University of Minnesota Athletics
Minnesota-Stephen F. Austin Postgame Quotes
11/17/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Minnesota Head Coach Tubby Smith:
On the team's overall performance:
"We played well in the second half. They had a good game plan to slow things down. We wanted to speed it up and we did in the second half. I thought we did a good job of attacking defensively."
On the second half outburst:
"We made our shots. We also made the switch putting Rodney Williams in the lineup. We wanted Rodney to play the four spot. Rodney hasn't been playing the four. He's been playing the three, which he's not as familiar with. It gives us a better rotation and he really played extremely well tonight."
On the improvement from Friday's game:
"We played with a lot of poise. It was critical we came out tonight and showed improvement from last week and we did that. If we can improve this much from this game to out next game it will be a good thing."
Senior Guard Lawrence Westbrook:
On looking ahead to facing Butler in the 76 Classic:
“I think a lot of people let themselves get overhyped in big games. Butler’s a good team, but they’re human like us. If we do what we do, I feel like we can come out on top.”
On the change in his game from last year to this year:
“I think defensively when you lose extra pounds like I did it allows you to be more active and gives me more stamina.”
Sophomore Guard Devoe Joseph
On Rodney Williams’ performance:
“Rodney’s a great player. He’s a great asset to our team because he’s athletic, and he can shoot from outside and run the floor, so he always brings energy to the team. He does exciting things when he finishes on highlight plays and big dunks. I think he brings a lot of energy and enthusiasm to the team.”
On the upcoming Butler game:
“I think we’ve been well prepared. We practice against each other, and I think we’re a very deep team, and practice alone is very competitive. And a team like Stephen F. Austin, they were in the [NCAA] tournament last year, so I think we’ve done a lot to prepare for this tournament.”
On not letting up in the second half:
“Coach always tells us never to let up, and he always wants us to play solid basketball. You don’t ever want to let up and make mistakes. When you let up you start doing bad things and making mistakes.”
