Post-Game Quotes
11/5/2008 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Nov. 5, 2008
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EAST LANSING, Mich. -
Michigan State Head Coach Tom Izzo
Opening Statement... I thought we did some real good things. As a team, we wanted to be aggressive on both ends of the court, not just the defensive end. I thought we were getting to the free throw line. We had 57 of them which shows that we were taking the ball right at them. The only disappointing thing is that we only made 40 of the 57. I thought our running game was really good.
If there was a negative, I didn't think our bigs played great. But with the pressure on the ball, we never got into our offense. There were a lot of turnovers in the first half so it was probably unfair to evaluate. All in all, we had our sluggish points, especially at the beginning of the second half, but I thought we did a very good job of running.
On Durrell Summers... I was very pleased with how he played. Defensively, he played better than he did last season and he ran really well. He also shot the ball very well and he is always ready to shoot. I think he will play a big role because he can defend and he is great rebounder and he has improved his shooting and gotten better with the ball. He has made great strides and I am expecting big things from him.
On what Izzo told Summers on the bench... I was proud of him. He hasn't guarded very well in his first year, just like most freshmen. I though he ran well and I thought he was ready to shoot and I told him to thank his teammates, because they gave him some great passes. As he continues to grow and get stronger, I think that he can be a dynamite player for us this season.
On the unselfish play... I thought we played very well and we played unselfish and passed the ball very well. We tried to be aggressive on both ends and be more consistent than we were last season. Those were our two battle cries for the night. I thought we got off to a sluggish start and we were a little inconsistent in the second half, but for the most part, we did both those things pretty well. We kept saying, "Let's play the game, not the score" and we did a pretty good job of that.
On the defensive pressure... The pressing and the running, I would like to do all year long. I think we need to keep it in perspective tonight and not get too carried away. Yet, I think it shows that we have depth and better athletes this year. We are more athletic, stronger and we are a better passing and shooting team than we were last year. I think we need our bigs to play better, but we will work on that in the next few weeks. I think that there were a lot of things we did well tonight, but like I said, we need to keep it in perspective.
On the depth of the team... I just feel that I need to get this team ready to play. We need to find out combinations. We are not going to be able to play 13 guys all season long. We need to find out who is going to play and who is not. We played a lot of guys 19 minutes, and that was the game plan. We will be able to look at a lot of things on film and we will go from there.
I think we can go nine or 10 or maybe even 11 deep. It's hard to play that, there is always something that happens. I went back and looked at our 2000 team when we had 10 guys playing 10 minutes; our 2001 team, our 2005 team. A lot of those great years, we were playing nine or 10. The way it is going now, we could play 11 or 10. It depends on who we are playing. What I like is that we have some versatility and some flexibility and if we keep getting consistency and aggressiveness, then good teams can become great teams.
Northern Michigan Head Coach Dean Ellis
Opening comments... Wow, they're good. They have some speed and their guards are great. They changed the line-up a little bit with Raymar at the four and that's a tough assignment to prepare for. When that four man can shoot, you've got some problems.
They've got some depth, too. Summers is great and I think he made three or four [baskets] in a row. Their speed is just incredible. Our guys aren't that fast, but they get down the court. The press drove us nuts, obviously. I think it's hard to press in the Big Ten as guys kind of get worn out, but that's a big weapon for them and I'm sure he'll try and continue to use it, especially early in the season. They're awfully good, and it's going to be very fun to watch them around here.
On losing four players to eligibility issues... We lost four guys yesterday to an NCAA ruling, these guys from Montreal. It's kind of complicated to go into. I had to sit and look three juniors in the eyes and tell them that their careers were over. It really blindsided them. I talked to Izzo about it a little bit, and he's really disappointed. It was a terrible situation for us, as we lost three of our top six guys. Why the NCAA did that, I have no idea. We had two practices without those guys and our rotations were pretty messed up. That's a little bit of an excuse for us, but they're good. I hope they get hot and get going and everybody is happy around here. I hope they have a great year and we are sitting watching them in Detroit at the end.
On preparing for the full-court press... They just have so much depth out there and you have to use it. Two years ago, they couldn't run Neitzel to death out there pressing, but now they've got some depth. I knew they would man-press us.
I went around and talked to three different referees and said, "would you go tell them to get that press out of there, they're killing us right now," but I guess that's not the only thing I said to the referees. They have some great guards and they get by you and get in gaps, and you'll see them do it for a while. It's a good deal for a Division II team to come in and I want to thank the Michigan State staff for having us back and hopefully we can come back again.
