University of Minnesota Athletics
Postgame Quotes
12/24/2010 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Postgame Quotes
Minnesota (11-1) 85, South Dakota State (8-4) 73
December 23, 2010
Minneapolis, Minn.
Minnesota Head Coach Tubby Smith
Opening statement:
“It was a good win for us going into Christmas. We knew it would be a struggle. It was the first game we played in eight days, and guys have been going through exams…Al Nolen, first game back, I thought he did a good job. It seemed like he really was hawking the ball. He got in 23 good minutes tonight. We had good balance. I thought Blake [Hoffarber]—he had a lot of minutes—they really hawked him tonight. I was impressed with South Dakota State…We showed a lot of resilience. You know, bend but don’t break. When they took the lead, we didn’t panic.”
On whether it was good to be in a tough game like this right before the Big Ten opener:
“If you’re going to be in [a tough game] and it’s going to be a game that you can win, this should probably prepare us as well as any game as we get ready for Wisconsin, Michigan State, Ohio State, Indiana, everybody else. It’s going to be a lot tougher and we’ve got to do a better job staying out of foul trouble. That’s one of the reasons we play teams of this caliber, to really test us and push us and make us play better.”
On some of the challenges posed by South Dakota State:
“Tonight we had our big guys get in foul trouble because they had some quick forwards and they really did a good job breaking us down off the dribble. We got in foul trouble because we were out of position, not sliding our feet.”
On the Gophers’ inside play:
“I thought Colton [Iverson] played an outstanding game tonight. I thought Ralph [Sampson] did some good things. In the paint, we were pretty strong.”
Minnesota Player Quotes
Senior Guard Al Nolen
On his return to the court:
"It feels really good to get back out there and help, and to bring energy and play hard. I'm just really happy to get back out here and help out the team."
On having a close, difficult game heading into Big Ten season:
"I think we needed a game like that to get us ready for the Big Ten. You would rather have a game against a good team, as South Dakota State is, then a rollover easy win."
On the three-guard lineup:
"I was real comfortable. I love playing with Blake and Devoe. Those are two guys who can really score and shoot the ball really well. I'm in seventh-heaven with those guys out there."
Junior guard Devoe Joseph
On half-time adjustments:
"Coach Smith really emphasized rebounding the basketball. They were out-rebounding us. Also, we needed to get a hand in the shooter's face to make it more difficult to hit shots."
On Colton Iverson's game:
"Colton really stepped up. Mo (Walker) went down and Trevor (Mbakwe) was in foul trouble and had a tough game. Colton came in and gave us a lot of energy. He really stepped up tonight."
SDSU Head Coach Scott Nagy
On how the team played:
“We knew we had to rebound with them and we did. I thought our kids played hard. We should have been ahead at half and we just had some kids who were kind of out of it coming on the big stage.”
On struggles that lead to the loss:
“Ball control and turnovers. We had 11 in the first half and we average 11 for a game. Very uncharacteristic of us and I felt we should have had a lead at half but you can’t, having that many turnovers.”
