Post-Game Quotes: Penn State
2/10/2011 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Feb. 10, 2011
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Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo
Opening Statement
Well, I was very pleased with a lot of the game with as far as what we wanted to do. We talked about wanted to go inside early and the defense intensity had to step up. I thought the intensity defensively was phenomenal early. I thought we did a great job getting the ball inside. The lapse we had, we did have some bizarre lineups in there and that's going to happen to us some. We have to figure out and probably change the starting lineup so we can really get back. It's hard to play with certain guys with two guys at one time. So we are going to look at some things there.
We talk about (Kalin) Lucas and (Draymond) Green. They did their jobs. I thought Kalin was phenomenal. He played too many minutes and I apologized to him for that. He did a lot of good things and broke it down and got to the free-throw line - the things we talked about doing. They outrebounded us last time. We outrebounded them by 15. We kept our turnovers down again and we shot the ball well from the free throw line. We did a lot of good things, yet, a few mistakes here and there.
It was quite an exciting moment to see Draymond get a triple-double since it doesn't happen here very often. It was kind of a sad moment to see Delvon (Roe) get undercut on that. I don't know what his status is. That was the only negative of the night, to be honest with you...We need to get a little bit more out of (Durrell) Summers but at least we are making progress. I thought defensively, he was better the second half than the first. (Mike) Kebler came in and played better defensively and that was important. I thought (Adreian) Payne did a pretty good job when he was in there. Baby steps, we haven't conquered the world but it's a step in the right direction.
On what he thinks woke his team up...
That team didn't make every shot they took and I think that helped. I don't know. I think that the hardest thing I had to deal with, is that I don't have answer for some of these things. It's bothersome to our fans and our media a little bit, but believe it or not, it is to me. Of all the things we did, we just didn't check very well. It really comes down to that. And that hasn't happened here very often. We had to bring Jim Schwartz here to scare them. I thought everybody's intensity was better. I spent a lot of time with Kalin in the past couple of days. I spent a lot of time with Draymond and we have other very good players. Those two guys have to do their job. I talked to Draymond and I showed him a highlight tape of how energetic he was defensively. And maybe he hasn't been that way. I think maybe one of the reasons is because we are playing him too many minutes. We are playing him 35, 36, 37 in some games. Like today, we played him, but we got him in, we got him out, we got him at least a minute break or 30 seconds in a timeout. Mark Montgomery and I are trying to make a commitment on how we are going to try and do a better job subbing. I think that will help Day-Day and Kalin. We just said, `you miss so much all summer, you should be fresh.' Boy, we are riding him (Kalin) a little bit right now like a horse. And he's bringing it home. He's had a bunch of good games in a row, both scoring, got a little tired there at the end. Really, I thought he did a phenomenal job defensively until they scored two layups and two 3s at the end. If we would have held them there it would have been phenomenal but, it was still pretty good."
On Summers' shot right before half and shots like that...
There's no question - we need him. I still think that any scorer, any scorer, but especially the Skiles' and Steve Smiths' and Shawn Respert's and Morris Peterson's. I mean Peterson got a break because he broke his hand, threaten not to play him if he couldn't guard anybody because he couldn't shoot. You know those other guys. Your offense is always going to dictate some of your defense. We need him (Durrell) so much, because we just don't have those bodies at those positions. The second half, I don't know what he ended up with in rebounds, but I think second half he went up and got a couple big ones. He's capable of rebounding better and shooting better and we need him to. There's no secret about it. Just like every team needs their top three players to play well to win. So do we. Yet, I thought that second half we challenged him as the defense got better. His offense, still, we need to get him the ball at the right time. I think a couple of times we did. He's making some progress. His practice has been better. Like I said, it's kind of sad that we have to sit here and act like we've accomplished something big, that's not an insult to Penn State. I think they're an excellent team. I just think that we were groping and we were trying to keep our head above water a little bit and maybe this was a step. I think as I said, I take a lot of responsibility for that.
Penn State head coach Ed DeChellis
On tonight's game...
We played the worst that we have played all year. I will credit Michigan State, I thought they played with a lot of energy and emotion. We didn't, which is kind of ironic because that has been our theme for two days now. I knew that the first four or five minutes of the game would be very physical and very fast. We needed to adjust to the speed quickly tonight, but we never really did. MSU just took the ball inside, scored at will, and rebounded offensively. I will give Michigan State credit though, because I thought they played very well.
On getting Jeff Brooks back in the lineup...
Brooks practiced a little bit for us yesterday for the first time in nine days. I thought he was pretty good for us tonight; he had some good shots. Brooks is a good player and it was nice to get him back out there tonight. Hopefully, he can come back and have good practices tomorrow and Saturday in order to get ready for Sunday.
On Michigan State trying to get Draymond Green a triple-double...
I didn't have any control over that. Green is a good kid and a good player so I am glad for him.
