From The Locker Room
1/14/2004 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Jan. 14, 2004
Michigan State Head Coach Tom Izzo
On his team's victory
"I guess it was a much needed win for us and maybe more importantly was the way we won it. I thought our defense, especially the job (Alan) Anderson and (Kelvin) Torbert did on (Jan) Jagla, was phenomenal. To hold a team under 40 percent for the first time in what seems like a century was important. To out-rebound a team well was important. We had six guys with two or three assists, so I thought we shared the ball really well and I thought we took pretty good shots. There were a lot of positive things where we got back to our old self. It was great to get a technical and feel like I'm in a game again. Everybody needed to get going a little bit and I thought we did that."
On the play of Penn State
"Ed DeChellis has done a phenomenal job with that team so far. He does not have the depth, especially at the guard position. He gets a lot of mileage out of those guys. I really tip my hat to him."
On winning and losing
"When you look at our losses, 90 percent are against top 15 teams. It does make you feel a little more human. I think right now we just need to get a little momentum and start feeling better about ourselves. But we accomplished a lot of our goals (tonight). We need to win games, we need to win them the right way and the way we want to win them."
Penn State Head Coach Ed DeChellis
On Spartan defense against Jan Jagla
"(Michigan State) did a good job on Jan. Unfortunately, he didn't do much to help himself, and that is something that he has to learn on the road. You know, he scores a lot of points and gets a lot of rebounds and these people are going to try to play him hard. He just tries to do stuff that he can't do, instead of playing to his strengths. But, it is a good lesson for him to learn; that he has to play within himself and to where he can get the ball."
On Michigan State's offensive force
"They took us out of our stuff offensively. We obviously had a hard time scoring. We have a hard time scoring as it is. We are not very potent and we have to manufacture all of our shots. It was just one of those nights when we had a hard time making baskets, but it was a good game for them, obviously. It was a win that they had to have at home. They were ready to play, and I thought that they spread the ball around tonight, so it was a good game for them."