Post-Game Quotes: The Citadel
12/22/2014 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
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Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo
Opening Statement...
Little did I know when I talked to you guys was that Denzel (Valentine) had a scratched cornea. When I saw him on Sunday morning, he wasn't playing in this game. I give them (the doctors) credit. They got a contact to put in there and that helped him a lot. He was hurting most of the day yesterday.
I tried to look back at this whole thing, still giving Texas Southern credit for what they did, but we've had a kind of perfect storm. I went and looked at the tape a hundred times and we didn't play as bad as it looked. We just didn't make a shot. I mean, so many of those shots were in. When I started watching, I asked why Denzel wasn't in there, I forgot he had two fouls. We have a lot of things to work our way back through. We got a lot done yesterday, a lot of talking, a lot of film sessions, a lot of watching.
Even though they hit those first two threes, they were both well imparted, I said, "here we go again." We missed a couple. Right before the half, we got into the run and really started executed. At halftime, we really pounded that in. Anytime we had a timeout or a stop, we executed really well, but we didn't do enough of that on the court. When you look at it, Marvin (Clark) came back again and it hurts not to have BJ (Branden Dawson). If you think of it like football, when you lose 20 percent of your starting lineup, it's like losing three or four football players. It's just been such a rotation with everybody.
You can see that JB (Javon Bess) will be a very good player; just as good as I thought he would be. He was so tired tonight; I think they've got him in ice right now. Not that there's anything wrong with him, he's just tired. I kind of told my guys something that I'm embarrassed to tell you, but I really believe it's true. I think that I practiced them out of shape, because we have not gone very hard for me. We did not go two-a-days during most of the break. We are just so beat up. We haven't been able to do things.
I just don't think we're in great shape. Travis (Trice) is asking to come out early. Bryn (Forbes) was (as well). I just don't think we're there, so hopefully, we'll have a little rest and then we'll go at it. I think we're going to be totally healthy other than BJ's hand. His legs will be healthy. Maybe we can get a rotation, maybe we can get guys playing their proper positions.
I thought after that three before the buzzer, we executed a great play. Travis made a great pass and just kind of went in with a better feeling. We really did run hard and execute well.
I'll tell you what, I'll just say that's a better team than some we've played, a lot better. They execute. They run their stuff well. They're very well coached. Our guys were impressed. I thought he did a great job with them. They looked like they tired a bit in the second half.
We turned it up defensively and went on a hell of a run. Not perfect, but definitely a big step.
On if he would rate himself higher than following the previous game...
I meant everything I said. It is my job. What I didn't realize was how much Denzel was out in that first half. We had an eight-point lead and then a couple of critical calls, we didn't handle it very well. When we're trying to play JB at the four and he's never played there. Marvin got exactly what he deserved. I say that because you aren't going to let freshmen start figuring out... He did nothing really wrong, but a freshman has got to do what he's told to do. He's going to be attentive and he wasn't. That's why he didn't play the second half. Did it cost us? Maybe. Maybe that's my fault, but I'm going to get this thing back to where we earn everything we get and I think Marvin bounced back tonight.
It's not losing, it's what you do when you lose. I think we at least proved some things. It was a long day for me yesterday. It was a long day for them and maybe I give us both a little higher grade than I did the other night, but the other night... When a team gets beat on the things that are on the scouting report, the coach didn't do a good enough job of getting it through. I'll stick by that. I mean that.
The Citadel head coach Chuck Driesell
Opening Statement...
Well, that's a great team we played, with a great coach. They're going to be really good this year. I was proud of how our guys played in the first half. They really came out and did some nice things. Statistically though, even at halftime, as good as defense as I thought we played, we only shot 50%. What we did was we did a really nice job of stopping their transition in the first half which kept us in the ball game. We didn't shoot particularly well in the first half because of their defense. Then in the second half they got out on us. They really defended us as well as anyone's defended us all year. Their transition game got going, and there wasn't much we could do there. I was disappointed that we didn't do a better job of continuing to play how we played the first half. With that being said, I was proud of my players, they competed; they fought.
On whether he thought they caught Michigan State at a bad time coming off a loss to Texas Southern...
Coach Izzo's team's are always prepared. They are always going to play hard. He's the best; he does a great job as you all know. I didn't think it would make any difference really. If they would have played hard they would have won that game. He does a great job with those guys. To be honest, I guess I was a little concerned that they would play harder, but they always play hard. My guys knew they we're coming in here and go up against a really talented basketball team that was well coached. We knew we would have to be prepared and be good for 40 minutes; not just 20.
On whether they are having trouble as a team competing in the second half of games...
You know we've had that problem this season. Just like every team across the country, I try and find what their strengths and weaknesses are. We we're up by five on Virginia Tech on Saturday, and we come out and they go 10-0 run on us. So we just spent 10 minutes talking about that. That is something that we have to fix as a ball club. We we're a little more complacent; weren't as crisp. We need to figure out an answer. I don't have an answer for you. I really don't. We didn't change anything. Coach Izzo might have ratcheted it up a little. They we're pretty ratcheted the first half. We need to figure out why we're not getting off to a good start. We're going to figure out these things in the next couple of days. I wish I had an answer for you, so I can fix it.
