Drew Neitzel Quotations

We've shown how good we can be, beating three top-10 teams. It's just a consistency thing with us.

We settled for a lot of jump shots and didn't get to the free-throw line. We didn't get the ball inside enough.

Shutting down Dee Brown was huge. We trailed him all night. We never wanted him to get loose on us.

Matt plays a bigger role on our team than most people realize. He's the glue guy for us.

My confidence is high right now, I just keep trying to build from game to game. It was tough for a couple days (after that loss), but coach did a good job of getting it behind us. It took a lot out of us.

I don't know (what) you can do about it. You've just got to keep shooting.

We just have to learn from this and improve with that lineup.

It ain't over by any stretch. Crazier things have happened.

I think it's kind of a fluke, it's never really happened. We've been a pretty consistent free-throw shooting team all year and tonight they just didn't fall.

I think the coaching staff's been doing a good job getting us a little bit more of a break, so I think that's going to make a big difference this weekend.

Paul gets them all the time. I guess it's not that big a deal for him. But it's big for me.

That was probably the game. This is one of the worst feelings I've ever had as a basketball player. It's just tough. I don't really know what to say. You work so hard all summer, all season, and it comes to an end that quickly. But we don't have anyone to blame but ourselves.

We proved what kind of team we are many times this year, just things aren't clicking now. We're struggling for answers, and I think once we figure those out, we'll be back on track.

We had four guards out there. They had four guards, too, but they had a little bit of size on us. It's tough playing with four guards. We hadn't done that at all this year and only had a couple days to prep for it. It's still not an excuse with the rebounding. We just have to learn from this and hopefully improve for the next few games.

We know they'll try to get after us like that. This is going to be a test of our composure.

We're not done. We're not quitting at all. We're gonna practice (today) and keep fighting and get ready for a big game with Michigan. We're gonna come out and play hard. It shows what kind of person you are when you fight back from things like this.

We don't know much about them, but they've played pretty much everybody, all the great teams around the country. Their record really doesn't tell what they are. We got to take care of business in that game and start preparing for the Big Ten.

The defense was scrambling. I probably forced it. I just tried to make a play. It was a bad decision. Anything would have been better in that situation.

You look at all of the teams that make it to the Final Four, they have great guard play. Not just point guard play, but guard play.

It would have been really easy for us to get frustrated. We kept fighting through it. We knew we could pull it out because we've done it before.

Offensively, we never really got anything going. Everything we got, we had to earn. We didn't get any easy baskets.

Anybody can say this is just another Big Ten game. But in reality, it's not.

You never want to lose to your rival. It hurts. But more importantly, it hurts in the Big Ten race. We're going to have to win out to have a chance.

They're going to be coming in here confident. This is a key stretch for us now, and we've just got to stay consistent.

It's kind of a big deal. We can't continue to foul because we're not as deep at some positions, so it could come back to haunt us in a big game sometime.

It was a rough Big Ten season. We had to put that behind us. I think we got new life coming into March madness. We still got that confidence. We feel we have just as good a chance of winning as anybody.

It's gonna be a great challenge, Dee Brown's one of the best point guards in the country. They're a great defensive team, and we're really gonna have to prepare.

It's disappointing. We showed flashes and signs this year of what type of team we can be, a top-five team. Other times, we looked bad, just inconsistent. But we got a new season now. We got to forget about this and just try to win some games.

I've had to have thick skin since I was real little. ... Growing up, people told me I was white, I was too small, I couldn't hang with them. I had to have thick skin and brush them off and prove them wrong. That's the same thing I've got to do here.

Not everyone gave maximum effort and I'm not going to name names.

I kind of laughed at that a little bit, but it was true. When I'm playing aggressive and looking for my shot and scoring, it keeps the defense honest and gives our team an extra boost. Relying on just three guys to score 20, 25 a night, it's tough.

I probably forced it. I just tried to make a play and made some bad decisions.

I guess it shows the character of this team, the way we came back. But we didn't finish. That's all that matters, if you win or lose.

I just have to keep sucking it up. I'm not complaining at all, I realize that I do have to suck it up more. Even mentally, if I wear down a little bit, I still have to keep focus the last few minutes of the game. I have to keep the extra focus not to make a turnover or make a bad play, just stay solid throughout the whole game.

Hopefully. I'm going to have to do something to knock me out quick.

He took advantage of his opportunity tonight. It helps us out a lot. It's a lot harder than you think playing with four guards out there sometimes. If we can get some guys to step up at that four spot it will help us out a lot.

(Ager) played a great game tonight. We just didn't make the plays, especially on the defensive end.

All my shots felt good coming off my hand. When I released them, I thought they were going in, but they just came up short. I don't know what you can do about it, but you just got to keep shooting it and focus in more when you're tired.