University of Minnesota Athletics
Minnesota-SDSU Post-Game Quotes
12/7/2006 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Post-Game Quotes
Minnesota Interim Head Coach Jim Molinari
On the team’s work ethic in practice:
“Our team is working hard in practice. I think I said this at my first press conference--whoever does the work, has the power. Self-esteem is looking in the mirror no matter what is going on and saying that I deserve this. I do think though that if you work them too hard then they come out flat, but I talk to them about what we have to do and we just try to stay humble. We have to keep working and understand that what we do now affects the next game and it also affects what we do in the Big Ten.”
On the turnaround in the first half:
“I changed my identity as a coach, I am now an offensive coach. I give Scott Nagy all the credit. They started out the season not winning very many games, but they beat Denver and Arkansas State and they came out better, they were playing with more confidence than we were at the beginning. I give them a lot of credit. I think the key that changed the game for us was Damian Johnson. I thought he did a very good job. He is long and does a great job on being at two places on defense. With his long reach he got to South Dakota State’s shooters.”
On the play of Dan Coleman:
“If you want to be a good player you have to do things outside the structure and outside of practice, and Dan does that. Dan is always working on this game. He looked sharp to me and he was cutting hard. Obviously we had a height advantage and he took advantage of it.”
On the overall team:
“I haven’t given some of these young men enough credit. Spencer is really playing well and working hard in the low post. Lawrence is really cutting hard and searching for his shots. All of our guys are playing hard. We are only as good as our next game, so we just have to get ready for the next one.”
On playing a lot of games in a short amount of time:
“Everybody is playing 30 games now and you can’t play during finals, so to fit all these games in is more difficult. Everybody is playing a lot of games in a short time.”
Junior Forward Dan Coleman
“We definitely needed that, but it could’ve gone the other way. This team has been playing well and taking a lot of teams down to the wire, so we respected them quite a bit. So we came in with a lot of focus with the carryover from UAB.”
“We were able to do a lot more things with our defense. A tribute to them, we respected them a lot, which kept us tight and helped us execute better.”
“Most of our buckets came off assists, everyone was moving the ball and trying to get each other involved.”
Junior Guard Lawrence Mackenzie
“It gave a lot of the guys who don’t get to play a lot a chance to get out there. Once Big Ten season comes, we are definitely going to need a lot of these guys. It was important for the team’s confidence to get a big win like this because we haven’t had one all season.”
“We have been having some tough practices and I know Coach Mo believes in us. We had a slow start but we knew we were prepared to pull it out, we just had to keep grinding it out.”
“He was hitting jump shots, coming off pick and rolls, and going to the basket. Those are the things that he does well and I am looking forward to seeing him do that the rest of the season.”
Junior Center Spencer Tollackson
“It felt good, we have been having some pretty hard practices. It was a good chance for other guys to get some experience. It was nice to get a little rest there towards the end.”
“We are just looking for wins and we need to play well. Winning cures a lot of problems. If we can win a few games before the Big Ten season it will help our confidence.”
Minnesota Interim Head Coach Jim Molinari
On the team’s work ethic in practice:
“Our team is working hard in practice. I think I said this at my first press conference--whoever does the work, has the power. Self-esteem is looking in the mirror no matter what is going on and saying that I deserve this. I do think though that if you work them too hard then they come out flat, but I talk to them about what we have to do and we just try to stay humble. We have to keep working and understand that what we do now affects the next game and it also affects what we do in the Big Ten.”
On the turnaround in the first half:
“I changed my identity as a coach, I am now an offensive coach. I give Scott Nagy all the credit. They started out the season not winning very many games, but they beat Denver and Arkansas State and they came out better, they were playing with more confidence than we were at the beginning. I give them a lot of credit. I think the key that changed the game for us was Damian Johnson. I thought he did a very good job. He is long and does a great job on being at two places on defense. With his long reach he got to South Dakota State’s shooters.”
On the play of Dan Coleman:
“If you want to be a good player you have to do things outside the structure and outside of practice, and Dan does that. Dan is always working on this game. He looked sharp to me and he was cutting hard. Obviously we had a height advantage and he took advantage of it.”
On the overall team:
“I haven’t given some of these young men enough credit. Spencer is really playing well and working hard in the low post. Lawrence is really cutting hard and searching for his shots. All of our guys are playing hard. We are only as good as our next game, so we just have to get ready for the next one.”
On playing a lot of games in a short amount of time:
“Everybody is playing 30 games now and you can’t play during finals, so to fit all these games in is more difficult. Everybody is playing a lot of games in a short time.”
Junior Forward Dan Coleman
“We definitely needed that, but it could’ve gone the other way. This team has been playing well and taking a lot of teams down to the wire, so we respected them quite a bit. So we came in with a lot of focus with the carryover from UAB.”
“We were able to do a lot more things with our defense. A tribute to them, we respected them a lot, which kept us tight and helped us execute better.”
“Most of our buckets came off assists, everyone was moving the ball and trying to get each other involved.”
Junior Guard Lawrence Mackenzie
“It gave a lot of the guys who don’t get to play a lot a chance to get out there. Once Big Ten season comes, we are definitely going to need a lot of these guys. It was important for the team’s confidence to get a big win like this because we haven’t had one all season.”
“We have been having some tough practices and I know Coach Mo believes in us. We had a slow start but we knew we were prepared to pull it out, we just had to keep grinding it out.”
“He was hitting jump shots, coming off pick and rolls, and going to the basket. Those are the things that he does well and I am looking forward to seeing him do that the rest of the season.”
Junior Center Spencer Tollackson
“It felt good, we have been having some pretty hard practices. It was a good chance for other guys to get some experience. It was nice to get a little rest there towards the end.”
“We are just looking for wins and we need to play well. Winning cures a lot of problems. If we can win a few games before the Big Ten season it will help our confidence.”
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