Post-Game Quotes
3/2/2004 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
March 2, 2004
EAST LANSING, Mich. -
Wisconsin 68, Michigan State 64
Post-game quotes.
Michigan State Head Coach Tom Izzo
"In all honesty, we didn't deserve to win and they (Wisconsin) did. We had some freak things happen in the last day or two and tonight. For some reason we were just out of synch. I don't know if we were extremely tired or if it was being emotionally tired.
"Our lack of execution, which is something that we have done all year long, at least in the Big Ten, hurt us. We didn't execute and we took poor shots. We didn't execute coming out of timeouts and that's the coach's responsibility. I think I'm the one who needs to voice some concerns.
"Shannon Brown found out last night at 10:00 that one of his two best friends was shot and killed. We tried to do some work this afternoon, but the poor kid has struggled.
"It was other guys who didn't play the way they needed to play. Your best players have to play their best. Give Paul Davis credit - he fought. We just came out of some timeouts and didn't do what we needed to do."
Wisconsin Head Coach Bo Ryan
"Well, you know that (Michigan State) did a great job on (Devin Harris.) They were switching guys on him and they were staying really fresh and alive, Devin really couldn't get anything going where he was comfortable. He hit a couple of threes, but I wouldn't say that they were easy threes. Really, he wasn't getting anything off of the attack, but then, finally, things started to happen.
"I am happy for Mike (Wilkinson) for stepping up for a couple free throws there, because he is a guy who has been snake-bitten in a couple of situations in the past and he hit two big (free throws.) That is something that you do during the week and during the off-season, when players work on free throws, but you can never duplicate an enviornment like this. Coming in here, it is loud and it is a tough place to play. For (our) guys to come in here and step up to the free throw line and to concentrate and to make them, that was the difference.
"People always say that you like to have the lead, because if the other team catches you or goes ahead, you have the last possession or the game is more in your control. But I have seen teams lead the whole overtime and somebody hit a three at the buzzer. So, (our OT lead) did not change anything that we did, other than trying to work the clock, but they had fould down the stretch, so you knew that was going to happen."
