North Carolina State University Athletics
North Carolina State Postgame Quotes-Coach Sendek
3/15/2002 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
March 15, 2002
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Coach Herb Sendek
"We had great respect for Michigan State's defense watching them on film....During the first half, we had a really difficult time cracking them, I thought they were really well prepared. And you can see why they give up 40 percent-and under 30 percent-field goal and 3-point field goal defense respectively. But I was immensely proud of the way our guys responded in the 2nd half. We cut harder...our defense picked up, and our guys demonstrated tremendous constitution."
On halftime adjustments to Michigan State's defense
"I thought we got tremendous support from our bench today. Our lineup change wasn't really any different from what we do game in and game out. But we really got a collective response from our bench, especially when Anthony [Grundy] picked up his 4th foul early in the second half. We just got positive contribution after positive contribution from everybody we put into the game.
On the use of the press
"We've employed the press all season long, and as we've moved forward we've gotten better at it. It's something that we worked hard on this past week. It was really good for us today. When Anthony picked up his 4th foul, I thought it was even more important that we press successfully."
NC State senior guard Archie Miller on coming back:
"This is the type of team [NC State] that really turns up the energy on defense. Our defense is what got us back into it. Our comeback was keyed off our defense. Guys really played hard out there. We chipped away at the lead. Guys were looking to make plays more and a lot of guys did different things out there."
NC State freshman guard Julius Hodge on stepping it up:
"Anthony [Grundy] is a great player, he is our leader. When he had to go out, it was up to us as a team to step it up and make the big time shots. I took it upon myself to make big shots. The ball just fell into my hands. When someone goes out, we're strong enough to overcome that and win as a team."
NC State senior guard Anthony Grundy on his foul trouble:
"When I had to go out because of foul trouble I was wondering when coach would put me back in. I just tried to pick up everybody on our bench. We had great excitement on the bench. I knew coach knew what he was doing and I knew I would go back in when he felt like it was the best time."
