March 11, 2005

Recap |  Box Score |  Notes

2005 BIG TEN

MEN'S BASKETBALL

TOURNAMENT

Game Six • March 11, 2005 • United Center • Chicago, Ill.

#7 Iowa 71, #2 Michigan State 69

IOWA COACH/PLAYER QUOTES

Head Coach Steve Alford:

Opening Statement:

"There will be time for quotes from me and our players, but first our thoughts and prayers go out to Coach Weber's family. We are all in this business. We are all colleagues and the passing of his mother today is a tragic thing. We just want to make sure that his family and his staff know that the Hawks have him and his family in our thoughts and prayers."

On what made the difference in tonight's game:

"The guys kind of touched on it. Anytime you play Michigan State you have to defend the backboard, and we won that by one. You have to defend the transition game and they had only four transition points. Any time you can hold them to only four transition points it will have a dramatic impact on the game. I also think paint scores, or easy scores, are key, and we were able to win that as well. These were the three areas we focused on, and I really did not know if we could do all three. Finally, you look at foul shooting. Both teams went to the line 30-plus times, and our goal is 24 for 30. We were 20 out of 31. We did beat them by five points at the free throw line, and, if you had told me that was going to be the case with 10 minutes left in the game, I would have told you that you were crazy."

Jeff Horner:

On how Iowa regrouped after losing a nine point lead and not handling the press:

"We've been through so much this year and the last couple of years.  We knew we had to come out and win this game today and left everything on the floor.  We had tons of people step up today.  Mike Henderson had a career high 17 points and Doug Thomas with 11 rebounds and two key free throws.  Of course, you have to have a little luck in there.  Alan Anderson is the best free throw shooter in the Big Ten and he missed his last four free throws, I think it was. 

On what kind of statement this win makes to the NCAA selection committee:

"We're not worried about that right now.  We are worried about Wisconsin or Ohio State, whichever one we get.  We want to win the Big Ten Tournament and that's all we care about right now.  It's out of our hands, but if we get two more wins they can't keep us out." 

Adam Haluska:

On where the game was won:

"I just thought we really came out and fought.  We came in to this game confident that we could get a win and we have been for the whole season. We're taking one game at a time.  The last five wins that we've had, we have gone after each opponent.  I thought we really came out here and battled." 

"We did the little things, like rebounding, and we beat them by one on the boards. I think that's huge.  We had great leaders in Jeff Horner and Greg Brunner, and we had a lot of guys that stepped up."

MICHIGAN STATE COACH/PLAYER QUOTES

Head Coach Tom Izzo:

Opening statement:

"It is a very disappointing loss for us tonight.  We just didn't do the things we needed to do.  I guess we didn't learn anything from watching North Carolina, Boston College and all the other teams, even Ohio State last night.  I thought we were warned enough.  We did not come out with the energy we needed.  I guess, to our credit, we bounced back in the second half.  You get what you deserve, and we did not deserve to win tonight.  I am happy for Coach Alford and the Big Ten.  I think we deserve five teams in.  I am upset and disappointed for us.  This is a team that led the nation in free throw percentage and lost four games at the line.  That and the lay-ups tonight were ridiculous."

On Michigan State's point guard situation:

"We have problems there, but it is not our biggest problem.  We must have missed six or seven lay-ups.  We missed free throws all night long. We missed lay-ups all night long.  We were struggling a little bit, but the game should have never had come down to that.   Nothing against Iowa, I think they played there tails off like it was the most important thing in the world to them.  You could see a difference in them when they played with a sense of urgency and when they didn't. It was pretty graphic."

On the play of Iowa's Mike Henderson:

"I thought he played great.  He took it to us. We need to get a little stronger at that position.  He has been playing better, and I think it was a good move on Steve's part."

Alan Anderson:

On missing his last two free throws:

"I just missed them. I'm a way better free throw shooter than that. I just missed them. There are no excuses."

On their crucial nine point run:

"We just got more aggressive than we were in the first half. We started to get deflections and make everything tough on them, like they did to us in the first half. That led to lay-ups for us."

Chris Hill:

On their crucial nine point run:

"We just started playing with more energy and aggressiveness. We should've been doing that during the first 20 minutes. That was the main difference during that stretch. We played with the energy that we should've played with the whole game."

Kelvin Torbert:

On the loss:

"It definitely goes down as a failure to us right now. For some of us it was the last chance to win the Big Ten Championship, and we just let it go down the drain. We have to find ways to go all out for a whole game. We cannot have letdowns, especially when it's one and done."