Michigan State - Illinois Post-Game Quotes
1/31/2008 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Jan. 31, 2008
EAST LANSING, Mich. -
Michigan State Head Coach Tom Izzo
Opening Statement...
I was disappointed by the way we played and Illinois deserves some credit for it. We made some good shots early and I thought that they took it to us and I didn't like the way we responded at all in the first half. I thought in the second half, defensively, we were better but offensively we were kind of out of it most of the game. When we got knocked in the mouth I didn't think we responded very well. And that's really the toughest team we played and I expected that, I'm not sure my freshman did. Kalin's been so good but he had a freshman moment tonight. And that's going to happen but there were some sophomores and juniors who had sophomore and junior moments. Thank god for Travis Walton and I think you got to give [Goran] Suton some credit. But we had a lot of guys that got taken out of the game and that's three-fourths credit to Illinois and a quarter blame to us. It was a win, it wasn't a really pretty one, but a win's a win.
On the milestone of 19-2 through 21 games...
I think if we would have delivered some of the punch it would have been fitting. I didn't like the way we responded. I guess we did play pretty good defensively but the milestone, it will probably mean more to me tomorrow than it does right now.
On if the physicality is where it needs to be...
It was for them, it wasn't for us. We've seen that for a few years, that's the way they play. And I just didn't think that we responded as well. I mean we responded well defensively but we didn't respond nearly enough offensively. We let things get to us and we just didn't do a very good job, evident by the turnovers that we had. We had some sloppy play, missed shots and we didn't look, scared isn't the right word, but we looked a little intimidated.
Illinois Head Coach Bruce Weber
Opening statement...
I thought it was a very hard fought game. We kind of hung in there at the beginning. We struggled scoring early, but our defense kept us in there. Our kids were well prepared. Chester (Frazier) did a good job on (Drew) Neitzel, especially in the first half. He got a little bit going in the second half. We didn't give them their easy slips or dunks. It was just a good solid defensive effort. We made them turn it over. We thought ball pressure would hurt them and disrupt them a little bit. We did those things and then we got a 15-0 run in the middle of the first half, and we took the lead. I would have liked it a little more if we would have just made a few plays in that stretch. The first five minutes of the second half was key to keep the crowd out of it. We turned it over, and we couldn't score in that stretch. Neitzel got a couple (baskets) and then we started fouling. We hung in there, and I think we came back and took a one-point lead and kept it within a couple of possessions. Still the free throws are so tough for us. You foul them. Then Drew comes out and drives to the basket. We can't get the bucket down. Then we don't make the free throw. I think on one stretch one of the coaches said we were 1-for-6 in the second half. If I could have written the script ahead of time, I wish it wasn't the same story. It's been like that all year for us. Tom's (Izzo) got a nice group. They got some depth this year; a little more than last year. For us the thing was to eliminate Neitzel and I think we did that for the most part. We limited their easy baskets. We held them to 51 and they're scoring about 70, but we just couldn't get over the hump.
On what was present in the 15-0 run that wasn't the rest of the game...
Well, we made some shots. We made threes. I think (Demetri) McCamey made at least one, maybe two threes. (Trent) Meacham got a three down and (Mike) Tisdale got a three down, so that was a big part of the run in that stretch. I thought we shot way too many threes in the game. We were satisfied with two quick threes in the second half. I think Rodney (Alexander) had one, then someone else shot one. They want to make shots, but then you have to understand momentum and tempo. We're not shooting the ball well. We're trying to get it back right away. That stretch we went with three guards: Chester, Demetri, and Trent. Tisdale also was in there for the run.
On ranking his team...
As I said, it's pretty much the same script for us. You talk about it at halftime. You talk about playing loose and free. You talk about having confidence and composure. The same habits and same mistakes seemed to come up in the second half. I wish I had some kind of cure or something to change it. Hopefully with the home crowd on Saturday with Purdue.....then next week we have Indiana. Hopefully, the crowd will get us through it, and we'll find a way to get a couple of nice wins and get a little momentum down the stretch.
On (Brian) Randle's hand...
He got in foul trouble, and he never really got involved. He gets two fouls. I thought about leaving him in to be honest, but the coaches said he's going to get a third. So I got him out quick. Then the second half, he got three and four pretty quickly - one on a push-off on a drive and a couple trying to fight around in the post. His hand is basically going to bother him for the rest of the season. It's just something that he's going to have to deal with. Probably the only thing will be catching the ball or getting hit and jamming it. It is his thumb. I wish I had a (medical) term for you. By Friday, I can give you a term.
