2000-01 BKM vs. Morris Brown - Quotes
12/23/2000 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
U-M Head Coach Brian Ellerbe
On the game ... "I think the bottom line was that we won the basketball game. We were very sloppy. But for the most part that second group in the second half was really good. They were solid on both ends of the floor, which was nice to see because those guys haven't played the heavy minutes. We look like we had just gotten through exams and had different practice times and schedules during the first 20 minutes, but the second half I was really pleased with the way that second group played."
On the second team getting some time in the non-conference schedule ... "You always want that competition, whether that is in practice or during a game. I definitely want them pushing and plugging away everyday because that only helps them and it helps us prepare even more with the first team. Oddly enough, those guys who practiced pretty well played well tonight."
On the 10-day layoff ... "I think what we tried to do was get back to basics and try to get some individual work in and make sure the guys were continuing to get better. Just really get back to the basics both defensively and offensively."
Junior Guard-Forward Leon Jones
On what Michigan can take away from this game ... "I think that we have to continue to play hard. Defense wins games and that is one of the main reasons we won this game today. I think that is what we learned this game ... is to play defense. I think we came out really slow in the first half, but then we picked it up."
On Morris Brown's run ... "We were kind of saying, 'What's going on here' and we knew that we weren't playing hard, but it was a matter of just turning up the defense and hitting our offense shots. We put a hand in their face, took over the boards, pushed it up to the floor and just ran our offense and things turned around for us."
Senior Forward Josh Asselin
On playing after the long layoff ... "We've had a lot of days with practice against each other. I think we wanted to come out and go after the other team really hard, but at first it seemed we came out a little sluggish. But I think as the game went on, we got more and more involved and everyone started to play together and I think that really helped us."
On the emphasis during the 10 days of practice ... "We really wanted to work on our defense and our rebounding. We spent a lot of time just dry-running our offensive sets, so we get everyone on the same page, so we can work together and know where we were supposed to be. I think that really helped, especially tonight. We had a lot more spacing and we were able to make that extra pass because we knew the people were going to be there."
Morris Brown Head Coach Russell Ellington
On the game ... "I thought we could play with them on the perimeter. I knew we couldn't play with them inside because of the size and that's what we've lacked quite a bit this year. But I think we do have good perimeter play and it showed today, but we just couldn't equalize it with the play inside."
On Michigan ... "I will say that Michigan did give us more trouble than the other Big Ten teams we've played. We played Minnesota and the game was much closer ... did things more inside and outrebounded them, but today it was just a chore and we didn't get the chore done."
