University of Minnesota Athletics
Minnesota-Michigan State Quotes
12/31/2008 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
POSTGAME QUOTES
Michigan State (10-2, 1-0) 70, Minnesota (12-1, 0-1) 58
Williams Arena Minneapolis, Minn.
Attendance: 14,625
December 31, 2008
Minnesota Head Coach Tubby Smith
Opening Statement
"Today is one of those days we hoped to be in a better mood to move into the new year and hopefully we would finish out 2008 the right way. We didn't so now it's time to regroup. We played against a team today that I thought that was more physical and tougher than we were. That's one of the areas we need to improve on is toughness. Rebounding is an area of toughness that we didn't do a very good job of today. When a team beats you by 22 on the boards you have no chance of winning. That's something we struggle with even though a guy like Colton Iverson did a good job, but Ralph (Sampson III) was having some foul trouble early on. We need to get more out of the total team as far as rebounding is concerned. I really compliment Michigan State because they are legit. They are a team that is very well coached, they have a talented ball club and they have been battled and tested. In time I think we will be battled and tested. We learned a lot from this game and I think our guys will respond the right way."
On rebound deficit...
"It was both their ability and physicality and our inability. We did a poor job of weak side rebounding. If we were in a double team and they kicked the ball out off the shot, they had players that just wanted to get into that position because they were more physical than we were. It was both that they were physically stronger than we weren't aggressive enough to hold our ground or just get their and get between the guy to move them out of the way. We worked hard on it but we just have to go back to the drawing board."
On lack of team rebounding...
"We are hoping we can get a little more physical presence on the team. Jonathan (Williams) is up and down but he's going to be ok. We need to get more out of our other guys. If you look at our guards, they played a lot of minutes. Lawrence (Westbrook) only had one rebound and Jonathan (Williams) only had one rebound, Devoe (Joseph) had zero rebounds, Travis (Busch) had one rebound. The guys just have to get more rebounds."
Sophomore guard Al Nolen
On Michigan State...
“We knew coming in that they were a physical team. The coaching staff told us that they are probably the best rebounding team in the Big Ten. We knew that we were going to have to come and really get at them and be physical with them, but we didn’t do that. They just really outmanned us.”
On MSU’s halftime adjustments...
“After we came out [of the halftime break] and tied the game, they went on a run and we gave up some easy baskets which really killed us. They were executing their offense and we couldn’t really find a rhythm and execute our offense. They just really outplayed us there in the second half.”
On Michigan State guard Kalin Lucas...
“They really do a good job of getting the ball out quickly to him. He’s very good at weaving in and out of traffic. He was pushing the ball and we couldn’t find a way to stop him. That’s what killed us.”
On what the team takes away from the loss...
“It just brings us back down to reality. A loss like this kind of lets you know that you might not be as good as you think you are, but we know right now that we’re not as bad as we think we are. We really just have to regroup and put this game in the past. We have to learn what we can from this game and move on to the next one.”
On Saturday’s game against Ohio State...
“We know that it’s important for us to be able to move on from this game. We’ve got Ohio State on Saturday and we know that they’re one of the better teams in the country. We’re really going to have to go out there and play them better than we played today.
Freshman center Colton Iverson
On Michigan State’s experienced front court...
“Obviously, there were more physical than we were. We need to work on that. They out-rebounded us, they stunned us.”
On playing with Damian Johnson and Ralph Sampson III in foul trouble...
“When a team is able to get one of our bigs in foul trouble, it makes it tough on us. We know that somebody needs to step up when someone else gets in foul trouble, and we struggled with that today.”
On moving forward from today’s loss...
“It’s a reality check. We know that we’ve got to come prepared for every game. We know that there are a lot of challenges in the Big Ten and we’ve got to work to be prepared for every game.
Michigan State Head Coach Tim Izzo
On keys to winning the game...
"We told our kids to match Minnesota's intensity and we played very hard. We rebounded well and had some vital keys to winning today. In the first half, Chris (Allen) was hitting some big shots. Those were huge with the way Minnesota's defense was playing. In the second half (Kalin) Lucas came up big for us. He had a great half and stepped up making shots for us."
On Raymar Morgan's play...
"Raymar (Morgan) missed some great shots but he had a lot of tip ins, rebounds, and played very good defense. I was very pleased with him as surprising as that sounds. He can guard a point guard or a center. He's just so versatile."
On scouting Minnesota...
"I thought Minnesota was going to come out with a lot of intensity. But it's hard to play 12 guys early on and get into a rhythm. Minnesota is still a work in progress and once you get a team like that playing with only a few guys, it changes the dynamic completely."
On Colton Iverson's play...
"I like Iverson a lot. He's raw but he's a banger. We did a good job against him and Damien (Johnson). We focused on Johnson and he had an off day. Damien was quiet compared to normal but we looked at him as an x-factor like Raymar Morgan is for our team."
