University of Minnesota Athletics
Minnesota-Purdue Post-Game Quotes
1/3/2007 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Minnesota Head Coach Jim Molinari
On tonight’s performance:
“My thoughts are the only way we will stay in games is by playing well defensively. In every sport, defense is something that people really value. If we continue to enjoy playing possession by possession, lose yourself in the team and stay in that mode we can give ourselves a chance to win. Tonight our guys stepped up and made some big plays.”
“I give Purdue a lot of credit. I have great respect for Matt Painter, and great respect for their program. If you look at this game, the reason we won was we were 8-for-10 from three-point range, and we played good defense. Those were the two factors. We had 22 turnovers, and we need to do a better job of limiting those. Obviously Purdue deserves credit for creating those turnovers. They turn everyone over, they are strong and quick.”
On Lawrence McKenzie’s performance:
“Lawrence has been one that proves if you try to do the right thing and keep after it good things happen. Lawrence has done a great job this season of coming to work every day for us. He stays with the game. Even tonight when he was not scoring early, he stayed with the game. I am really happy for him.”
On Jamal Abu-Shamala’s performance:
“I thought Jamal’s emotion and energy were huge for us tonight. Lawrence hit the big three, but Jamal also had some daggers tonight that kept us in the game. “
On second half performance:
“I told the guys at halftime that I would take fault for some of our turnovers, but I would not take them all. One thing we changed is we moved Dan around, and spreading the court out. We were a little stagnant at times. My goal is to work our team and just keep developing their toughness. I don’t think you can have mental toughness without being physically tough. The balance is to work hard, but also play with continued energy.”
Purdue Head Coach Matt Painter
On matching Minnesota’s intensity down the stretch:
“I thought Minnesota played hard. They made the plays necessary to win. Lawrence McKenzie and (Jamal) Abu-Shamala stepped up and made shots. Our guys stepped up and didn’t make their shots. We had a couple unforced errors, but they had a couple of unforced errors also. When you go into somebody else’s court, turn it over 11 times and force 22 turnovers with the rebounding battle being pretty well equal, you think you’re going to be in good shape. You have to give their guys credit. McKenzie makes tough shots off the dribble and Abu-Shamala was probably the difference stepping up and making those two threes late.”
On only being up five at halftime despite the turnover advantage:
“That was huge for us. We should have been in a better position heading into halftime. The breakdowns we had were with the guys who came off the bench. Our starters did a great job in the first half of defending. We just had some breakdowns and let them get a couple of baskets. You have to have guys come off the bench and be productive. That’s part of winning a game on the road.”
On Minnesota’s 9-0 run with Tollackson on the bench:
“One of the things we wanted to do was not let Dan Coleman get the ball in the mid-post. He did a good job of fighting for position and then they rotated out of there. We had a couple of poor rotations and one time even rotated past Abu-Shamala, which made absolutely no sense. It was a combination of us not executing and Minnesota executing and getting some clean looks.”
On his team’s shot selection in the second half:
“It was OK. We had three or four shots that were poor, including a couple of pull-ups. Minnesota does a good job of swarming the basketball. When you dribble in the paint, you have to pass it. You can’t shoot over a double- or triple-team.”
On how much it hurts to lose after leading most of the game:
“Anytime you lose it stings, especially on the road when you’ve put yourself in a position to have a chance coming down the stretch. We have to learn from it. It’s the first Big Ten loss for a lot of our players. You can talk about a lot of things, but you can’t simulate what the crowd did there in the second half. Maybe this isn’t the Gopher crowd when they get the place packed and going, but it was still pretty loud. It’s probably the loudest place a lot of our guys have been in and it causes an advantage for the home team. We just have to learn from it and get better and hopefully next time put ourselves in the same position and make the plays that they did.”
Minnesota guard Lawrence McKenzie
On his deep three-pointer late in the game:
“I think I was unconscious at that moment. That’s the kind of shot you take when you get on a roll. At that time, I was just thinking about winning and I have a lot of confidence in myself and I knew my teammates had a lot of confidence in me.”
On the atmosphere in the lockerroom after the win:
“It feels great going in the locker-room after a win like this. The feeling that you get is unexplainable, especially with the season that we’ve had. The Big Ten season is a fresh start for us. We just have to take it one game at a time and build off each game.”
On the halftime conversation:
“It was still just 25-20. We had 14 turnovers, so we knew we could play better. We just had to keep playing and keep fighting hard.”
On keeping the game close throughout:
“That’s why you practice. You know your principles will come into play in the end. You can’t lose faith and have to stay confident.”
On the play of Jamal Abu-Shamala:
“Jamal stepped up big tonight. I’m very proud of him. He brought energy for the whole team.”
Minnesota guard Jamal Abu-Shamala
On his overall game:
“I had some open looks for three’s and I knocked them down. I just try to bring energy and intensity the whole game.”
On overcoming a nine-point deficit:
“For the most part, our whole team just stayed in the moment. We never worried about the score. We kept doing what we were doing. Our practices have been tough lately, and we knew that we had the extra gas in the tank to finish it off and win this game.”
On drawing on his experience from last year:
“It helped to just be able to spark the team at that point and time. When the crowd got into it, it was huge for the whole team.”
