University of Minnesota Athletics
Minnesota-Iowa Post-game Notes/Quotes (2/7/07)
2/7/2007 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Iowa 91, Minnesota 78
Wednesday, Feb 7, 2007
Williams Arena
Attendance: 11,434
Game Notes
• Minnesota now leads the all-time series with Iowa, 90-81.
• Iowa’s 47 first half points were the most scored by a Minnesota opponent this season. The previous high was 46 by Clemson on Nov. 29, 2006. The Hawkeyes total of 91 was also an oppoent high this season.
• The 34 points scored by Iowa’s Adam Haluska are the most scored by an opposing player this season. The previous high was 33 scored by Iowa State’s Mike Taylor on Nov. 21, 2006.
• The Gophers shot a season-high 63 percent from the field (31-of-49). The previous season-best was 56 percent against South Dakota State on Dec. 7, 2006.
• Junior Spencer Tollackson returned to the Gophers lineup for the first time since breaking his left hand versus Wisconsin on Jan. 6.
• Tollackson scored 23 points, one point shy of a career high.
• Tollackson scored in double figures for the 11th time this season and the 22nd time in his career.
• Tollackson has now scored 20 or more points six times during his career.
• Junior Lawrence McKenzie has made a 3-point basket in 32 straight games.
• McKenzie scored in double figures for the 19th time this season and the 47th time in his career.
• Junior Dan Coleman scored in double figures for the 21st time this season and the 43rd time in his career.
• Coleman tied a career high with two steals.
• Junior Limar Wilson tied a career-high making two 3-point baskets.
Post Game Quotes
Minnesota Head Coach Jim Molinari
On starting Spencer tonight:
“After Spencer practiced Sunday and Monday, he was ready to start this game. He wasn’t going to lose his starting spot due to injury. He was ready to go out and perform. I thought he would give us a lift and he did a good job of that tonight. For being out for a while, I thought he played well. I thought he gave us some emotion. Offensively we are different when he is in there.”
On the defense:
“I want to give Iowa credit, I think they are making an NCAA Tournament run right now. So they came here very sharp. I thought we played soft. I didn’t think we changed anything in the game until Brandon (Smith) came in. I thought Brandon was the one guy who came in ready when he got his chance. I thought he was the only one who challenged Adam Haluska all night.”
“I told our team after watching the Iowa-Indiana game that we would not outscore them. You can’t outscore Iowa right now, and we came out and tried to outscore them. They are more athletic then us and I did not start our most athletic lineup. I think they showed that, so we will probably have to change that.”
“We need to refocus, we came out and won two in a row and now we have lost a couple in a row. These young men have done a great job. Players win and coaches lose. Our fans deserve better then that. They deserve better then teams not even feeling our presence defensively. Give Iowa credit they play well, but I don’t think we ever made them feel our presence. We never made them uncomfortable. The Big Ten is not pretty it is very physical. It is about physical, fight and you got to love the competition level.”
Minnesota forward Brandon Smith
On the team defense:
“Coach Mo is very intense. All he wants to do is win. He wants us to play hard, and if we play hard he is satisfied and that is the way it should be. I give a lot of credit to Iowa, they played hard.”
On Iowa’s play:
They just came out with a lot of screens. (Adam) Haluska came out and played hard. He played a good game. Defensive-wise they were intact and they knew where spots were.
On the play of Adam Haluska:
“He runs a lot, he has multiple screens set for him. He focuses on his spots and gets to his spots quick. It makes it hard for him to defend.
On the play of Spencer Tollackson:
“I expected Spencer to come into the game with a lot of energy. It was great to have him back. We all made him feel really good about coming back home. Spencer wants to be out there as much as anyone, so we were happy to have him back.”
Minnesota center Spencer Tollackson
On when he found out he was going to start:
“I found out during our pre-game meeting at about 1:30. It was all Coach Mo’s decision for me to start.”
On how he felt after missing seven games with a broken hand:
“It felt good to be out there, but to let another team come in here and score 91 points. We let Haluska get going, and the way he played tonight was a big reason why we lost.
“It felt like I had never left. I don’t know why or how. I was playing kind of focused and eager to get back out there. It felt like I never hurt my hand. I felt good. I’ve been staying in shape. I’ve been working out with our strength and conditioning coach and running in the morning with our trainer . I felt okay. Obviously my legs were a little tired, but I felt okay overall condition-wise.”
On his expectations for the game:
“My goal was to go out and there and not just try to fit in. My goal was to not just get in and play spot minutes, my goal was to try to play the was I was playing before I got hurt. If that wasn’t going to happen, I wasn’t going to want to stay out fhere if I was going to hurt the team. But obviously Coach Mo and the coaching staff thought I was doing more good than bad and left me out there.”
Post-game Quotes
Iowa Head Coach Steve Alford
Opening statement:
“This was a huge win for us. We knew coming in how important this game was, and I thought our guys really battled for 40 minutes. We had a few lapses, but to come on the road and score 91, out-rebound them by eight, have 24 assists and only 10 turnovers was good. Other than the last four minutes when we got careless against the press, I thought we really took care of the ball and moved it well. We got good looks and we made them. I’m disappointed in our defense. I don’t think we guarded the way we’re capable of guarding. When your field goal percentage defense is 63 and you can still win, you have to be pretty pleased.”
On Spencer Tollackson’s impact in his first game back:
“We know he’s a very good player and that he was going to ride some emotion. One thing it did was take away what McKenzie and Coleman were doing for awhile. We didn’t really have much of an answer for him because we didn’t guard him very well tonight. But our offense was about as good as it has been all year. If you score 91, you’re not going to lose very often.”
On Adam Haluska’s performance:
“He’s a First Team All-Big Ten player and he’s on a heck of a stretch right now. He’s been consistent all year, but he’s doing all the other things now. He was 6-10 from three, eight assists with one turnover, a couple of steals and five rebounds. He was terrific and Tyler Smith was big-time all night. For a freshman to come into a big game like this and get 19 points and eight rebounds, so those lines were big.
“He’s added moving without the ball. He’s a guard who understands how to come off screens and get himself open. He’s come a long way. He used to be a guy who would run down the sideline and just hope to get an open three-pointer. Now it’s a little different workload he goes through. He has to guard, he has to rebound, he has to lead this team and he has to score a lot of points for us. He’s in a wonderful stretch right now and we just hope he can ride it for a long time. He’s a terrific player, a better person and anything that comes his way he’s well-deserving of it.”
On the key to the game:
“The key to the game was the last four minutes of the first half. We controlled things, built a nice lead and were in serious foul trouble. We decided to go small and J.R. (Angle) came in and had a nice three and a nice assist and really defended well in our zone.”
