University of Minnesota Athletics
Minnesota-Ohio State Postgame Quotes
1/3/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
POSTGAME QUOTES
Minnesota (13-1, 1-1) 68, Ohio State (10-2, 1-1) 59
Williams Arena Minneapolis, Minn.
Attendance: 14,625
January 3, 2009
Minnesota head coach Tubby Smith
On the contribution from the bench with Al Nolen in early foul trouble...
“That’s why we play the schedule the way we do, so all the guys can gain time and confidence on the court. Al knows that I have a lot of confidence in him, but I thought Devoe gave us a great change of pace the way he was able to push the ball up the court. He got a little careless there at the end, but he was logging more minutes than he’s logged in awhile.
On Devron Bostick and Paul Carter...
“Devron Bostick came in the game and played well. Paul Carter gave us some quality minutes. The bench has been playing well; those guys know that I think all of our players as equals. Paul is getting healthy, he’s had a bad ankle sprain, but he’s playing better. Devron is feeling a lot more comfortable. These guys aren’t used to coming off the bench because they’ve each played a year of junior college. They’re not just learning a whole new system, but they’re learning to be ready when they’re called on. Both of them are great kids and they fit in well with what we’re trying to do.”
On playing time...
“I don’t care about playing time. That’s the last thing on my mind. If you can help me win the game, fine. If you can’t, you can’t. That’s the way I operate, that’s the way I’ve always done it and I’ve been pretty good at that. The guys understand that they may get more minutes and they may not. They’ll be rewarded if they do what they’re asked to do.
On playing zone defense...
“They were beating us when we were playing man-to-man. We weren’t stopping them off the dribble. We didn’t do a good job of rebounding the ball. I felt like we needed to do something different.”
Junior guard Lawrence Westbrook
On the Gophers’ 16-0 run midway through the first half...
“The pressure was on us today to play a good game and play with intensity. Last game, we played hard but we were making a lot of dumb mistakes. Today, we were focusing and concentrating and we played better as a team. We did what we needed to do to come out with a win. We made some shots early and when you’re making shots, everything else comes easier.”
On the contribution from the bench, particularly from Devoe Joseph...
“We don’t look at it as a bench and as starters. In Coach Smith’s system everybody plays a lot of minutes, so it’s really just people coming into the game and playing well. Devron [Bostick], Devoe [Joseph] they all came in and played well. Jamal [Abu-Shamala] had a nice layup. When everyone contributes like they did today, I think we’re going to be tough to beat.”
On getting a win against a ranked opponent so early in the Big Ten conference season...
“It feels good, it helps our confidence. I wouldn’t say we were depressed after the Michigan State game, but we were a little down. We know that Ohio State is a good team, so winning a game like this helps us to build confidence. We know it doesn’t get any easier because we’ve got Iowa on the road this week.”
Junior forward Damian Johnson
On the team’s focus on toughness and rebounding...
“I think that was our main focus for this game after Michigan State outrebounded us by almost 20. I think that was our focus coming out today; having a physical presence and being aggressive on the boards. The main thing we wanted to do was to improve our rebounding. If we’d have lost, I don’t think we would’ve had a nice week of practice coming up.”
On the team moving to a zone defense midway through the first half...
“I think the coaches wanted to slow the game up a little. The game was getting a little out of control at the time. When they went up 22-15, I think [moving to the zone defense] helped our team get our composure back. I think it worked out pretty well.”
On winning today’s game after a tough 70-58 loss to Michigan State on Wednesday...
“I think winning today was very important. If we would have lost two at home, it could have been devastating for us to go on the road having lost our first two conference games. My freshman year, the team had a lot of trouble bouncing back from a tough start [in Big Ten play], so I think winning today was important.”
On picking up Ohio State’s shooters on defense...
“I think it was tougher at first because we had a little bit of a bigger lineup. When we went a little smaller, I was playing the four and we were able to pick them up a little easier and we were able to be more aggressive.”
Ohio State Head Coach Thad Matta
On Minnesota's first half runs...
"We lost our composure on both ends of the floor during the first half Minnesota run. We had a couple bad shots that led to run-outs and turnovers. It kind of took the wind out of our sails, but that's what Minnesota does. Going into the game, we knew we had to stop the runs but we just weren't able to get it done."
On Minnesota's scoring threats...
"Minnesota was a very good basketball team. I think coming in to the game we saw they had a lot of different ways that they can hurt you. Coming in here, we knew that Al Nolen really makes Minnesota go and I really like him. I thought we were in good shape when he picked up his second foul and had to sit in the first half. Other guys came in and carried the load for them and then some."
On the rebounding battle...
"We didn't have the energy on the glass today. I cannot explain how many times the ball hit us in the hands and we weren't able to bring them in. We knew they were going to crash the glass but we just didn't do enough to stop it."
On key to Minnesota win...
"Minnesota started scoring a lot and we weren't able to get out and get scoring. It was similar to Wednesday's game in that regard, we were able to score off of our defense early but couldn't get it going again. I think that was something that leads to easy baskets. We talked about it coming into this game, they are a lot like last year's team that can can get rolling and when they do, they're really good. We couldn't stop the runs today."
