University of Minnesota Athletics
Postgame Quotes: Arkansas State
12/23/2016 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Minnesota Head Coach Richard Pitino
Opening statement...
"Good win for us. I thought the defense was tremendous in the first half. I think part of our problem in the second half were live ball turnovers and a couple offensive rebounds. But, overall, sitting at 12-1, it hasn't happened a lot here, at least since I've been here. Proud of it. It's an accomplishment, but we move on and get ready for a really good Michigan State team coming in."
On potential of Minnesota going into the Big Ten...
"I don't know. There's times during the game where I look at our team and think, 'wow, we're pretty good,' and then there are times when I go, 'wow, pretty young.' We've got to get better. We've got to stay humble. I understand that, in this league, you better win at home. It's extremely important, so what's in front of us is a home game on Tuesday. What's in front of us is three days to prepare. That's the way I look at it and we'll see where we go from there. I think we've got a good bluntness of talent and we're really young still."
On concerns over Reggie Lynch's foul in the beginning of the second half...
"I think it'll be easier for him going against bigger guys, to be honest. He plays against those undersized teams and he struggles a little bit. He's got to learn from it. He's got to learn to be physically more technical and fundamental from a defensive side of it and stay out of foul trouble."
Arkansas State Head Coach Grant McCasland
General comments...
"You turn the ball over 20 times, that makes it hard to win on the road. That's kind of what it boiled down to. We didn't guard the ball well the first half. Penetration fouls, whatever it may be. In the second half, I felt like we were more competitive defensively and allowed us to play in transition more."
On facing the Gophers...
"Playing on the road, and playing against a good Big Ten team, they can put pressure on you defensively in ways that, you know, hopefully in the long run help us get better."
On looking forward to the conference season...
"You gotta continue to believe in what you're doing, and you basically wipe the slate clean. It doesn't matter really what you did previously. It's all about what you do moving forward. I'm excited about our team and look forward to getting back after Christmas and having good practices in preparation for Lafayette on the 31st."
Graduate Student Akeem Springs
On heading into Big Ten play...
"I'm the new guy, but I can still tell that there's been a growth from this team compared to last year. That was a big goal of ours, to show our improvements. You look at our new guys, and guys like Dupree, who keep fighting. You can see our growth as team, as a collective unit. Even from the start of the season, small mistakes that we made earlier, you can see us making some of those right plays. We're putting together more of a solid game and we're coming out faster no matter who the opponent is and that's something that shows our growth."
On going from a 15-point lead over Arkansas State to a 5-point lead...
"It was a tough team. If you look at their wins, they beat a tough Georgetown team. They played some really close games against some really good talent. They have a funny team where everybody is a guard and everybody can score. We knew they were going to fight back because they're a really good team, but it's frustrating when they just put them away."
Sophomore Dupree McBrayer
On having the newcomers going into Big Ten play...
"Adding Akeem and Reggie, they've been there before. They're telling us whether you can do this or that. We're growing. Amir's growing. Eric's growing. Michael's growing. We're just trying to grow as a whole and put together a whole 40 minute game."
