University of Minnesota Athletics
Postgame Quotes
11/30/2011 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Nov. 30, 2011
Postgame Quotes
Minnesota (7-1) 58, Virginia Tech (6-2) 55
Williams Arena - Minneapolis, Minn.
November 30, 2011
Head Coach Tubby Smith
Opening statement:
"It has been a tough week for us with the injury of Trevor (Mbakwe), but I thought our kids really stepped up tonight and grew up a lot. This is a very tough Virginia Tech team, things on the line playing the Big10/ACC Challenge... A gallant effort by all our kids. I couldn't be prouder of how they competed, took care of the basketball, executed, good precision when we had to. It was a good all-around game."
On confidence gained from playing well without Mbakwe:
"Trevor is part of it, being there cheering the guys on, encouraging them. That was huge. The confidence comes when you're persistent and you're consistent in your efforts."
On Rodney Williams handling the four position:
"He seemed very comfortable. We were able to get the ball to him close to the basket. He wasn't settling for jump shots... Our guys did a good job of looking for him. He played an unbelievable 38 minutes, so that's the longest and the best. This is the best shape Rodney has been in."
Virginia Tech Head Coach Seth Greenberg
General thoughts on the game:
"The game came down to a couple of things. We had some good defensive possessions and we did not finish them. We had to get the 50-50 balls and we did not tonight. We got stops, we got deflections, and instead of securing the ball we did not finish the possession. The other thing that hurt us was we have to be able to get the ball in bounds at the end of the game. I did not think we were as tough as we needed to be."
On how Erick Green's injury affected the team:
"If he was in the game, we would have had the ball in his hands at the end of the game instead of (Robert Brown's) hands. Robert is a freshman and he did not understand the sense of urgency at the end of the game. He was walking the ball up the court instead of running it."
On what Virginia Tech can take away from the game:
"We did some good things. We have to get tougher and have to get something out of our transition game. We are getting nothing from our transition game at all. We have to get more guys contributing, and get more guys the ball in positions where they can make a play."
