University of Minnesota Athletics
Minnesota-SDSU Postgame Quotes
12/12/2007 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
POSTGAME QUOTES
Minnesota 78, South Dakota State 72
December 12, 2007
Attendance: 12,025
Minnesota Head Coach Tubby Smith
“It's good that we got away with the win. We beat a good
On halftime adjustments:
“We knew we were in for a fight. They were shooting well and outrebounding us. We made a few adjustments and played a little smarter but we can't think we are just going to outscore them. We are a team that relies on defensive stops.'
On Dan Coleman:
“He made some big stops. Dan came out and picked it up on the offensive end as well. He's getting looks and is being more aggressive to the basket. But three of their guys had more rebounds than any of our guys and we need our big guys to be more aggressive down low.'
On Hoffarber and Nolen:
“Blake and Al showed a lot of courage and toughness being in there at the end of the game. We tried to keep fresh bodies in there throughout the night, aside from Dan. But I was impressed with
Senior guard Lawrence McKenzie
On if he was surprised by the close final margin:
“We were not surprised, because their guards played with great composure tonight. Usually we come out aggressive, but tonight we only had about five steals. They kept their composure, and when we trapped them that led to a lot of easy shots. They are a good outside shooting team, and so they were able to hurt us when they got open.'
On mindset during last few minutes of game:
“We wanted to get a stop. I was confident in the guys who were on the court and with coach in that situation. I thought we scored when we had the ball, but I knew we needed to step up and get defensive stops. We took it one defensive stop at a time.'
On what they can take away from the game:
“We take away a lot from it. We need to learn how to rebound better. When you look at the stat sheet we lost the rebound battle by 15 tonight. That does not have to do with just the frontcourt players, the guards also need to contribute on the boards too.'
On what Tubby (Smith) told the team after the game:
“He talked about rebounding, but that what counts is that we won the game. We have a lot of things we need to work on, but it is still early in the season and sometimes you need games like this. Blowouts are not always the best thing. When you get to the end of a close game, you have to think about what you have to do and what your teammates are doing. This game was important to us, despite the fact that we did not play well.'
South Dakota State Head Coach Scott Nagy
On the game:
“Tonight we looked Minnesota in the face and showed up to play. We played the way we wanted to tonight, and the rebounding numbers show it. Our mentality to the game was good, but our execution late in the game was horrible. At the end, it was a two-point game and we turned the ball over, fouled and did not block out for a rebound. Some of it is my fault for not having the team practice late-game situations. We have so many young kids that it is my job to get them ready for big games.'
On his team's defense:
“Our effort was really good tonight, but our defense could have been better. Minnesota shot over 50 percent from the field, and that defensive effort is not a good enough to win a basketball game.'
On whether it was intimidated to play Minnesota:
“I play a lot of young guys, but tonight they came in with a great mentality. We were able to handle Minnesota's pressure. The Golden Gophers score a lot of points off turnovers, and we were able to keep our turnovers to a minimum tonight.'
On his team's rebounding:
“We are a team that loves to rebound the ball. No matter who we play we want to outrebound them. Our rebounding effort tonight shows that we can handle just about any opponent under the boards. Rebounding is a reflection of how hard a team plays, and we showed that tonight.'
