Here's What Purdue Players Jaden Ivey, Trevion Williams Said After Their Win Over Michigan State
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. — Purdue sophomore guard Jaden Ivey and senior center Trevion Williams helped lead the Boilermakers to a 75-70 win over Michigan State in the Big Ten Tournament semifinals Saturday inside Gainbridge Fieldhouse.
Ivey led the team with 22 points while adding nine rebounds and five assists. Williams scored 15 to go along with seven rebounds and five assists.
Here's the full transcript of everything they had to say when the two met with the media after the game:
Q. Trevion, just -- they did not double in the game at East Lansing. How certain were you that they weren't going to do that again and you had to be ready for that offensively? How much did that matter for you guys offensively?
TREVION WILLIAMS: It matters a lot. We throw the ball inside a lot and as a big man, you have to be prepared for what teams throw at you. You know, obviously teams know I'm a pretty good passer and I think -- I guess his philosophy was stay home on shooters and make them score one-on-one. The first game we played them in East Lansing, I didn't take advantage of that opportunity as much as I wanted to. Maybe I was frustrated with the refs. Whatever it was, I just wasn't engaged I don't think. This game, I think I was more patient. I waited for things to come to me and I just think the outcome was better.
Q. For Trevion and Jaden, just the combination of being in so many close games this season and the last two games when the team has got within one, you found a different gear. Is that just all those experiences kind of coming out?
JADEN IVEY: I think it definitely is. We've been in a lot of situations where we end up winning close games and we end up losing close games. So I think it's just, you know, we put ourselves in position to where we can win the game and it just comes with, you know, our experience.
TREVION WILLIAMS: Man, just to kind of piggyback off that, like he said, we've been in close games, we lost some and we won some. At some point you've got to figure it out. Down the stretch for us, obviously it came down to not turning the ball over, taking care of it. But those little things, boxing out, making free throws at the end of the game, whatever the case may be, just doing those little things to help us get over the hump.
Q. Jaden, you guys always set goals at the start of each season and you came up one short in the regular season, but how important is it tomorrow to win a championship and hoist a trophy and that just for overall confidence to have a success with something like that?
JADEN IVEY: Tomorrow's a big game for us. Obviously not winning the regular season championship, that was a goal of ours and we fell short. Then now tomorrow we have another opportunity to win a championship and take one home to our fans. You know we've just got to lock in tomorrow and, you know, read the scout and take Iowa out of what they like to do and, you know, just play great team ball tomorrow.
Q. For both guys, what were the keys to keeping the turnovers down? Was it concentration, being simple? How would you kind of describe the most important parts of cutting that back?
TREVION WILLIAMS: Man, it just come down to, you know, obviously concentration. Michigan State's a team that likes to pressure guys and get them out of their comfort zone and they pressure you and they pressure you and they hold you, they grab you and they do kind of rough teams up. We've struggled in the pass with pressure, guys pressure. It's just about being strong with the ball, knowing what's coming, expecting those guys to be physical with us. So we went into this game, Coach harped on it as much as he could. He said expect this, expect this. Man, we went in there and I thought we handled the pressure pretty well.
Q. Trevion, it felt like you guys pulled away at the end there because of your connection with Eric Hunter and the few plays you guys made. Talk to me about your connection with him. It seemed like after the second three, both of you guys sort of did a chef's kiss. Just talk to me about that connection.
TREVION WILLIAMS: That's my brother, man. I wouldn't want to be on the court with anybody else. We practice a lot together off the court outside of practice. We do those little things aside from when we're at practice. Man, he's just -- obviously he's been through it with me since my freshman year. We've been to an Elite 8 game. We've pretty much seen it all. We've been a part of losing teams, been a part of winning teams. Just to have something like that to go through it with you, it means the world. I know he wants to win just as bad as I do, so that's kind of where that connection comes from.
Q. When you came into the league, you weren't as highly regarded as other people were, then you blew up. Looking ahead, there's another guy on the other side that had that same road that you did in Murray. What's it like? Can you describe to me what it's like to see on the other side a guy that had that similar road that you did, you know, and blowing up in arguably the best conference in college basketball?
JADEN IVEY: I'm sorry. I totally was confused by that question. Murray? Keegan Murray? Okay. Obviously last year, you know, people didn't respect me as much, me being a freshman. You know, it just shows what work can do. Keegan Murray's also a great player and he put -- I'm sure he put a ton of work in in the summer. Just the work at the put in in the dark will always come to light and it just took a year to get used to it and get used to Big Ten play. I think we're both settled in and comfortable.
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D.J. Fezler is a staff writer for BoilermakersCountry.com. Hailing from The Region, he is from Cedar Lake in Northwest Indiana and has spent the last two years covering Purdue football and basketball.