Post-Game Quotes
1/17/2004 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
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Michigan Head Coach Tommy Amaker "We struggled to score this afternoon. I thought our turnovers were a big factor...we had 12 in the first half and 22 for the game. Those are opportunities where you don't get a chance to get a shot. I thought we competed and had it within striking distance at moments but they were too tough today. They were the better team this afternoon, we take our hats off to them and I certainly hope we car regroup."
On Michigan looking to improve its team toughness "Absolutely. I think Tom (Izzo) will mention that about his team, in terms of different moments this year for his club and certainly for us today. You need that, especially on the road and in a tough environment. You need to be mentally tough and need to do all the little things."
On the offense and what it needs to do better "I didn't think they finished very well. Anytime you shoot 13-for-21 from the free-throw line you can't cash in, especially when you have been struggling to score. You are going to have those droughts...We got to the line in a decent manner with 21 attempts but only 13 makes and at times that can be very deflating."
Michigan State Head Coach Tom Izzo "That was a big win for us against a quality, quality team. It's a shame - we get Kelvin Torbert off to a great start and then he got in that foul trouble. We hit shots, they hit shots. It was just a great game to watch early. I thought the big key came when Michigan had some guys in foul trouble and Jason Andreas and Maurice Ager did an incredible job, getting six or seven rebounds in the first half. Those last eight minutes of that first half, Andreas got five rebounds when there are some games when he hasn't gotten any. That was real critical. I thought Paul got off to a slow start in both halves. Then he really grew up. He really wanted the ball in the huddle, he wanted us to go to him. I thought we did it the old-fashioned way."
"(Bernard) Robinson Jr., has had an incredible year. He's really been playing pretty well. I don't know if it was all us or part him but it was definitely something where I thought we did a pretty good job on him."
"The hero today could have been Chris Hill because he was sicker than a dog. He threw up a ton before the game. When we got in foul trouble, we kind of had to leave him there and he was kind of walking on his knees, as you could see. I told him that was pretty good, because in the old days he used to have to do that before every game, but he didn't need to that much. So I really take my hat off to Chris."
"I thought every guy on the team did some good things. Yet I want you to know that Michigan is a very good basketball team. Those young guys are going to get better. The guy who I think has really been their catalyst is Robinson."
"We got some points off our defense. We had some steals. I thought we did a pretty good job defensively because those four perimeter guys really have an offensive mind and our guys didn't give them an inch. We outrebounded a bigger team with sometimes a much smaller lineup."
