|
|||
|
|||
|
 |
|
|
NCAA MEN'S REGIONALS SEMIFINALS & FINALS: INDIANAPOLISMarch 29, 2013Keith ApplingTom IzzoAdreian PayneINDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA Duke – 71 THE MODERATOR: Okay. We have Michigan State University here in the press conference area. And we'll go to Coach Izzo for an opening statement, and then we'll take questions for the student‑athletes. Tom? COACH IZZO: A very disappointing loss. I felt like we never got on track. We were in foul trouble the whole game and it seemed like that wasn't going to end. And they shoot 40 percent, we shoot 40. They shot a little better than us from the 3. But the difference was in those stretch of‑‑ that one stretch it was just free throw after free throw and we can't do anything about it, and we didn't do a very good job guarding them from the standpoint of I thought they exploited our freshmen a little bit. And they're a good team. They're a good team. They played well. Curry hurt us, no question about it, and that's why he's a great player. But we didn't quit. We hung in there. I thought we played poorly for us. But I'm sure Duke had a lot to do with that. And, as I said, the better team won. So just lick our wounds and live for another day. THE MODERATOR: Questions now, please, for the student‑athletes. Q. Keith, can you tell us what made Curry so tough to guard today? And a lot of guys had shots at him. KEITH APPLING: He just made shots. Simple as that. The plays that they ran for him were just right, and he came up hard and just knocked the shots down. That made it tough for us for the whole game. Q. For either one of you guys, you had the surge late in the first half. Adreian, you had a 3 with 20 seconds to go to closed it to 1, took a lot of momentum to the locker room. Was deflating in the second half early when Curry hits those three 3s? ADREIAN PAYNE: Yeah, it is. He made great shots and he had good looks at the basket. So when somebody making shots like that, and we had the momentum, it is deflating. Q. Adreian, you got a lot of different looks from the defense. Saw Mason, saw Ryan, saw some double teams. What were they doing so well to keep you off balance? ADREIAN PAYNE: They did a lot. They doubled and they took away my right hand. But it was just mainly myself. I wasn't attacking the basket, being aggressive. And when I started doing that, I started having success. THE MODERATOR: Thank you, gentlemen. Now we'll go back to questions for Coach Izzo. Q. Tom, was it a myriad of things that they did, or is it any one particular thing you can point at that you feel like turned it? COACH IZZO: I thought Curry did a great job of coming off those screens. He stops, he pops. They kept calling things I didn't agree with. But got him to the line, Sulaimon, got him to the line and he made those three 3s. We got a little hesitant in how to guard him, and he did the job on Harris. I think Harris is one of the best defenders they got and this night, he goes 8 for 17, which isn't off the charts, but the 6 for 9 and 7 for 7 from the line and there's no doubt he single‑handedly beat us, when you look at all the other guys. We did a pretty good job defensively. The foul thing bothered me a little bit, to be honest about it. But it is what it is. Q. Coach, in following Gary Harris just a year ago in high school play, just your thoughts on him coming back home and pretty much struggling this evening? COACH IZZO: Well, it's hard, I think, as a freshman. It's hard enough to play in this tournament. As exciting as it was to be home for Gary and being in this area, sometimes that adds even more pressure. One thing about this kid, he's tougher than nails, and he just I think got frustrated. Curry's a fifth‑year senior and he's very wise and he's very‑‑ he knows how to come off things. He knows how to get open. And I think our freshmen got a little lesson tonight. I just told him he'll be able to use that now and use it to his advantage. But Gary Harris has had an incredible, incredible year for us. He's been more than the billing. And I think he has a tremendous future in front of him. THE MODERATOR: Thank you, Tom. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
About ASAP Sports •
FastScripts Archive •
Recent Interviews •
Captioning •
Upcoming Events •
Contact Us
FastScripts | Events Covered | Our Clients | Other Services | ASAP in the News | Site Map | Job Opportunities | Links |
|
ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297
|