Michigan State 75, Gonzaga 71
11/17/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Nov. 17, 2009
Recap | Box Score | Notes | Photo Gallery 1 
| Photo Gallery 2
Post-Game Quotes
Michigan State vs. Gonzaga
November 17, 2009
Michigan State Head Coach Tom Izzo
Opening statement...
Big win for us because I don't think we played real well and for the most part, Gonzaga took it to us. They really played well. I have a lot of respect for Mark (Few) and their program. Those inside guys (Elias) Harris and (Robert) Sacre I thought were really good. I don't think we did a real good job of defending them but I think that we did a good job on their guards. They punched us in the mouth, picked us up off the ground and punched us again. Early they were outrebounding us and we were turning the ball over at will. I thought we were ready to play, so I don't blame it on that, they were ready to play too. I enjoyed watching them play more than I enjoyed watching us play. I think you have to credit - if you're going to give somebody credit on our team - to our two captains. Our two captains did an unbelievable job. Kalin, you put the ball in his hands at the end and he does what an All-American is expected to do. But Raymar Morgan, if you know what he's been through in the past few weeks, then to go down like he did and come up as big as he did was maybe one of the most heroic performances I've seen in my time here. It was just unbelievable. Durrell Summers came back in that second half and did some good things. We looked sloppy. We looked out of synch and some of that is them but we beat a very good basketball team. We made a lot of free throws until the end and those last six minutes. We had some turnovers and we'll need to correct, but until we start working together with a full team that's going to be a work in progress. All in all I'm thrilled with a victory. I think we beat a top-15 team if not better. That team is going to win a lot of games. I'm thrilled for some of the guys who bounced back. I talked about leadership, Kalin demonstrated some of that, Raymar demonstrated a lot of that, the way that kid played injured, he deserves a lot of credit from everybody, including me.
On the atmosphere of the crowd...
I can't believe I didn't talk about them already because that was one of those games like old times where the crowd definitely won the game for us. Ray and Kalin played well but there's no question the crowd won that game for us. It's an easy thing to say for a coach or a writer or a fan, but I think if you were down there and you could hear it, especially at the end. If I gave out my hockey stars; I'd have to give Raymar number one and Kalin and the fans would be numbers two and three.
On the three Durrell Summers hit with three minutes left...
Where you have to give our guys credit is, even though they executed poorly for most of that game, out of timeouts they were dynamite. That's one thing we've done a good job of here. I have to give credit to Flip Saunders, Jim Boylen and all the guys I stole plays from. The guys have to execute them and make shots and I felt that they were very well executed. The dump down from Kalin to Durrell on that one was great. We just ran a lot of good things and they seemed to execute. If we could convince the NCAA to have 50 timeouts we're going to have a chance to win some games.
Gonzaga Head Coach Mark Few
On what his team can take away from this game...
There are a lot of positives we can take out of this. If you come in to Michigan State and play a Tom Izzo team, the first thing you have to do is compete, and our guys really competed. We battled and I thought we executed pretty darn well because we got the shots we wanted to get time and time again down the stretch. They defended well, but I thought we executed well enough to get some great looks. The shots just didn't go down. Michigan State made some great plays, like that three-pointer from the top. I almost think (Summers) double-pumped it. Every time we play these guys it seems like it's a great battle. From a coaching standpoint, you enjoy it because they are so well prepared. So it's like a big chess match and you're having to change things on the fly because they are taking away options A, B, C and D. We tried to do some things to take some things away from them. It's been a fun couple of battles we've had from them.
the atmosphere at the Breslin Center...
It was great. It was just a terrific college basketball atmosphere for before Thanksgiving. It felt like a game that would maybe clinch a championship in a league somewhere. I thought both teams fought hard and rose up to the atmosphere that was in here. We played here when I was an assistant probably 12 years ago and obviously this thing has really grown since then. It's a heck of a home court.
the play of Robert Sacre...
Both he and [Elias] Harris were in foul trouble that entire second half. We were trying to sub in offense and defense. He was really making a difference in there, as was Harris, and their minutes really got limited because of those fouls. It was a really physical game. That hurt us. That's why I was proud that some of our young guys stepped in and gave us some good minutes.
the physicality of his team...
If you look at our program over the last 11 or 12 years, we've had different teams. When we played Michigan State in Maui, we had a high-octane team that could really score the ball. We could mix it up some, but we had some finesse. Last year, we were a total finesse team. We were a highly-skilled team that could really score the ball. I don't know how we would have fared in a banger game like this. So far this year, we're looking a little bit like a Tom Izzo team, which is good. We've had times like that in the past. This team likes to hit and they like to play physical and I thought that was a good sign tonight.
how this game can benefit both teams...
Michigan State is in that place where everybody wants to knock them off, being ranked second in the country. Certainly we can learn a ton from it. As we told our guys, there are a lot of positives. They just have to trust us. There are some things that we can pull out of there that will really help them grow. I'm sure the Spartans and Coach Izzo are looking for that final five or 10 percent to squeeze out of this group. They've done such a phenomenal job while they've been here during their careers. Now to make this last run, they are looking for that last 10 percent of improvement so I'm sure it will help them some.
