Michigan State - Oklahoma Postgame Quotes
11/14/2001 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Nov. 14, 2001
EAST LANSING, Mich. -
Michigan State Head Coach Tom Izzo
"Well, that was a strange game to say the least and yet I thought that it was one that was maybe won the old fashion way. We talked before the game about our old motto. Mateen (Cleaves) called me last night, he said coach don't forget your old motto and that was PPTPW (Players Play, Tough Players Win). I really believed that whoever played the hardest would win the game. I think they played awfully, awfully hard and yet I think we responded.
"Thank God to a walk-on in Tim Brograkas, two or three freshmen, and Ballinger. I really believe Anagonye came through in the end. We had some very bright spots. We had some disappointing spots. Giving up 15 offensive rebounds is probably one of them. But when you hold a team to 32 percent (from the field), they are going to get more chances.
"We are not going to win a lot of games if we don't get better play out some key people. We are going to keep working on that, but I must tell you, I was proud of this team tonight. I thought the way they battled and went after it, was one that everybody who played at this place (Michigan State) should be proud of. That's the way I'm going to look at it.
"We need a lot of practice time. We got a lot of things to improve on and that is what will happen in the next seven days. This could not have worked out better for us, for our team to have the opportunity to go to New York. In a small way, I think we're going to grow as players because we are getting to play two more games. I think we are going to grow as people because we are going to have a little time together as a team in a place (New York City) that has been rocked. This is going to be a great trip educationally, academically, and it will be great athletically. I think it will be great for the togetherness and camaraderie of this team. I am looking forward to it."
Oklahoma Head Coach Kelvin Sampson
"We caused a lot of turnovers, but we couldn't convert. But we'll get better obviously. The score was 42-40, and we just couldn't get them to turn it over. We had opportunities to score on transition, and we didn't score. So from our side, we did a good job of getting them to turn it over but we didn't convert many of our fast break opportunities.
"I think it will be helpful to get these couple of weeks off to practice some things. I didn't see any negatives in tonight's game. It's important early in the season for a team to establish an identity. We have a lot of new guys, but these things can all be corrected.
"We had some guys grow up tonight. This was a good game tonight because it really tested us early. I thought we battled through a lot of things. The toughness factor was definitely there. There was a lot of positives. We battled through deficits in the first and second halves, and made it a game."
MSU Guard Chris Hill:
"Coming out, one of our keys to the game was to get our fast break going. We thought if we got out and ran on them we could try and get some easy buckets. I don't think we did that good of job of it in the first half. We slowed it down in the second half a lot. That is something we will have to work on in our next few games. We want to get out in our lanes and get the ball a little faster."
On Marcus Taylor's foul trouble
"That was really good experience for me. It was really a whole team effort out on the court though. We rallied around losing our point guard. It took all five guys on the court along with six, seven and eight off the bench. We all had to make big plays and put in some good minutes. It was great experience for everybody."
MSU Guard Marcus Taylor:
"We definitely had to step it up in the second half. We had some guys not playing as well as we wanted so we had to have a total team effort. I think the freshman came in and made their mark tonight in many areas. I give a lot of credit to them."
