Post-game Press Conference Quotes
1/22/2003 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Jan. 22, 2003
Michigan State coach Tom Izzo:
"It feels good to win and it feels good to be home. I really have to give my guys a lot of credit. They did a great job of staying patient. It seemed like they played 34 seconds of good defense on each and every possession. Yes, it was frustrating because we weren't scoring on the other end, but that's what we've done in the past - not let another team get a run on us. Tonight our defense prevailed. We did take care of some of our problems. It sure was a step in the right direction.
"(Not starting Chris Hill) wasn't a punishment. There were just some things that we weren't getting done. I thought maybe it would take some pressure off of him. I thought it was something that would help him and help our team. Plus, I needed (Tim) Bograkos to being some energy."
"Whenever you lose a game, you think you'll never win another one - every coach in America feels that way. We played very strong defensively and we did a pretty good job of rebounding against them. Tonight was a big step in the right direction. A win is important and tonight was an effort-related win, which is huge."
Penn State coach Jerry Dunn:
"I think the defense was tough. Michigan State did a great job on the defensive end. I felt that they dominated on both ends of the court to be quite honest with you. They got into us. They played like men. We played as soft as you can possibly play on both ends of the court. We made cuts. Instead of stringing the cuts out, we simply wilted. We wilted on screens. On the defensive end, we never got to shooters the entire night. We simply played like a bunch of soft boys tonight."
