Northwestern at Indiana press conference notes

After holding a five-point lead with under two minutes to play on Saturday night in Bloomington, Northwestern fell apart and lost 63-62 on a late Thomas Bryant three-point play and a Bryant McIntosh heave that rimmed out. Here’s what coach Chris Collins and McIntosh had to say afterwards:

Chris Collins

• On the tough loss: “Obviously, it was a very disappointing loss for us…For us to rally and play the way we did in the second half, it was just disappointing. I really feel for the guys.”
• On the back-and-forth nature of the game: “It was a game of runs. We came out of the gates and played really well early. They hit us with a blitz at the end of the half…We came back to the locker room and talked about how we came back from a similar type of run in the Nebraska game.”
• On the poor late-game execution: “At the end of the day, we didn’t finish the game in the last few minutes. Give them credit. Blackmon came down and made a great pass. It’s just a tough way to lose.”
• On Scottie Lindsey’s play: “He was moving well and I thought he played with good energy. We need his scoring, so having him back and playing well is a big thing for us.”
• On the huge Indiana run to end the first half: “[The 22-0 run] started with that three by [Devonte] Green in the corner. To their credit, Tom [Crean] made a good adjustment and they started driving toward the basket.”
• On his team’s propensity to give up long runs to the other team: “The thing with us is that we’ve had scoring droughts at times. You need to get a layup or get to the free throw line.”
• On his team’s current mindset: “Right now, we’re down but we’re going to keep fighting. Until somebody tells us we don’t have any more games, we’re going to fight.”
• On Vic Law’s poor shooting as of late: “We need his production. I have to do a better job of getting him easier baskets…It is what it is. These guys are in good shape, but it’s a long year and everybody’s banged up and tired.”
• On sticking together as a team: “We win and we lose together. You celebrate big wins together and cry together after the big losses.”

Bryant McIntosh

• On whether that was his toughest loss in a Northwestern uniform: “It’s up there. It was a tough one to swallow, especially when you had a five-point lead.”
• On his last-second heave: “When it left my hand, I thought I hit it. But, it doesn’t just come down to that shot. They made the plays and we didn’t.”
• On what changed in the beginning of the second half: “I thought we got back to playing defense. In the first half, they were getting shots and offensive rebounds and we did a better job of limiting those.”
• On Bryant’s game-winning three-point play: “We didn’t crack down soon enough and in that situation, you have to foul harder than that.”
• On the team’s scoring drought during the 22-0 run: “We settled a lot, we weren’t attacking the paint or passing the ball inside. In the second half, we got the ball down to Dererk more.”
• On playing in hostile Big Ten road environments: “It’s a great challenge, a different atmosphere. The one thing our team does well is band together on the road. It’s us against the whole world. We’re in the foxhole together and it’s just us.”