Jan. 24, 2008
Recap | Box Score
Northwestern head coach Bill Carmody
Opening statement
"Starting the game and starting the second half, they just jumped on us. We went down 10 quickly and sort of got back and hung in there. Then they outscored us 12-0 to start the (second) half and that's basically the game. They shot the ball very well but the looks they were getting were too open and too clear. I thought that they were prepared. They defended us very well. We had four or five shot clock violations and that is usually indicative of a team that's guarding pretty well, which they did. I thought [Jason] Okrzesik helped us a little bit. He seemed to have a little more energy when he got in there on the bottom of that 1-3-1 zone and getting out to the corners a little bit better. We weren't getting out to the corners at all. Mike [Thompson] seemed to be getting picked off a little bit so that helped us a little bit. We never got them to the point where they had to worry about making a shot or missing a shot. We got down to eight or 10, but we never got them to the point where there was pressure and a shot had to be made."
On Northwestern's defense during the game...
"They have a lot of size so when they're getting the ball, they're looking over us a lot, even if we're in good position, which I'm not sure we were. I think most of the time we were. [Goran] Suton and [Drew] Naymick can just see over the top. We weren't able to put pressure on. I think their point guards did a good job when they penetrated into the gaps. We sort of like that, encourage it, but we weren't able to get our hands on too many balls."
On Drew Neitzel...
"He made shots. He's a very good player. He's not just a shooter. He defends. I don't know if he's the heart and soul of the team, but you always have to be aware of him. Like a wide receiver you've got to double team, it leaves other guys open. I didn't want to do that and it showed. We said 'be aware of corners or exactly where he is,' but it didn't really matter because when we rushed him, he seemed to find guys. He's obviously an excellent shooter."
On improving Northwestern's defense...
"It's a good team and I wish we could keep it close. I have to look real closely at the tape and just figure out why they were getting those open shots. They weren't really contested shots and we weren't getting out to the corners. The rebounding is going to be what it's going to be against a very good rebounding team, but I think we can do a much better job and I want to see why that was. It's very possible it's stuff that they were doing but I felt that we were sort of ready for it."
On the play of Michael Thompson...
"I don't know if it's a rollercoaster. He hasn't had that many bad games for a freshman. They were switching on everything, which we figured they would do. Sometimes it's not your night. He's pretty much lead the team and run things for us. Maybe it wasn't his night. It's good for him to see that and learn. He'll be in tomorrow to watch some tape. I just want to help him on defense to see if we can figure out how he can get to those corners on those shooters."
Michigan State Head Coach Tom Izzo
Opening Statement . . .
"The game was real good for us. I thought we did a lot of things really well. We defended their stuff about as good as you can defend it. They still scored some points, [Craig] Moore was unbelievable, and a lot of their shots came of offensive rebounds, which is not one of Northwestern's fortes. Maybe they realized why we rebound so well, because it does get you baskets, I thought they got a lot of their baskets not off of offense, but off the missed shot and the kick outs. But as far as the basic offense I thought we did a pretty good job on it. I thought we did a pretty great job against their zone. We moved the ball pretty well and we got some open looks. I was disappointed with our rebounding, of course. We did not rebound the ball very well, and it cost us. I was disappointed that we lost Moore on a couple [shots] early, and they did a good job. Our assists, 25 assists and 29 baskets, were very impressive for us. All in all, our shooting, I mean we don't normally shoot the ball that good, although we do have a pretty good shooting team. It was nice to see our 3-point shooters shoot well, especially Drew Neitzel, He is continuing to progress. I say all those good things, I think Raymar Morgan may have been our star of the game, just because of what he did offensively and defensively and rebounding and handling the ball and playing minutes, and playing the four, playing the three, playing all over the court, so he was the star. Goran Suton was not the star, and we need to get more out of him, and we need to get more out of [Marquise] Gray, and we're going to be a real good basketball team. All in all, I was pleased by the way we defended them, except for those kick out threes that they got time after time, because we didn't rebound the ball good."
On the fast start to the game for MSU . . .
"Well, we set up a few things that we wanted to do offensively, we got a couple of good looks. We hit two threes in the first four baskets, that was good, but defensively, we didn't come out after them. We spent a lot, a lot of time on that defensive. Part of the reason is that weren't playing fresh. That's one of the things that hurt Durell [Summers], and he's been playing pretty well, so if he'll play more minutes in the next game it's for those reasons. Some of our "bigs" went to sleep a little bit, every time we got a big lead it was like we didn't respect it, and I was disappointed in that. We'd do a good job, and then we'd give them nine straight points. But I think that you have to give Northwestern credit. They earned their baskets, including that Hail Mary that Moore threw up from the corner; that was a big play. We just couldn't get over the hump; that was a little disappointing for us.
On the number of Michigan State fans in the crowd . . .
"I guess I love coming to Chicago for that reason. I really appreciated the fans that showed up, some that drove from East Lansing but a lot from the Chicago area. I know the players were talking about it before the game started so that was great and we appreciated it."