University of Minnesota Athletics
Minnesota-Northwestern Postgame Quotes
1/27/2010 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Minnesota Head Coach Tubby Smith
On the game:
"It was a good win for us.We've been struggling in close games, so tonight we finally found a way to win. I give a lot of credit to Northwestern. Their one-three-one gave us all kinds of problems in the second half, but I liked the way our guys shared the basketball. We had 20 assists on 24 made baskets. If we can learn to make layups we might be able to have a little more comfortable lead."
On what he said to the team in the huddle down the stretch:
"Just to execute. We wanted to execute. I thought that was one of the keys. Obviously Blake was the difference maker. When we did take the lead, and he came down and made those two threes, that was huge. You know, you try to find words, and at that time, it's tough. It's just, 'Be patient. Don't try to hit a home run. Take your time.' And that's basically what we did."
Senior Lawrence Westbrook
On bringing emotions from loss Saturday into game today...
"I really didn't. I forgot about last game, it's over. It was a tough loss but it's a whole different team and a whole different style. I just tried to focus and concentrate on this game. I watched the last game one time and didn't give it much thought after that."
On stepping up with absence of Al Nolen...
"Losing Al is a big loss for us. He's one of the best defenders that I've seen and he really pushes me in practice to make me a better player. We knew with him going out that we had to step it up. Devoe (Joseph) did a good job stepping up, he gives us a good offensive threat. And then they have to guard me, Devoe, and Blake (Hoffarber) as well (on the court)."
Junior Blake Hoffarber
On playing to keep NCAA tournament hopes alive...
"You're supposed to look at one game at a time, and we do. But at the beginning of the season, your team makes goals and that was one of ours. Hopefully come March, we'll be playing our best basketball. If we do that we could be in that tournament.We have to start winning all of the games (at Williams Arena). Hopefully we'll start getting better each day in practice and take it one day at a time and hopefully we can start winning all these games and build our resume."
On bench players contributing to the win...
"I think that's one of our strengths. We have a lot of guys that can play and step up. I think when those guys give us a lift when we come out (of the game), it definitely tires the other team and then we come in with fresh legs. Any time they're playing well, our whole team starts clicking."
Northwestern Coach Bill Carmody
Opening Statement:
"First off its real disappointing to have the guy we didn't want to beat us, beat us. We were down by eight at half and came all the way back to take the lead with four minutes left and then (Blake) Hoffarber hit a couple shots to really make it difficult for us. That's what he does best. We know we can't let him do that. (Hoffarber) played a nice game and that's why he is one of the best shooters in the country."
Do you think that it took a lot out of your guys to make that run back into the game in the second half?
"I'm not sure that it did. We have to finish the game after going up with four minutes left. We had some guys in the game that hadn't played a whole lot this year."
Was it your intent, even before the game, to go into the 1-3-1 trap like that?
"We knew coming out of half time that we needed a spark. We needed to find a way to prevent them from getting the looks that they wanted."
What do you think gave Minnesota their big run at the end of the first half?
"Well, I had to take out (Jeremy) Nash because he had two fouls there at the end of the first half and that definitely didn't help us. The guys that were in the game looked like they hadn't seen the press since 7th grade and they guys that they had in were fresh."
Without Al Nolen on the perimeter, it seemed like your team had a lot of open outside looks. What do you think contributed to some uncontested shots from outside?
"Well, I thought we missed some pretty good looks, but Al (Nolen) always makes it tough. He can shoot the gaps, get some steals, and make your life difficult from the outside."
