University of Minnesota Athletics
MINN-ISU Post-Game Quotes
11/21/2006 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Post-Game Quotes
Minnesota head coach Dan Monson
Opening Statement:
“We really didn’t have anything to hang our heads on the last five or six minutes. When things went bad, we didn’t defend very well. We let them get comfortable at the beginning and then they hit some big shots at the end. When they missed we didn’t do a good job of rebounding. I thought our big men did a good job of rebounding, but our guards didn’t clean it up as well as we needed them to. At the half they were 1-7 from three-point range, but they live and die by the three and they certainly lived. You have to give them credit, they came in here and they did a better job in the end.”
On the defensive effort down the stretch:
“I didn’t think we had a very good grip defensively all game. I never felt comfortable that we had them under control. We had a couple of good stretches but we have to be more consistent. We made a lot of mistakes especially in the early and late portions of the game. I think we got a little tired and we missed some shots on the offensive end in the last five minutes.”
On Mike Taylor’s shooting:
“Everybody at this level can shot. The key is to get shooters out of their rhythm. Mike Taylor got into a great rhythm tonight. You have to give him credit but you also have to look at yourself. Defensively you have to dictate that guys don’t get into a rhythm and we weren’t able to do that with him.”
On Spencer Tollackson’s performance:
“I didn’t even know if he was going to be able to play today. To go 33 minutes and to have a double-double the way he did, he was outstanding. Spencer and Dan both rebounded really well tonight. There were a lot of positives from tonight’s game, but you have to win this type of game at home, playing against a similar team. These are games you need to win while you are learning and we didn’t do that tonight.”
On needing to regroup:
“We have to play more confident than we did down the stretch, but to have confidence you have to play better. We are going against teams on the national stage this weekend that are all quality teams. We are going to have to play better, especially being away from home.”
Iowa State Head Coach Greg McDermott
Opening statement:
“We ended the first half without scoring for seven possessions. Then we did not score the first five possessions of the second half. They got away from us a little during that stretch. To our guys credit we stuck with it defensively. I think we finally wore into the m late in the game. Obviously Mike Taylor was outstanding tonight. “
On the play of Mike Taylor:
“We let Mike (Taylor) play through some of the tough stretches when he has turning the ball over. He knows we have a lot of confidence in him as a coaching staff. What I liked to see tonight is that Mike limited his turnovers in big spots, and got five assists on the night. He had a huge assist on the Justin Gray three-point shot. We did not push it much in the first half. We tried to save energy, because we don’t have a very deep bench. We decided to turn it up late in the game, and our conditioning really helped us take control of that stretch of the game.”
On Spencer Tollackson’s offensive performance:
“We made some mistakes on our coverage. We are still learning at this point in the season. We had two days to put together our game plan, and really only full day of practice. It was a good test for us and it will be a good learning experience to go back and look at this tape.”
On holding together well when they were down:
“I think it is our attitude. We don’t get to down when things aren’t going well, and we don’t get to excited when they are. It was good to see some of the things we worked on in practice culminate in some of the big moments of tonight’s game. We stuck together well we were down, when we easily could have packed it in.”
Junior guard Lilmar Wilson
On the play of Mike Taylor:
“He just got really comfortable. We can’t let that happen and let somebody get into a rhythm like that.”
On playing on the road:
“I’m looking forward to it but it would have been better going in there with a win. We have to put this past us and improve this weekend.
On the play of Spencer Tollackson:
“I was surprised in the shoot around when he was dunking. That’s when I knew he was ready.”
Junior guard Lawrence McKenzie
On what was the difference in the game:
“We got outplayed down the stretch. They finished and that’s something we need to work on. We thought we had them but we have to finish it out.
On cold shooting down the stretch:
“At the end when we needed a big shot we couldn’t hit it. We had good looks but we just came up short.
On looking ahead to this weekend:
“We have to watch film and just look forward to the next game. We have a big week coming up so we can’t think about this game.”
On Mike Taylor:
“He hit some big shots. When the coach gives you confidence like that to keep taking shots, you’re going to end up making some shots and end up getting hot. He played a good game.”
