2000-01 MBK vs. Wake Forest - Quotes
11/28/2000 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
U-M Head Coach Brian Ellerbe
On the game ... "To outrebound them by 16 ... for our team that is pretty good. I couldn't imagine us doing that. That is a pretty big stat for a game of this magnitude for a young basketball team. Defensively we were pretty good ... for the most part. We lost that intensity in the second half when we didn't get that pressure on the ball."
On the lessons taken from this game ... "We need to have better shot selection. However, we did rebound with a pretty good team. We only had 13 turnovers. We just have to execute on the offensive end to get better looks."
Senior Forward Josh Asselin
On the game ... "I think we came out and played hard. We played a real good first half but missed open shots and free throws in the second half. We didn't come out scared and we aren't going to take that attitude in our games coming up."
On the play of U-M's post players ... "Coming into practices, and today, our focus was to run the floor and get it inside quickly. We were going to play on the inside out. They really tried to help out on LaVell (Blanchard) and Bernard (Robinson Jr.) which opened up the floor and allowed us to throw it into the post."
Junior Forward Chris Young
On the game ... "We played incredibly hard for 34 minutes. If we had sat down and guarded the ball for the full 40 minutes we would have won this game. We have to stay focused and execute our plays. We can't look at this as a moral victory, that we hung in there with the No. 12 team in the country. We should have won this game and that should be very frustrating for us."
On the post players ... "We were out there against their big guys, who were 6-8 and 6-10 and are very strong and athletic, and we were still able to score in the post, which gives us confidence going into this next stretch and the rest of the season. We were able to do the things we wanted to against their big guys."
Wake Forest Senior Guard Robert O'Kelley
On his key three-pointer ... "The team knew how much time was left on the shot clock. I didn't have much time to get the shot off, and that was the shot I had. Thankfully it worked."
On the game ... "We're an experienced team. We're humble and patient. We worked hard and we did what we had to do to win. We didn't start the second half the way we wanted to. Michigan was all over us. But we have experience and we take our chances when we get them. I think that we did a good job tonight."
Wake Forest Head Coach Dave Odom
On the game ... "We feel fortunate to win this game. We think we beat a good, as good a young team as there maybe is in the country. I hadn't seen many of these young men play since high school. They have improved. They have great ability, and Brian Ellerbe has done a great job with them in a short time."
On their overall performance ... "Michigan is going to give a lot of teams trouble. We didn't rebound well enough in the first half to deserve to be ahead. The second half was better, I thought we were a little shaken by Michigan's ability to go to the glass. We practiced for it, but I don't think they understood the level of athleticism. The key to the game was the half-court offense. We were able to make shots out of the offense. I don't mind our kids taking open shots whenever they are open, but when you're taking shots early on like that, it makes us nervous. We went back to our offense and let it produce the shots, and that sent our team into the half-court comfort zone."
