Post Game Quotes Against Northern Michigan
11/5/2006 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Nov. 5, 2006
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EAST LANSING, Mich. -
Michigan State Head Coach Tom Izzo
Opening Statement...
I thought we did some good and some bad. I thought we rebounded the ball well - especially Raymar (Morgan) and Goran (Suton) in the first half. I thought the defense played well, except for the fouling. Those 12 free throws they made in the first half has to go down. That was a problem over at Grand Valley as well. We are fouling too much, and we are turning the ball over too much. Some of those turnovers today were somewhat of a ridiculous nature. I thought Travis played better in practice this week after his game at Grand Valley. Some of the turnovers he had tonight I am not even worried about though, because they were so ridiculous that he couldn't try to do it if he wanted to.
The biggest thing I'm concerned about is our focus when we get a little tired. We tried to play a lot of people - I wanted to get Tom Herzog some minutes and see what he looked like, I wanted to see Isaiah Dahlman as well. In all honesty, having Drew Neitzel out of there for half the game changed things a bit. He has a little bit of the flu, so I didn't want to risk it. If it was a regular season game I would have played him early, but I wanted to see how our team responded without him in there, in case it happens during the year. I remember it happening with Steve Smith, Shawn Respert and Scott Skiles where the team panicked a little bit. In case he hurts an ankle or is sick, I want them to at least know they can play without him.
So, enough good to be pleased but enough bad to have a lot of work ahead. Don't be fooled though, Northern Michigan is a good team. I thought we defended Salois and Washington well. I like playing the Division II schools a lot more than some of the other schools we play because there is a lot more structure. You see more zone and man-to-man defense from them. I think both of these last two games have been good for us.
On the play of Idong Ibok...
Getting a better sense for the game is a good way to put it. He was out there and got his feet wet early, especially catching the ball, which he has had some difficulties with. But I think he is going to help us. If he can give us 15 minutes like he had tonight, that would be really nice.
On Drew Naymick, Marquise Gray and Raymar Morgan...
He (Naymick) had all those fouls early, and according to the referees, he could have had a lot more. He only did nine minutes because of that. On Marquise Gray: considering that he hasn't been full go and hasn't been practicing with Drew for three days, I thought they did a pretty good job together. Raymar Morgan is going to make a difference for us. At times, he made some good things happen, but when he got tired, he might not have sucked it up enough. But, that is part of what freshman do, and he is going to be a fun one to coach.
Northern Michigan Head Coach Dean Ellis
Opening Statement...
I love this situation and rule that's happening all over the country - giving us (as a Division II school), a state-rival, a chance to play here at the Breslin Center, and there have been good games across the country. UW-Parkside beat UW-Milwaukee, a tournament team, so it's a great rule situation for us, and thank goodness Tom (Izzo) is a Northern Michigan guy. It seems like the phone has rung four of the last five years and he's asked if we wanted to come down and play. It's a great deal for us.
On his team's performance...
I'm proud as heck for my guys. They fought, battled, got loose balls and did what they could. Their lack of size seemed to be an issue and I don't think that'll be quite as big of an issue when we move into our level. It's a great experience for us and hopefully we can build on this and get better in our conference.
Evaluating his team...
We can shoot the ball better than we did. We shot 25 percent in the first half and were down nine points, and our best player Ricky Volcy had only one field goal. I think if we shoot 30 percent we're down four or five, and I think that might have been a little bit different situation for us. They had the right level of desire, fight and scrap, and they did it right to the end. Ricky Volcy had a good second half - we finally found a way to get him free a little bit. We're going to be happy guys jumping on the bus driving back to Marquette.
