:
No. They're a terrific basketball team. We just wanted to make sure that they weren't shooting threes, but we also talked about we didn't want them shooting free throws because they're a good free-throw shooting team, and they stared the game and we just kept fouling. They're good. They're a NCAA Tournament team, so for us it's one of those games that we would play in the NCAA Tournament, but we were on the road. It would be in a neutral site for them.
On if this felt different than other close games:
I don't know. I think we're getting better, my team's getting better. My team is better now. My team is better than when we played Georgia last time, but Georgia is way better. Georgia is way better because they got healthy. Now you're seeing a team that in my opinion is a top-20 team. If they're going to play us like this -- we didn't play that bad. They fought and played, made plays and layups and tough layups.
On how important it was to be in a dog fight like this at this point in the season:
We're just using whatever happens. We're learning from everything. I was just so happy for Marcus Lee and Dakari. They needed to play for us for us to be what we wanted. I want Trey to play better, but we know what he can do. He's played well. Dakari and Marcus have stepped back. Well they stepped back up today, which was a good thing for this team.
On Aaron Harrison not relying on his jump shot:
It's great. He's listening. He's coaching, letting us tell him. I said, 'Don't settle. Just keep driving.' The only one he did, he went in and he acted like he got fouled. We're not going to get any calls. We don't get any calls. So he put his head down and I said, 'They're not going to make that call. Make the layup.' I'm telling Andrew the same thing. 'Stop driving in like you're going to get fouled. Drive in there to avoid or make a layup and-one. You can fall to the floor, you can throw your head back.' We have not gotten that call one time this year. We're 30 games in, not one call, one of those calls. Now, when they drive into us they call that. (Laughter)
On Towns saying they will learn a lot from the film and what he this they will learn:
I don't know. I'll watch the tape. We'll watch it on the plan back. We'll do some work tomorrow, individuals and some weight training and stuff. Tomorrow we'll have the off day. We won't practice tomorrow. They had off Sunday, so they'll off today. We'll have two days to get ready for Florida. Florida beats Texas A&M, they're playing better now. They beat somebody pretty good and they just beat Texas A&M, so they're on a roll. It will be a hard game for us.
On if there was any relief tonight:
Nah. It's just the next game. I just want the regular season over with. I've been telling the guys for two weeks, 'Just get this over.' The real stuff starts in a week or two. Let's just get this done.
On the feeling down nine:
I said, 'I hope we go down 10. I hope we go down 10.' That's what I said to them. 'We need to find out who's who, who's going to make a play, who's going to do stuff, who's going to play.' I kept saying, 'Scared money don't make no money.' That's what I was saying.
On if he's happy to see them rise to the occasion in that situation:
It's good. It's good.
On if he's ready to skip the conference tournament too:
Yeah. I would. I'm going to give them two or three days off after the Florida game, and then we'll practice on Wednesday to get ready for a game on Friday. You guys know how I feel about conference tournaments, but this is a different deal. Our fans take their rent money, their vacation money, mortgage money, car payments and go to Nashville. We've got to go up there with a sense of urgency and play for them, more than play -- because whatever happens up there we've learned for six years has no bearing on a seed, getting in, not getting in. It has no bearing. So, we'll go and do this for the fans.
Yeah, it was, but the issue to start the half, we tried to trick them in pick-and-roll defense. Any time we tried to trick them, we trick ourselves. Their fours and fives had 28 out of 32 points. We switched back to the way we normally play pick and roll, but Georgia didn't go anywhere. They played, they balled. You've got to give them credit. They're a good team. I thought the last five minutes our defense, play-making down the stretch was pretty good. We had to do some stuff to get Karl the ball in the post. Karl did well. I thought Marcus Lee and Dakari were terrific. The guards were good. Andrew made a huge three when we were down nine. He and Andrew and Aaron and Tyler and Devin all played pretty well. Trey didn't play particularly well, but he started the game like he was going to have 30.
On what it says about Karl-Anthony Towns to step up the way he did down the stretch:
Well, that and the fact that I've got enough confidence in him to go to him to shoot free throws. That's how much I think of him. I know he has the courage and he has the skill and the ability. That's what we did: we went to him late.
On if the staff recognized Towns' hook shot was unstoppable tonight:
Nah. The only play that bothered me, he tried another hero's play. They double-teamed him and he had Tyler Ulis wide open and he ball faked. Why? Then he charged the guy. Throw it to the open (man). Don't be a hero. That's the thing he's learning: easy play. Quit trying to -- he is so good. 'You don't have to do crazy stuff. Other guys do. They've got to do crazy stuff to stand out. Don't. Why are you doing that?' So, you know, but he was good.Willie was nowhere to be found until the last four minutes of the game. I told him, 'You better figure out why you had this mindset, because we can't afford to have this as we go forward.'
On telling Cauley-Stein in the first half to 'Do anything':
Well he played good defense the last few minutes. We were down nine because Willie and Aaron had a couple breakdowns. I left him in too long, and all of the sudden we're down nine. I had to get guys out -- Trey. So we had to find the combination. See that's the one thing when you have this many guys: you just got to find the combination and we'll ride it. And that's what I kind of did today. But it wasn't -- again -- anything I did. You have kids here that have a will to win and they believe they can win and they made the plays that they needed to make. Big offensive rebound of a missed free throw. Huge play. Willie grabbed the ball and dunked 'em. Huge play, and they were all plays that we needed to have.
On the timeout where someone said 'let's get three stops' and Andrew Harrison said, 'let's get five':
They're starting to be empowered. They're starting. Last year it was about this time that they said, 'All right we can listen to everybody make excuses for us, tell us it's not me personally, it's somebody else, or we can come together and do this.' And they did it. This year, right now, I don't want them relying so much on me. I want them to be about themselves. You noticed they huddled and I let them out of the huddle and they went to mid court and they stood there for a minute in the huddle. I want more of that. That's what I want to see, and then I want to just get out of the way. Right now I had to fight them half the game again. Stuff that we were doing -- again, I come back to the pick-and-roll defense was so bad in the first half. And again anytime I try to do something, I'm going to trick somebody, watch this trick, I always trick my guys.
On if the team turned to Andrew tonight:
They are. Tyler really has a confidence in Andrew. Tyler probably has more confidence in Andrew than anybody on the team. When I say to him, 'Who do you want out there with you in the second half?' He'll say Andrew. Never blinks. 'I want Andrew out there with me.' So it's him, Andrew and Devin. That's why I like two together, because they both can score, the can play the one. I don't know if it was true, but it looked like we had no turnovers at half. (You had none). Well, there was a play where -- I thought there was a long pass. (They called it a missed layup). They called it a missed layup? Great, we had no turnovers. It screwed up our shooting percentage though.
On Towns having seven points after his fourth foul:
Well we had to do some stuff instead of him just playing mush-mouth and move people to get him a better space. Again, he's a freshman. He's just trying to do what he can do. So we started moving them, swinging and then posting from there, and that's when they couldn't really guard.
On if Georgia did anything that surprised him:
No. They're a terrific basketball team. We just wanted to make sure that they weren't shooting threes, but we also talked about we didn't want them shooting free throws because they're a good free-throw shooting team, and they stared the game and we just kept fouling. They're good. They're a NCAA Tournament team, so for us it's one of those games that we would play in the NCAA Tournament, but we were on the road. It would be in a neutral site for them.
On if this felt different than other close games:
I don't know. I think we're getting better, my team's getting better. My team is better now. My team is better than when we played Georgia last time, but Georgia is way better. Georgia is way better because they got healthy. Now you're seeing a team that in my opinion is a top-20 team. If they're going to play us like this -- we didn't play that bad. They fought and played, made plays and layups and tough layups.
On how important it was to be in a dog fight like this at this point in the season:
We're just using whatever happens. We're learning from everything. I was just so happy for Marcus Lee and Dakari. They needed to play for us for us to be what we wanted. I want Trey to play better, but we know what he can do. He's played well. Dakari and Marcus have stepped back. Well they stepped back up today, which was a good thing for this team.
On Aaron Harrison not relying on his jump shot:
It's great. He's listening. He's coaching, letting us tell him. I said, 'Don't settle. Just keep driving.' The only one he did, he went in and he acted like he got fouled. We're not going to get any calls. We don't get any calls. So he put his head down and I said, 'They're not going to make that call. Make the layup.' I'm telling Andrew the same thing. 'Stop driving in like you're going to get fouled. Drive in there to avoid or make a layup and-one. You can fall to the floor, you can throw your head back.' We have not gotten that call one time this year. We're 30 games in, not one call, one of those calls. Now, when they drive into us they call that. (Laughter)
On Towns saying they will learn a lot from the film and what he this they will learn:
I don't know. I'll watch the tape. We'll watch it on the plan back. We'll do some work tomorrow, individuals and some weight training and stuff. Tomorrow we'll have the off day. We won't practice tomorrow. They had off Sunday, so they'll off today. We'll have two days to get ready for Florida. Florida beats Texas A&M, they're playing better now. They beat somebody pretty good and they just beat Texas A&M, so they're on a roll. It will be a hard game for us.
On if there was any relief tonight:
Nah. It's just the next game. I just want the regular season over with. I've been telling the guys for two weeks, 'Just get this over.' The real stuff starts in a week or two. Let's just get this done.
On the feeling down nine:
I said, 'I hope we go down 10. I hope we go down 10.' That's what I said to them. 'We need to find out who's who, who's going to make a play, who's going to do stuff, who's going to play.' I kept saying, 'Scared money don't make no money.' That's what I was saying.
On if he's happy to see them rise to the occasion in that situation:
It's good. It's good.
On if he's ready to skip the conference tournament too:
Yeah. I would. I'm going to give them two or three days off after the Florida game, and then we'll practice on Wednesday to get ready for a game on Friday. You guys know how I feel about conference tournaments, but this is a different deal. Our fans take their rent money, their vacation money, mortgage money, car payments and go to Nashville. We've got to go up there with a sense of urgency and play for them, more than play -- because whatever happens up there we've learned for six years has no bearing on a seed, getting in, not getting in. It has no bearing. So, we'll go and do this for the fans.
