BURN THE HORSE
Here's what UALR Coach Steve Shields had to say after today's loss at Michigan State:
I guess looking at Michigan State, this is a team that I have the utmost of respect for, with everything Tom Izzo has accomplished here. We played up here five or six years ago, and even before that, knowing how great they're rebounding is and how disciplined they are. I think coming into tonight, based on their previous statistics for their points in the paint and second chance points and comparing those to the statistics tonight, you would've thought it would have been a closer game from our standpoint. But we can't turn the ball over the way we have our last few games, having 20 turnovers at Eastern Michigan and 19 tonight. Obviously Michigan State is a very physical team; a very well coached team, but those are areas where we have got to get better, valuing the basketball. I think that overall, hopefully this will be a good experience for our guys, playing in a hostile environment.
On the team's rebounding...
If you look at their stats coming in, we had negative rebounds statistics, which was a huge concern. We got to turning the ball over in the second half, and we gave up easy baskets in transition. That's one thing about Izzo's team that sometimes might go unnoticed. He runs a lot of sets, and they execute those well, but they're very good in transition. We had to get good shots, and not take bad shots.
On UALR being in Michigan for four days, possibly making the team tired...
I don't know if I can use that as an excuse. Any time you're on the road you want to pride the team in being able to handle tough situations. We always talk about how the toughest team wins and obviously valuing the basketball is important. We have got a young basketball team. Seven of the 12 guys here with us, are new guys and this is our fifth game in 10 days. You can't use that as a crutch. We play conference games on Thursdays and Saturdays in the Sun Belt Conference. You have got to be prepared for quick turnarounds and traveling in adverse situations.
