Minnesota-Indiana Postgame Quotes 

Minnesota Head Coach Tubby Smith 

On the atmosphere in Williams Arena:

“The crowd was great. It was good to see Trent Tucker’s jersey get raised tonight. He is an ambassador of Golden Gopher Basketball and I enjoyed being part of the ceremony.”

On the game:

“We had a lot of deflections. However, we converted poorly from our defense to offense. Paul Carter stepped up and played well. Colton also played well for being sick. In fact, five guys on the team have been sick. We have to have them play better down the line. Al played better tonight but he needs to look for his shot.”

On Paul Carter:

“(Paul) works hard. He is extremely aggressive and a very responsible player. I am really pleased where he is at right now. He is really stepping up with guys sick. He has been able to play at the 3 spot and 4 spot when we need him to. He is learning the system and putting trust into it.”

On improved rebounding:

“We are doing some things better. For instance, the last two games, we have outrebounded our opponents. We are stealing better but there are some things we need to work on.”

On going to Penn State:

“Going on the road, we need to take care of the ball. We need to play sound defense. We have been doing that so it shouldn’t be a problem. However, we will practice on limiting turnovers.”

Indiana head coach Tom Crean

On turnovers... 

"We've practiced seven on five, we expected them to turn it up. But we've still got to be able to take care of the basketball. They have a lot of talent, they have a lot of depth and we don't have a lot of depth out there; they knew that and there's really no excuse for us not handling the ball better."

On Minnesota's development since last game at Indiana...

"They're pretty much the same, they're good. They're definitely good, they'll continue to get better. Paul Carter had one of his better games, I would imagine. They're verysolid to be able to go that deep. I'm sure Tubby has some extremely competitive practices when you've got that kind of talent on the floor. Devoe Joseph has gotten a lot better this year. Tubby has numerous guys that would be on the All-Freshman team I would think. Not to mention the steadiness of Al Nolen."

On coming close in games this season...

"I don't know, I guess I'm just tired of being close (to winning). Maybe it would be easier for me if we were getting blown out. I think we can win and I want the players to think they can win. We weren't nearly as physical as I wanted us to be. Keeping it in perspective, I'm having a hard time with that. I don't want to keep it in perspective. I expect more out of them and we just have to take care of the ball better, have to block out better, there's no question."

Minnesota F Paul Carter

On getting a win after two straight losses:
"It felt pretty great.  It always feels good to get a win, whether it’s by one point or twenty points.  We definitely needed this win just to boost our confidence before we play Penn State."

On different players stepping up in each game:
"That’s what we have to do on this team.  We always turn to [Lawrence] Westbrook, Al [Nolen], and Damien [Johnson], but some nights it doesn’t go their way.  Blake [Hoffarber] stepped up big at Ohio State, and Devoe [Joseph] got us going earlier tonight.  As a team, that’s what we have to do, and nobody is worried about taking credit.  We just want to get the win."

On Indiana pulling back and taking the lead:
"We never tend to panic, and when we’re down we don’t pay attention to the clock.  For us, we really think it’s a good thing that we try and bring the same intensity throughout the game.  Whether we’re up or down, we try and keep the same level of play on the court. We’re aware of what’s going on, but we try not to worry about the clock, and we keep our intensity up." 

Minnesota G Devoe Joseph

On playing on the road compared to playing at home:
"Playing on the road is always harder, and it’s not like the environment we had tonight.  We have to change some little things and just take care of the ball.  Playing at home, we have a lot of confidence, but on the road the little mistakes we were making tonight will really hurt us." 

On Indiana pulling back and taking the lead:
"We always keep fighting.  It doesn’t matter if we’re down by one, or five, or fifteen.  We always try to keep the same intensity and play forty minutes hard.  We feel that if we fight for forty minutes, at the end of the game we’ll have a good chance of getting the win." 

On Indiana’s turnovers:
"We like to put pressure on all of the time, and we feel that if we can create turnovers, we can get the team off rhythm, and that’s when we play our best.  When we create turnovers we can get quick layups and other shots in transition.  Like Indiana, we also had a lot of turnovers, and we have to take care of the ball better.  It showed in the beginning of the game; we had a couple of opportunities that didn’t go our way because of turnovers, and if we handle the ball better we can pull away."