University of Minnesota Athletics
Postgame Quotes: Michigan State
12/27/2016 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
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Minnesota Head Coach Richard Pitino
Opening Statement:
"I give credit to Michigan State. They showed really great toughness in the second half. We talked a lot about making sure we came into that locker room ready because we anticipated that they will fight back, which they did. I just thought the first 5 minutes in the second half; we let them set the rules and the tone and it really hurt us. They made some big plays tonight down the stretch. Alvin (Ellis III) made those two free throws that were big. Tum Tum (Nairn Jr.) hits that three, so give them credit. Our guys fought, but Michigan St. found a way to win."
On closing out a tight game……
"We gotta find a way to win it. You know these games always seem to come down to one or two possessions. Give Michigan State credit; they just found a way to win and we did not. There will be plenty more close games and hopefully we can be on the other side of that."
On Nick Ward…..
"He has gotten himself in pretty good shape and I know he will continue to get better shape, but he was terrific and ever since Miles (Bridges) has been out, they have been going to him, which they should and Coach Izzo obviously knows what he is doing there because he is a load and they put him in a spot that is tough to do off of him….."
On the message to the team of the tough loss….
"You know just to stay together. We've been fortunate to win 12 games and it is easy to stay together when you win; it is easy to be happy when you win, but when you lose, you just gotta find a way to not point fingers, learn from it. You got 17 more of these. This is a grind. Every year that I kind of go through that; I learn that and just gotta make sure your guys stay confident, also learn why you lose and just find a way to get back up and prepare for obviously a good Purdue team in a tough road environment."
Michigan State Head Coach Tom Izzo
General comments:
"Kind of a tale of two halves. And I really like Minnesota's team. I think [Richard Pitino] has done an incredible job with them. I thought they outplayed us two thirds of that game."
On second half adjustments:
"To our credit, we scored more the second half, but we defended a lot better. It was a hard team to defend. They were driving around us, they were going around us. They were taking it to us, drawing fouls right and left and every way else. So I'm really proud of the freshmen because I told them they have no idea, they think Duke and Kentucky and those teams are tough. Big Ten games, like I said, Cleaves and Clem Haskins would have been proud of this game. It was a war."
On Minnesota:
"This is the best Minnesota team I've seen in a while. And I think, you know, it's one thing that's always left to do it learn how to close out games. And this team is going to be good this year. It really is. I'm impressed. I was impressed, I think some guys on their team have really really improved. Coffey, they recruited him, so I knew how good he was. But, you know, Murphy, McBrayer, and Mason have improved a lot since last year. This is going to be a good team, they're going to win a lot of games I think.
On moving on:
"Until that plane's wheels touch the ground, I'm gonna enjoy a victory because we've had a brutal stretch, and it's been tough, and guys deserve to enjoy it."
Sophomore Jordan Murphy
On his takeaways following the second half and overtime:
I think that we just made too many mistakes going down the stretch. We didn't make the free throws we needed and we didn't make the winning plays. I think we had some good looks, but just didn't convert.
On how foul trouble made it difficult to deal with Nick Ward throughout the game:
You saw at the beginning where Reggie (Lynch) was affecting (Ward's) shots. Then Reggie got in foul trouble, and there was a huge difference with the type of swagger that Ward had throughout the game, when Reggie was guarding him and when he wasn't, or when Reggie was being too passive. You can see the affect that Reggie has on the game, just being there bothers people's shots. They're more hesitant to go in the paint than when he's not there. I think him being in foul trouble really does put more of a load on Eric and Bakary, but then again you still have to play hard.
Sophomore Dupree McBrayer
On Michigan State grabbing momentum to start the second half:
I think we got too complacent. We needed to score. They jumped on us in the first five minutes, and we really had no answer. I think we need to do a better job with that in the future.
On Michigan State building confidence to start the second half:
That definitely built their confidence. The kid, Nick Ward, he's a big load, so they went to him and got a couple of buckets down the stretch. Basically we just need to do a better job of knowing the scouting report.
On bouncing back following a home loss:
We just have to get back in the gym and work. We didn't win twelve games for no reason. We just have to get back in there and work, and like I said follow the scouting report for Purdue coming up, a big talented team that will be even more physical. We'll have to be ready.
