Jan. 5, 2009
NORMAL, Ill. -
Illinois State head men's basketball coach Tim Jankovich met with members of the media Monday afternoon to discuss ISU's Tuesday night Missouri Valley Conference matchup at Bradley.
Prior to Jankovich's media conference, junior guard Osiris Eldridge also met with the media for a news conference.
Video coverage of both media conference can be found by clicking on the links below. Both videos are free to watch on Redbird All-Access, the Illinois State Athletics Department's exclusive multimedia platform. Weekly programming schedules and complete Redbird All-Access information are also available online at by clicking here.
Also available for viewing are transcribed quotes from both Jankovich and Eldridge, which can be found below:
 |
Head Coach Tim Jankovich |
On Tuesday’s game at Bradley...
“It’s exciting always. You can’t help but feel a little bit different when you play Bradley – I don’t think the people in town allow you to do that. We’re very excited about it, but at the same time it will be an unbelievable challenge. They’re playing great. They’re in first place, and we’re not. They have two road wins, we have one. To me they’re in first place and we don’t need to get a false sense of security that we are – we’ve only won one road game. From what I’ve seen on film, I think they’re playing outstanding. They’ve got great speed, they’ve got a lot of weapons and it’s going to be a tremendous test.”
On having played a team of Bradley’s defensive caliber this season...
“Probably not. I hope that we have, but I would say probably not. They’ve got a lot of speed and a lot of quickness, and I think they’re playing better at the defensive end. I think that (Bradley head coach Jim Les) would say that in the last couple of weeks that they’re playing the best they’ve played, probably on both ends, but especially on the defensive end. Baskets are definitely not going to come easy, hopefully not at the other end either but that remains to be seen.”
On how the Illinois State-Bradley rivalry compares with other’s he’s experienced...
“For me as a player, it was KU vs.K-State, which was an unbelievable experience – it probably took years of a lot of our lives worrying about those games. Oklahoma State-Oklahoma, the Bedlam Series, was unbelievable. When I was at Illinois, we had the Illinois-Missouri rivalry and that was terrific. It feels the same really. Any and all of the rivalries that I’ve been involved with have kind of been the same thing. The energy level goes up, excitement, interest, everything goes up. I think the reason that they’re always such good games is because there’s never a guy on the floor that wasn’t completely at his peak – his peak focus, concentration, all those kinds of things. It gets everybody up to their highest level and to me that’s what makes it great.”
On Saturday’s sellout crowd helping the Redbirds prepare for the crowd at Bradley...
“Hopefully, it helps, but I’m guessing that the cheering will be at different times than it was over here. I like to think that we can play in front of whatever crowd. We have played in front of the whole gamut this year, from the lowest to the highest. Some of the games on a neutral site, to me, are the most difficult. Neutral site games, when nobody’s in the crowd and it feels like summer recreation ball, are a thousand times harder than a full house on the road. Those are the challenges that good players want and maybe the game the other night will help us. What will help us more is if we really play well.”
On Bradley’s available players for Tuesday night’s game...
“There are probably three or four guys that are going to play against us. We’ll expect everybody on their roster to play. We always do that though, unless there’s an absolute guarantee. That doesn’t mean there’s any gamesmanship. It just means that (Daniel) Ruffin got ready for our game last year and just might mean (Andrew) Warren is now ready. The same thing goes for us. We wait until someone gets ready and then you play them. We’ll prepare and do a scouting report on everyone that might play and expect that to happen.”
On his player’s thinking about going unbeaten…
“I don’t think I can control it anyway. I don’t want to talk about it, and we really don’t talk about it. We talk about the league. Non-conference is done, we closed the book and it went great, but it’s not going to change and it’s not going to help us and it’s certainly not going to hurt us. We’re 3-0 and we’re tied for second place from where I sit and that’s where I hope their thoughts are. If they’re not, I can’t control that and it’s a difficult thing. We’re all probably on somewhat uncharted water and we’re going to have to deal with that as best we can.”
On Bobby Hill’s recovery and status...
“Same thing. I would not expect him to play.”
On the team’s current state versus his expectations...
“I definitely don’t want to say that I completely expected us to be in this position with this record. I never feel like I can predict those kinds of things. As far as the way we play, this is the way I pictured that we could, and would, and should play. Basically, most of what’s taken place is playing out the way that I thought it would but maybe I would say that I’ve been pleasantly surprised and its gone a little better than you can hope at the beginning of the year.” On the team sitting just outside of the top-25 rankings...
“We don’t talk about that either. I’d just as soon stay in the votes category. My experience has been those things work far more to your detriment than to the positive. I hadn’t looked at yet. It can only hurt us. In my opinion, it’s not going to help us in any way, shape or form. It is great for our fans and for our school, but is it great for our basketball team? No, probably not. Do I hope it happens? Probably so, we’ll just deal with that if it does. Obviously, Tuesday night will have a lot to do with that.”
On Osiris Eldridge being effected by last season’s outcome at Bradley...
“No, no. Not at all. He’s a great competitor. He’s figured out how to win games in about 25 different ways. I’m hoping he gets about 25 more before he’s out of here. He didn’t even get a decent shot – it wasn’t even a shot it was a throw. I don’t ever want a guy in that situation to feel badly because the truth is, we didn’t put ourselves in a position that we didn’t have to hit a running, 25-foot, hook shot. Those don’t go in very often, although they did at Missouri State – but that’s another story. That doesn’t bother me in the least.”
|
Junior Guard Osiris Eldridge |
On being named the MVC Player of the Week...
“This year our team is great. We’ve got a lot of talent on the team. Everybody looks at me like a leader on the team, but I feel like I’m just a player playing a role. I’ve got a role to get everybody into the game and keep everybody focused. A lot of people look at me and see my scoring has gone down, but I don’t really pay attention to that. I score when I can and I try to the best things I can to win. This year, my main focus is making it to the tournament and whatever it takes to do that, is what I’m going to do.”
On the Bradley game being a true test of Illinois State’s ability...
“Everybody has been saying our next game is a test. Bradley is a great team. They’re 3-0, we’re 3-0. It’s kind of like the same situation as last year when (Illinois State) and Drake were 5-0 and we went into Drake and played a tough game that we lost. Tomorrow, we’re going to try to do the same things we did before to win this game and that is to come out and play hard-nosed defense and execute on offense.”
On his defensive improvement this season… "This year, I’ve got the focus to become a better defender. Coach (Jankovich) stressed that there are a lot of players out here that can score the ball as well as I can, but there aren’t too many players that can do it on both sides of the ball. He told me a defensive player can change the game dramatically. I took what he said and ran with it. I try every game to do the best that I can against the best player on the other team. I think I’ve been doing a good job so far.”
On Saturday’s sellout crowd helping the Redbirds prepare for the crowd at Bradley...
“Hopefully, it helps, but I’m guessing that the cheering will be at different times than it was over here. I like to think that we can play in front of whatever crowd. We have played in front of the whole gamut this year, from the lowest to the highest. Some of the games on a neutral site, to me, are the most difficult. Neutral site games, when nobody’s in the crowd and it feels like summer recreation ball, are a thousand times harder than a full house on the road. Those are the challenges that good players want and maybe the game the other night will help us. What will help us more is if we really play well.”
On not getting more notoriety as a team...
“I don’t think we feel disrespected. It is what it is. People have their opinions and we just have to roll with the punches. We can’t pay attention to that and to what everybody thinks. We have to do what we have to do to win.” On the Bradley game having a different feel… “When you enter conference play, it’s a totally different feel with each game. When we play Bradley, it’s 10 times more difficult to play because everybody here hates Bradley and everybody there hates us. We kind of feel that on the court when we’re playing, but on the other hand we have to try some way to put that to the side and just play basketball. That can interfere with the game, with emotions and such, and take our focus away. Overall, the whole Illinois State-Bradley rivalry is a good thing for us because it helps us with motivation to try and get the win.”
On playing in front of a sold out crowd on the road...
“It’s very tough. We just have to roll with the punches. We know that it’s going to be a tough environment. The crowd is going to be loud. We have to go in with a focus that we can’t be beaten, but still be humble enough to have respect for them, and just play hard.”
On the ending to last season’s game in Peoria...
“I thought about that play for weeks after it happened. I got real anxious and went a little bit too far down the court and at the last minute, threw up a shot. I felt that it was my fault that we lost the game. If we had a situation like that, this year we have a lot of people on the court that you can pass it too, make one more pass and make the shot. Last year we did have a lot of great shooters, but it’s almost like we have five people on the court who can knock down a shot.”
On having a road win in The Valley boosting the team’s confidence...
“Our success overall has given us a great deal of confidence. Everybody is rolling with it and taking it in.”
