Michigan State - Indiana Post-game Quotes
1/28/2003 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Jan. 28, 2003
Recap?|? Final Stats
Indiana head coach Mike Davis:
On the return of Indiana guard Bracey Wright to the lineup: "He was hurting, not really hurting, but his conditioning was off because he hadn't played in two weeks."
On the seven minute stretch where Indiana had only one field goal: "Watch the film. You'll see why. It is very difficult to get a field goal. Watch the tape. I can't say what. Watch and you'll see why."
On Adam Ballinger's three-point shot with under a minute remaining in the game: "It killed us."
On the play of Indiana forward George Leach: "George (Leach) played a great game tonight. Probably his best game since Maui (Invitational)."
Did the shuffling of the lineup accomplish anything tonight? "We lost, so I don't think it worked."
On the dominating the boards in the first half and being out rebounded in the second half: "That is the way it is on the road."
Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo:
"Well, we ain't dead yet. Give our kids credit. It's not easy, as they say, to get up off of the mat and I think that we did that tonight - for just one night. We played the kind of ball that we have to play. I thought we were very good defensively. Give IU a lot of credit. I thought that they hit some shots in the first couple of minutes. (Tom) Coverdale hit a couple of threes. He can do that to you a lot, but all in all, I think that we won this game on defense."
"I think that it was Kelvin Torbert's best game as a Spartan. When you look at all he did - defensively, he passed up a couple of shots and took it to the rim. Lorbek did some good things at the beginning and Paul Davis showed flashes of emotion.
"Then, that was a rags to riches decision for Adam Ballinger. He's from Indiana and you have to go to a kid from Indiana. We ran it and we knew he was probably going to be open. If he wasn't, Al was inside. He had a lot of those type of shots last year. So, even if you didn't like him before, you have to love him now. The weight of the world is off his shoulders."
"We beat a very good basketball team and we did it the right way. We couldn't stop Newton and we didn't rebound very well in the first half. But we came back. It's what the players needed, the fans, the media and definitely the coaching staff. We have the best fans and I think tonight that really helped us out big time."
Michigan State senior Adam Ballinger:
On the made shot at the end of the game: "If the shot was open, I was going to shoot it. I was determined because I passed that shot up a couple of times. It felt good to finally have it go in. It definitely lifts some weight off your shoulders, but it doesn't solve everything. But it feels real good right now."
On his reaction: "It was a huge release. It's nice to hit a big shot again, and I felt like celebrating a little bit."
On his confidence: "This is real big. I still made mistakes during the game, but this helps a lot. You have to stay positive. You have to keep your head up, because you know your time has to come some time."
