University of Minnesota Athletics
Postgame Quotes
1/5/2011 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Postgame Quotes
Minnesota (12-3, 1-2) 67, Indiana (9-7, 0-3) 63
January 4, 2011
Minneapolis, Minn.
Minnesota Head Coach Tubby Smith
On the stamina of the team:
“I thought that hurt us in the second half. In the two games we lost we didn’t have it. The fatigue hit us and we weren’t really as strong as we should’ve been in both the Wisconsin game and the Michigan State game. So I think getting early rest for Al (Nolen) and Blake (Hoffarber) saves their legs.”
On Al Nolen’s stamina:
"You know Al deals with the asthma so that’s what he deals with. That’s why he goes in spurts. That’s something he deals with. It’s an exercising hazard he’s had since he’s been here. Tonight he did a good job of saying, ‘Hey coach,’ for the first time 'you know I’m fatigued.'"
On Indiana taking away the lob pass to Trevor Mbakwe in the second half:
"They started fronting him and I thought Jeremiah Rivers did a good job. They really were using their quickness. You know we didn’t do a good job of looking for it and getting the ball inside. I thought we did a very poor job after we established the inside game with Trevor."
On the way Rodney Williams attacks the glass:
“It energizes you because the team is very physical and it kind of demoralizes an opponent if you go in and you have a spectacular play at the basket. That’s his game."
Minnesota Player Quotes
Al Nolen (Sr./G)
On Indiana switching from zone to man-to-man:
“They played a lot of zone with Blake (Hoffarber) on the bench. They played our big guys pretty well. We (Williams and I) felt like if we had driving lanes, we needed to take advantage of them.”
On stepping up to fill the void left by Devoe Joseph:
“Coach really told guys it’s time to step up. Everybody needed to play well. Rodney (Williams) and I were able to step up. Maverick (Ahanmisi) hit a couple huge threes for us. I think guys really stepped up and took on the challenge in the second half.“
Rodney Williams (So./F)
On the two 10-0 runs in the second half and the team's increased energy:
“Everybody just realized that we need to win. Going 0-3 in the Big Ten is a really tough hole to climb out of. Everybody just knew coming out in the second half that we needed to fight.”
On his second half dunk that ignited the Gophers:
“I didn’t even really think it was all that nasty.”
Indiana Head Coach Tom Crean
On the flow of the game:
"They got momentum and there were a couple of mistakes defensively by us but I never felt like we were out of it. We were still getting our shots and good looks so I felt like we were still in the game."
On matching up with the bigs:
"Play them and match up with their personnel. They are going to run a lot of high-low. We had a lot of different game plans and at certain times we were able to play zone. It’s tough going with a straight zone with a player like Blake (Hoffarber) out there. He can get lost and hit shots out there.”
On the play at the end of the game:
“That’s tough to swallow, when you do everything you can to come back and get a loose ball foul. That’s a tough pill to swallow.”
