University of Minnesota Athletics
Postgame Quotes at Michigan State
1/14/2010 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Minnesota Head Coach Tubby Smith
Opening statements ...
"Well, I thought our kids played hard today. There were things we didn't do and we had a couple turnovers at the end that I thought cost us. But, overall, I thought our guys played well and we executed our game plan for the most part. Blake Hoffarber has been pretty hot lately, and Michigan State did a good job of slowing him down. But you expect that from a team with such a good defense. I thought we defended like we should have, but we did have some breakdowns at the end. Good teams do what Michigan State does and find a way to win games, get the free-throw line and stay out of foul trouble."
On the physical play in the post...
"It is always going to be physical, because big guys bump into each other. Colton (Iverson) is a gentle giant, he got wacked on the back from just raising his elbow. Physical play happens so you have to be strong when you take the ball inside. You have to take care of the ball."
On Summers' big half and Lucas' big half...
"We know we have to have a total team effort. I felt that we had the Spartans quiet for awhile, but they have so much balance in their lineup. When they have a lot of people that can beat you, it's hard to defend."
On Hoffarber being shut down...
"I thought we took a couple bad shots that maybe led to MSU getting fast breaks. But, overall we shot 40 percent, even without Blake making three-pointers. Blake did other things well, though; he played 28 minutes and did a solid job defensively. He had his hands full trying to guard someone like Raymar Morgan, who is more athletic than he is. Offensively, we do have to find other scoring opportunities."
On getting to the free-throw line only seven times...
"We didn't really take the ball inside as much as we should have. And I thought we had some real ticky-tack fouls, like reaching fouls, to start the second half. But we just have to be more aggressive and get the ball to the basket. We have a tendency to be off balance on making the extra pass. Again, you have to be physical and you have to be strong."
On the key to extending the lead...
"I think better patience and better shot selection is the key. We just gave away an eight-point play, which shifted the momentum."
On the outscoring by Michigan State's bench...
"Welcome to the Big Ten on the road. We have to learn how to play. We have young guys that I have asked to come in a play hard, and I think we did get some solid play in. I thought Colton Iverson gave us solid minutes. But, if we can make those shots, I think this would be a different story. So we have to find a way to make those shots. But if we don't get any production on them, it's not going to help us."
On if his starters had enough energy at the end of the game...
"Well, we did have some breakdowns at the end that were uncharacteristic. We are still in the game, even when there is a five-point lead, so we still have to make plays. We also had some turnovers that might have been because of fatigue."
Michigan State Head Coach Tom Izzo
Opening Statement...
"To be honest with you, that game went just how I expected it to go. I knew it was going to be a knock-down, drag out game and that is how it stated. I think the difference in the game was early because they had tremendous energy, and they got to every lose ball and got every offensive rebound. They out worked us in the first half, and it wasn't like we were loafing, but they took it to another level. We still did some good things by getting Durrell (Summers) some shots and again Draymond (Green) came in a played well. I was also pleased with (Derrick) Nix and (Garrick) Sherman with the high-low stuff, and I thought we did a great job on (Blake) Hoffarber. I thought we did a pretty good job on (Lawrence) Westbrook even though he had a mini-run there. I thought late in the second half we had some great shots even though some of them didn't fall. Maybe that was because they wore us down since they had more subs than us. Our bench was pretty awesome too. I said the keys to the game in the second half were going to be turnover, number one, and we had 10 while they had 15. The second key was going to be the energy, and I thought maybe it was a stand still by the end, but I thought they won that battle early with their eight offense boards in the first 10 minutes. I thought both teams also played pretty good defense. They are a very good team who is very well coached, and I am fortunate to win."
On this game reminding him of past Kentucky games...
"It was physical early like I said, and I liked the way Nix and Sherman played. If only Nix can make those layups, which is something we have to keep working on, but he did make a free throw so we are making some progress. It was a very tough game with both teams checking well even though both team missed some opportunities. Overall, it was a pretty evenly matched game."
On Durrell Summers giving the team a spark tonight...
"Well, I was telling Kalin (Lucas) that even when I look at his shooting percentage I thought that was one of his better games because he ran our team a lot better. He got a little worn down there for a while, but he threw that great lob and started pushing the ball a little bit better like last year. There were times where that was good, but Durrell made some shots, and he also got some big time head-on-the-rim rebounds. That was when we were getting our tails kicked in the first half, and I think that definitely turned the game around."
On if he prefers to win games where he has to out fight the other team...
"Once in a while I do, but not a daily basis. I think its good you have to play Wisconsin and Minnesota, and what I think that has been great about our program is that we have been able to play different styles against different teams through out the last 10 or 12 years. It can be a racehorse style of play one day, and a smash-mouth style the next. I don't think that is easy to do, and I think the players deserve some credit to being able to do both. But do I enjoy it? No, I would rather get up and down the court too. I thought we did get up and down a decent amount tonight, and we did execute pretty well at times, but we just missed some shots and they probably felt the same way."
On how difficult it was to shut down Blake Hoffarber...
"I thought with the switching we did, Raymar did a good job early before he got into foul trouble. That double foul was also tough, but I thought we got a lot of guys in tonight and we were able to rotate them in there. I thought we did a good job stopping their penetration for the most part, but Hoffarber is on a heck of a run right now and we don't have a Travis Walton anymore where we can say just don't switch on defense. I thought for the most part we were there on the catch and we did some good things against them. We were being solid and did not take chances."
