Post Game Coaches Quotes
11/7/2005 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Nov. 7, 2005
EAST LANSING, Mich. - Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo post-game quotes" On Lake Superior's play... "It was a good game for us. I thought Mike (Fitzner) did a good job of giving us a lot of different looks. I thought they mixed it up, which gave us some trouble in the second half when Shannon (Brown) was out. I thought they ran some good things and had some good shooters."
On the minuses of the game... "I was a little disappointed in the play of our backup guards. I need them to do what they can do. Travis (Walton) is a great defender that didn't defend very well and Maurice (Joseph) is a great shooter that didn't shoot very well. I think the fact it was the first game had something to do with it, but we need them to do what they do well. Defensively we became a little bit lethargic for awhile, which was disappointing. But, the positives definitely out weighed the negatives."
On the play of Ager, Brown and Neitzel... "I thought Ager, Brown and Neitzel were unbelievable. I was especially happy with Ager and Brown who played incredibly unselfish. I don't think we got the ball inside enough, which somewhat our post's fault, but they moved the ball very well. I was impressed with they way they handled and passed the ball."
On the play of the post players... "I was pleased with the way Paul (Davis) bounced back in the second half, but we still need to get him more involved on the boards. I was very pleased with Drew Naymick. All of our other `bigs,' can bring something to the table just like I have been telling you."
On the overall play "I am pleased with how we played, but I have no false expectations, we didn't play the Lakers. Actually, we did play the Lakers, but we did some good things. We didn't handle the zone pressure too well, but we haven't had much time to work on that. "
Lake Superior State Head Coach Mike Fitzner
Opening Statement...
"It was a great experience for our kids to come down here and play in this type of environment. Having this type of experience is awesome, we're never going to see a team this good the rest of the year. A team that is obviously picked very high in the country, with a lot of experience, and they really played very well. I was proud of my kids, especially in the second half, we came out and we were down, and I think we battled them pretty hard. We executed some stuff on both ends, and I saw a lot of positives out there, I saw much more that we need to work on, but all in all, I was pretty pleased with the experience, so we're real happy going away."
On Michigan State's running game...
"From my perspective it looked pretty good. You get Ager and Brown out there running the wings, and you can't really send your guys to the offensive glass, because if you don't come up with the ball, they're probably scoring an easy bucket at the other end of the floor. That's one thing, watching film and talking to other coaches, you have to get back because they'll just eat you alive in the transition game. We talked about that a lot with our guys the last couple of days, and they still had a lot of easy opportunities. That's a big strength of theirs, and I think they're going to be real successful getting up and down the floor."
