Feb. 6, 2002
EVANSTON, Ill. - The following are quotes from Michigan State coach Tom Izzo and Northwestern head coach Bill Carmody after Wednesday night's men's basketball game, won 61-49 by Northwestern at Welsh-Ryan Arena.
Michigan State Head Coach Tom Izzo
On his team's performance...
"I thought we played well in some ways. I thought our staff did a great job defensively of stopping those back cuts, yet we gave up some threes and they hit some threes. What we did offensively was very poor on our coaching staff's part, on my part. We didn't get guys open shots, and for some reason (forward Adam) Ballinger just wouldn't look for his shots.
"We needed our best players to play well under the circumstances, and Adam (Ballinger) and Al (Anagonye) had average nights, and Alan Anderson probably had one of his worst games. Those three guys played poorly. We did a poor job of getting Chris Hill shots."
On his team's turnovers ...
"We didn't have a ton of turnovers, 11, but they scored 19 points off of them. That has been the Achilles' heel of this team all year. "
On Northwestern ...
"Give credit to Northwestern, I thought they outplayed us in a lot of ways. We did a good job of some things, just not good enough to win. They did a great job moving the ball. They ran their system to at 'T' tonight. Give (forward Tavaras) Hardy credit. He hit some big threes. That really was the nail in our back. I thought that was a key.
On Anagonye's foul trouble ...
"That was a key. I'm so paranoid because of our situation. I probably should have played him more. We thought we could go inside. We'll shoulder the blame for that."
On guard Marcus Taylor's status ...
"It's completely out of my hands. That's between Marcus and the doctors. He just couldn't do it. He was dizzy when he warmed up. He couldn't play."
On his team's second-half play ...
"I thought the dropoff was a combination of things. We did a very poor job of being ready to shoot the basketball, and they did a very job of switching. Their defense was exceptional."
On Northwestern's postseason chances ...
"I think Northwestern's good enough to be a tournament team. The only problem with this league is that everyone's going to beat up on everyone. I think they play well enough. I think they'd be one of those teams that if they got in the tournament, they'd be a tough team to prepare for. I'm very impressed with the way they play."
Northwestern Head Coach Bill Carmody
On his team's performance...
"It's just so nice to get a win in one of these close ones against a program like Michigan State. Our defense was very good and offensively we didn't turn the ball over. We had three turnovers. I've never heard of that. We took care of the basketball."
On the absence of MSU's Marcus Taylor...
"Right now Michigan State is depleted because of injuries. We planned that he was going to be in there and we didn't know one way or the other until he didn't play."
On the inside-outside game...
"Michigan State is very well schooled defensively. We told our guys not to force anything, to keep cutting, and they're probably going to have to knock some of those down. When Tavaras [Hardy] makes those shots it just opens things up for us."
On the team's mindset...
"They've been very competitive and I think they think they can win."
On bouncing back from Saturday's loss...
"Sunday was a horrible day, and Monday was hard. But we came out here and our guys were energetic and full of zest and they picked up the coaching staff. They motivated us instead of the other way around. That says something about these guys."