Pelota Isleña-25 de noviembre del 2013

Pelota Isleña

Por Daniel “Mr. Clutch” Mercado Castro

          Lunes: Mayagüez vence 4-1 a Ponce gracias a cuadrangulares solitarios de Daniel Ortiz, Randy Ruiz y Jerry Sands. Para Sands es el tercero de la temporada. El relevista Steve Smith se apuntó su cuarto triunfo, Alex Claudio cargó con su tercera derrota y Tyler Herron se adjudicó su sexto salvado de la temporada.

          Martes: Ponce vence 4-3 a Caguas gracias sencillo remolcador de dos carreras de Christian Colon, y sencillo remolcador de Iván De Jesús. Colon bateo tres hits con dos dobles y De Jesús dos hits con una anotada. Andy González se fue de 5-5 por Caguas. Adalberto Flores se apuntó su segundo triunfo, John Brownell se apuntó su primera derrota y Peter Parise salvó su segundo juego. Santurce salió de la mala racha al vencer 8-2 a los Indios con cuatro carreras en la sexta entrada. Víctor Mateo se apuntó el triunfo y Matt Magill perdió su segundo juego. Jonathan Singleton sacó cuadrangular. Neftalí Soto remolcó dos carreras, conectó cuadrangular y bateo un doble. Jack López y Jeff Domínguez ambos conectaron dos hits en el juego.

          Miércoles: Carolina vence 8-2 a Caguas con un rally de cinco carreras en la octava entrada. Enrique Hernández bateo cuadrangular de dos carreras en la tercera entrada y remolcó tres carreras. Jesús “Motorita” Feliciano bateo dos hits y remolcó una carrera en la octava entrada con sencillo. Shuhei Fukuda se fue de 5-2 con doble y dos remolcadas. Orlando Alonso ganó el juego sobre Luis Cruz. Ponce venció 3-1 a los Indios al anotar las tres carreras en la octava entrada producto de cuadrangulares consecutivos de Jon García y Jordan Lennerton. Fray Martínez se apuntó el triunfo mientras que Nelvin Fuentes cargó con su primera derrota luego de botar el juego.

          Jueves: Ponce dejó en el terreno a Santurce con una victoria 6-5 en 11 entradas gracias a un “walk-off single” de Reymond Fuentes. Rubí silva empató a 5 en la entrada 11 con sencillo remolcador. Jack López sacó cuadrangular y triple por Santurce. Billy Hamilton se fue de 6-3 con cuatro bases robadas, tiene 10 en lo que va de temporada. Fernando Cruz cargó con la victoria y Xavier Cedeño se llevó la derrota. Caguas necesito de siete carreras en la segunda entrada para vencer 10-8 a Mayagüez. Andy González sacó un “grand slam homerun” mientras que Roberto Peña bateo dos dobles y remolcó tres carreras. Eddie Rosario sacó su primer cuadrangular y Michael Taylor bateo cuatro hits. Andrés Santiago ganó su primer juego, Freddie Cabrera cargó con la derrota y Miguel Mejía se adjudicó el salvado.

          Viernes: Mayagüez le barrió el doble choque a Caguas. Primero le ganaron 3-1 gracias a un triple remolcador de un par de carreras de Eddie Rosario. Jeremy Kehrt lanzó cinco solidas entradas como relevista para la victoria sobre Shaun Garceau. Los Indios blanquearon 1-0 en el segundo gracias a una excelente labor de seis relevistas y un sencillo remolcador de Daniel Ortiz. Randy Fontanez se apuntó el triunfo sobre Efraín Nieves mientras que Tyler Herron logró su séptimo salvado de la temporada. Carolina blanqueo a Santurce 7-0 gracias a una joya monticular de 11 ponches de Nag Higashikawa. Víctor Mateo cargó con el triunfo.

          Sábado: Carolina venció 5-3 a los Indios 5-3 gracias al tercer cuadrangular de la temporada de Anthony García y dos hits con una remolcada de Enrique Hernández. Bobby Bramhall se apuntó el triunfo sobre Héctor Hernández y Justin Souza de adjudicó su tercer salvado. Kenny Vargas sacó un cuadrangular por los Indios. Ponce venció 10-8 a Caguas con tres carreras en la séptima entrada y tres carreras en la octava entrada. Ponce contó con cuadrangulares de dos carreras de Jordan Lennerton y Jan Vázquez. Henry Ramos completó el back to back con Lennerton con un clase de palo en la séptima entrada. Miguel Abreu la sacó por Caguas mientras que Ramón Castro ya tiene 12 carreras remolcadas. Eddie Camacho se apuntó el triunfo ante José De La Torre. Pete Parise logró su tercer salvado.

          Domingo: Santurce aprovechó un error costoso de Andy González para vencer 4-3 a Caguas. Billy Hamilton bateo dos hits, se robó una base y remolcó una carrera. Andy González sacó cuadrangular de tres carreras en la derrota. Jan Velásquez se apuntó el triunfo sobre Bryce Stowell. Arik Sikula se adjudicó su cuarto salvado. Ponce se apuntó su quinto triunfo consecutivo al vencer 4-2 a Mayagüez. Rubi Silva remolcó una con un doble, Christian Colon hizo lo propio con un sencillo y Jordan Lennerton remolcó dos carreras con tres hits y dos dobles. Yuki Egararashi se apuntó el triunfo mientras que Matt Magill cargó con su tercera derrota. Pete Parise logró su cuarto salvado.

          Tabla de Posiciones: Carolina (10-4), Mayagüez (9-8), Ponce (9-9), Caguas (8-11) y Santurce (6-10).

Link para ver Survivor Series

http://www.viponlinesports.eu/boxing/191754/3/wwe-survivor-series-2013-live-stream-online.html

Regreso victorioso de Manny "Pacman" Pacquiao por Daniel "Mr. Clutch" Mercado

Y está de regreso el viejo Manny Pacquiao. Manny "Pacman" Pacquiao (55-5-2 con 38KO) se gano la faja Welter Internacional de la WBO/OMB al vencer por decisión unánime (120-108, 119-109 y 118-110) al mexicano Brandon "Bam Bam" Ríos ( 31-2-1 con 22KO). Esto fue una clase de boxeo de principio a fin, donde parecía que Pacquiao estaba tomando de "punching bag" a Rios. Aunque yo vi la pelea 119-109, no hay duda que esto fue una chiva asquerosa de Manny a Brandon.

En el primer asalto Pacquio lo dominó con fuertes izquierdas al rostro de Ríos. Hubo una caída inadvertida al resbalar y tropezar Ríos con el pie de Manny. Ríos salió al segundo asalto súper agresivo con ganchos al rostro y fuertes golpes al cuerpo de Manny. Pacquiao se sacudió los golpes, intercambio combinaciones y cerró con fuertes golpes el round. Manny comienza a moverse más en el tercer round y conectar combinaciones que llegan al rostro de Brandon. Ríos sigue estático en el cuarto asalto mientras Manny sigue penetrando sus combinaciones sobre la defensa de Ríos. Manny comienza su ataque en el quinto asalto con fuertes izquierdas que le sacan una sonrisa a Ríos. Sigue las combinaciones de Pacquiao llegando a Ríos en el sexto asalto. Fuertes izquierdas de Manny provocan corte en el ojo izquierdo de Ríos. Manny sigue haciendo fallar a Ríos y evitando que contrareste sus fuertes golpes en el séptimo asalto. En los asaltos ocho y nueve fue todo Manny Pacquiao dando cátedra de suprema ofensiva, veloz defensa y dominio boxístico. Manny sigue contestando todo lo mejor que puede dar Brandon en el décimo asalto con mejores y más fuertes golpes. Manny sigue penetrando la defensa de Rios con buenas combinaciones a gusto y gana. Nada que hacer que no sea sobrevivir en el undécimo asalto para Ríos. Llegamos al asalto 12 y la historia continua igual. Manny termina una casi chiva, demostrando que está de regreso al boxeo y listo para vencer al que le echen.  Ríos lo único que hizo fue sobrevivir el round para que su ego se alimente de que Manny no lo tumbó ni lo KO. Al menos hay que darle crédito de que nunca se quitó y que intentó hasta con golpes detrás de la cabeza parar a Pacquiao. Manny Pacquiao is back!!!!!!!!!!

Fotos cortesía de Top Rank Boxing

El Diamante Verdejo se apunta otra victoria-Por Daniel "Mr. Clutch" Mercado Castro

El boricua Félix "El Diamante" Verdejo (9-0 con 6KO) venció por decisión unánime (las tres tarjetas fueron 60-53) al tailandés Petchsamuthr Duanaaymukdahan (8-2 con 1KO) en una pelea pautada para seis asaltos en el lightweight. Verdejo demostró gran domino de boxeo, atacando sin piedad pero con el cuidado que debe tener quien le guste aplicarse el arte de dar pero que no te den. Nunca se desesperó, nunca fue detrás de un KO, nunca perdió el control de la pelea, nunca se salió del plan de trabajo. Sin duda alguna este es El Diamante que cuando se pula será campeón Mundial de seguro. Va por buen camino, cada pelea luce mejor, tiene una buena defensa y un boxeo exquisito. Por fín una nota buena para Puerto Rico...cuna de campeones en el boxeo. Esta pelea fue la telonera de la gran estelar de Manny "Pacman" Paquiao (54-5-2-38KO) ante Brandon "Bam Bam" Ríos (31-1-1-22KO) desde China. Foto cortesía de Top Rank Boxing.

Link para ver la pelea de Pacquiao vs Rios

http://firstrowus1.eu/watch/223268/1/watch-boxing-:-manny-pacquiao-vs-brandon-rios.html

Análisis Luchístico-TNA Turning Point 2013

Análisis Luchístico- TNA Turning Point 2013

Por Daniel “Mr. Clutch” Mercado Castro

            Y TNA regresa a Orlando para darle gratis a todos sus “fans” otro de sus tradicionales eventos pague por ver. Turning Point no estuvo nada mal aunque parecía un Impact más, en especial cuando no hubo ninguna correa envuelta. Se nota que TNA hay problemas y que su venta parece eminente. Los creativos parecen buscar cerrar todas las historias y cada vez se ven menos luchadores del “roster” en los programas televisados. Aparte de eso, vuelven a su casa en Orlando, los eventos paguen por ver son gratis excepto uno que otro como Bound for Glory  y los baratillos en su tienda online son increíbles. Una solución  a esto puede ser volver a sus orignenes, con su antiguo ring, con sus luchadores voladores, con sus show en Universal Studios en Orlando, y dejando que sean los luchadores los que hablen con su “in-ring performance”. Tal vez hay otras soluciones, yo solo doy las más costo económica. Veremos que pasa.

            Turning Point comienza con una tremenda lucha Falls Count Anywhere de Samoa Joe contra Magnus. Se dieron duro de principio a fin. La lucha comenzó tras bastidores y continuó hasta el ring. No hay lucha de Samoa Joe que no sea física, pero Magnus se ajustó muy bien. El final fue algo flojo, Samoa Joe se achoca con una silla que estaba en la parte de afuera de un esquinero, y es planchado por Magnus. ¡No good! Magnus pasa a enfrentar a Kurt Angle en la continuación el Championship Tournament. Joseph Park sale para enfrentar a su hermano Abyss. Abyss nunca apareció, cosa que aprovechó Bad Influence para humillarlo y hasta echarle un supuesta sangre encima. Yo tenía fe de que ahí terminarían la historia barata de Park y Abyss; pero parece que esto va para largo. En el segundo “Open Challenge” de Gail Kim, la misma venció fácilmente y contundente a la desconocida Candice Larea. Esta historia de los retos abiertos esta tan gastada que aburre. En la mejor lucha de la noche, Bobby Roode venció a James Storm cuando Gunner tiró  la toalla para proteger de que Roode no tirará a Storm en alambre de púas. Estos dos muchachos se dieron con todo y el momento de la guerra con las tapas de zafacón fue único. La gente se metió en la lucha y hasta Storm sangró. Buena lucha semi-hard core llamada Florida Death Match. Asumo que el final es para crear una riña con Gunner y romper la pareja. Que mal si así es, pero Storm tiene potencial solo.

            La semi-estelar de la noche fue EC3 (Ethan Carter III) vs el mal imitador de Stone Cold conocido como Shark Boy. Es obvio que ganó EC3, pero lo que quiero mencionar es el talento, la imagen y el potencial que tiene este muchacho. Este luchador podría ser fácil una fuerza como “heel” o rudo, y a su vez, ser una versión de Randy Orton de TNA. Un diamante que si se pule vale oro. Llegamos a la estelar entre Mr. Anderson y Bully Ray. Si Ray gana Anderson se retira, si Anderson gana se desmantela Aces & Eights. Esta lucha estuvo súper buena y la reacción de la gente es el mejor testigo. Ambos veteranos se metieron al publico en el bolsillo con sus ocurrencias. El final llega cuando Brooke le lanza el martillo por error a Anderson, este le pega a Bully y luego le aplica el Mic Check para el conteo 1, 2 y 3. Adiós a lo que quedaba de la facción de Aces & Eights, luego de 18 meses en TNA. No estuvo mal este evento gratuito de TNA, pero más de una C no le puedo dar. Un Impact más.

            

Resumen del segundo día del Puerto Rico Tip Off 2013

Seventh Annual Puerto Rico Tip-Off

November 21, 22, and 24, 2013

Coliseo Roberto Clemente, San Juan, Puerto Rico

www.PuertoRicoTipOff.com

For in-game statistics, please visit http://puertorico.statbroadcast.com.

Results & Schedules

Friday, November 22 Results & Schedule (daily attendance, 5,835)

·         Georgetown 90, Kansas State 63

·         Semi-finals, Charlotte 86, Northeastern 77

·         Semi-finals, Michigan 82, Florida State 80 (overtime)

·         VCU 73, Long Beach State 67

Sunday, November 24 Schedule                                                       Atlantic Time Tip-Off........ Network

·         Game No. 9 - Kansas State vs. Long Beach State                                 12:30 p.m........................ ESPN3

·         Game No. 10 - Georgetown vs. VCU                                                           3 p.m........................... ESPNU

·         Game No. 11 - Northeastern vs. Florida State                                         5:30 p.m......................... ESPN2

·         Championship, Game No. 12 - Charlotte vs. Michigan                          7:30 p.m......................... ESPN2

  

PUERTO RICO TIP-OFF

GAME 5: GEORGETOWN VS. KANSAS STATE 90-63

Georgetown Coach John Thompson III: “Yesterday was horrible, horrible. I don’t want to say that to take anything away from Northeastern, but yesterday was horrible. I thought we were pretty good today.”

“If you’re asking if we had a conversation last night, yes we did. I think, I hope, I pray, that today is more indicative of who we are. I thought that our overall attention to detail was much better today. Our overall willingness to help each other at both ends of the court was much better today. Our ability to do it for longer stretches in a possession, meaning defensively not breaking down after 10-15 seconds or offensively not looking to force something and just chuck up a long shot. Two much different games – obviously the outcome was much different, but I also think our mindset was much closer today to where it has to be.”

“When Josh Smith is in the game, we have an advantage in the paint. He’s someone that’s going to command attention. He’s an unselfish player, so when they double him, playing inside-out is something that we always want to do.”

“From their perspective, it’s good to see Thomas Gipson back on the court. He’s a presence down there, he’s poised, he takes his time. You watch the few tapes of them when he wasn’t playing and look at last year, they’re a much different team. Our post guys did a good job of putting pressure on him when he was on defense, our offensive end, but he is a very good player.”

Georgetown Guard D’Vauntes Smith-Rivera: “Taking that loss yesterday, it settled in with us not very well obviously. We went over the film and had to come in basically right after that and study Kansas State. Basically what we wanted to do was suck it up and come out with a win today. Unfortunately we had to suffer that loss yesterday, but that can’t be what motivates us to win games. We bounced back today and got the win.”

Georgetown Center Joshua Smith: “We knew we had to be more aggressive, but it was two different games. Yesterday Northeastern played a 3-2, Kansas State is more of a man team, which plays to our advantage with what we want to run. We knew going in we’d have to be aggressive and that it’d be a lot of one-on-one coverage. With me, you know, if you play me one-on-one, I’m going to be aggressive every time.”

Kansas State Coach Bruce Weber: “Obviously the start of the game really got us in a hole. You can’t do that against good teams and we caught them after a very tough loss. For them and their program, I’m sure they were a little extra motivated. They definitely played as well as they could. I thought they shot the ball better, picked on us with different people on the backdoors and the quick posts and things and spread us. We did compete and fight back to get it to 16-12, but boom right away they get it back up to where it’s double digits. You’re just fighting uphill the whole game. We have to play better, we don’t have much size and we’re going to have to do a better job of playing post defense. Because of their system, they’ve got you spread out so much, hopefully if we would have had a day or so prep we could’ve competed a little better, but we didn’t and got our butts spanked. Now you’ve got to deal with it and move forward.”

“The biggest issue with this team…I think determination, understanding what we are, all those things are important. We actually played better offensively and only got 63. We’re not shooting great – we shot less threes, I thought we were a little more patient, got to the free throw line a bit better, offensive rebounds – but at the same time we’ve got to play smarter. At the beginning it was very, very physical, and we didn’t deal with it very well. That’s where a lot of the turnovers came in and they got into transition. If you let them get into transition and they run their stuff, it puts you in a bind.”

“We’ll see what leadership is about and toughness and see if we can manage something out of the weekend.”

“They made some shots today. They made a couple runners, guys that never make those shots, and that’s their credit, some games are like that. They made the threes. You know, we talked about mixing it up, playing zone. We had one day prep against their stuff, some of our guys don’t even know what Princeton offense is. Our freshman, they’ve never seen this. They kind of got us anyway they wanted to and made shots. Northeastern got them tight and then they didn’t react to it very well. Today, we never got it over the hump to get them where they got out of rhythm.”

Kansas State Coach Thomas Gipson: “We’ve just got to stick together. Coach really harps on leadership. The older guys need to be better leaders for the younger guys, we’re kind of messing up on that. Right now we’re not a true team, we kind of play individually on the court. We still have time to bring it together before Big 12 play. We just have to use these losses as learning lessons for the future.”

PUERTO RICO TIP-OFF

GAME 6: CHARLOTTE VS. NORTHEASTERN 86-77

Charlotte Coach Alan Major: “Another hard fought game. These guys have really embraced the idea the farther away you get from home, the closer you’ve got to stay together. We told them Northeastern doesn’t go away. I mean, talk about a well-coached team. We knew that from last year playing them in Alaska. They just keep coming at you. It got sticky that in the second half and we didn’t come out with quite the pop that we did to start the game. The guys kind of re-energized themselves.”

“Very happy with this guy next to me here (Ben Cherry). It’s kind of like you can’t keep a good man down, and Ben’s hard on himself that he hadn’t shot it well up to this point. Very proud of him because he has just stayed after it. He’s been a wonderful addition to our team regardless if he makes a shot or not. So today, we just caught a good dose of gravy when he started knocking a few in. He’s been a team guy, a glue guy, wonderful human being, so I’m proud of Ben as well. But just a great team effort again everybody chipped in.”

“Hopefully we can continue the team effort trend, it makes us harder to prepare for. It’s not one or two guys that people have to put on a scouting report, put a circle around. The 17 assists to nine turnovers, I was happy with that as well. The scoring balance and that were the two biggest stats and then probably the free throws down the stretch, 22-28 was very good.”

Charlotte Guard Ben Cherry: “The guys that were already here are real experienced, so just being able to come into the mix with guys that have been in and won big games, that definitely is important. The cool part is there was a different lineup out there yesterday to finish the game. Then today, we went a little bit smaller and we were able to get five or six stops in a row and a bucket on the other side. So that’s a big confidence booster when you can finish games like that.”

“I’ve been watching my teammates shoot it well during the beginning of the season, so I’ve been trying to rub their hands trying to get some of that magic. Just a little bit. I just wanted one to fall. Definitely seeing them knock down shots, it’s like OK, it can happen, it should happen. It was definitely nice to have a few go in today.”

Northeastern Coach Bill Coen: “Charlotte played really, really well today. Unfortunately our zone wasn’t as effective today as it was yesterday. We allowed them to get off to a really hot start. They made great shots, kind of forced us out of the zone. In the second half, our man-to-man was much better. Coming out of the locker room we got back into the game. Unfortunately the story of the second half is we just left to many points on the free throw line. We got to the line and it was a competitive game, but we had a number of empty trips in a row and allowed them to get separation again. At that point, we were just a little too tired to make another run.”

“We’ve got to find a way to give him (David Walker) a blow, but he’s so important to what we do. It’s hard to find those minutes in competitive games. When you’re competing against the teams that are in this field, a short minute or two can really make a swing in the score board. So we’ve been pushing him a little bit, but hopefully he’ll get a good day’s rest and be ready to compete again on Sunday.”

“You’ve got to give a lot of credit to Charlotte, they played an excellent basketball game. Two of the things that kind of cover up some mistakes – our free throw shooting and three point shooting. I thought we did many of the other things in the game well, but we left some points on the free throw line. When you do that, you get exposed, you leave yourself open to games like this. In order to beat a quality opponent, you’ve got to make some threes and make your free throws down the stretch. To Charlotte’s credit they did that all afternoon.”

Northeastern Forward Scott Eatherton: “We try to get it down low a lot to me and Reggie (Spencer). When we get the ball we’re supposed to try to score, and then rebounding is just a given that’s what we’re down there for. I just try to get as many rebounds as I can.”

“I think we were in the game. Like what coach said, with the missed free throws. That really hurt us; that kind of brought us down. We’ve kind of been struggling a little bit the whole season. If we would have made those free throws, it would’ve given us a little extra energy and maybe the outcome would’ve been a little different.”

PUERTO RICO TIP-OFF

GAME 7: MICHIGAN VS. FLORIDA STATE 82-80 OT

Michigan Coach John Beilein: “For a November game, we’ve had a couple of these now this and the Iowa State game, it seemed like it was a playoff feel to it. Florida State – I’ve coached a lot of years, haven’t seen a team this efficient with that type of length with their guards, they’ve got a nice compliment between their guards and big guys. When you finish over Mitch McGary with ease when he’s bodying you up, that’s a talented, talented big guy. And several of them did it, so we were very fortunate to get that win and go on to the Championship game.”

“We made our own grave there. We came out all fired up and we didn’t get a couple breaks at the other end, a couple of loose balls and then we came down and really didn’t execute on offense. All the sudden you look and it’s 16 points. Jeff Meyer said in the huddle, ‘We’re not going to score 14 points in this one possession. It’s got to be two-by-two.’ We just worked at it and changed up some things we were doing and obviously we slowly crept into the game.”

“We were just trying to get Nik (Stauskas) the ball and make sure he had some space. Mitch (McGary) was going to give him a screen and play ball. There’s not enough time with 11 seconds to go, knowing how they were shutting down some things, we just tried to keep it real simple.”

“Today, there were several times that I was comfortable with both Nik (Stauskas), but then Glenn Robinson came up big for us, made some big shots…and Mitch (McGary) just gave us so much energy.”

“You know what was really fortunate is that Derrick Walton is the only one that hadn’t played in it that much before, but he was a warrior in it. I mean absolute warrior in it. That’s something you’ve got to have at the bottom of that. They scored a couple layups, but we didn’t want to give up any threes. It’s a difficult zone in that situation. With one day prep, I’m sure that Leonard (Hamilton), I mean what are you going to do with that? So that really helped us.”

Michigan Forward Mitch McGary: “I want to credit Florida State on their play. Tonight was a battle and I think we stuck together and showed our core values tonight.”

“We just didn’t want to go home with another loss on our chests. We came together as a team and before the game, the coaches made a great point for us to stay together. We fought through that adversity the whole time and possession after possession we got stops and it paid off in the end.”

“Going into halftime we were down 10, we still had a positive attitude towards the game. We knew we needed to get stops each possession, there’s not a 10-point basket where we can get right back in the game, we just had to grind it out each possession and that’s what we did.”

“I’m getting there, it’s a process, I can’t get back into shape overnight. I didn’t play as much last night, kind of saving me for tonight and it worked out. I felt good out there.”

“Going up against a team with such size and length –they’ve got 7’3 and 7’1 – I’ve never played against a team with two seven-footers, which is difficult. I think we did a good job, Glenn (Robinson III) and I, both on the glass with both (Jon) Horford and Jordan (Morgan). I kind of just boxed them out and had the guards clean-up for me, so it was a team effort.”

Michigan Guard Nik Stauskas: “Florida State played a great game. Especially in that first half, they were beating us pretty bad. I think it just says a lot about this team, how much we’re able to stick together, the fact that we were able to overcome that deficit and win in overtime.”

“Me and Mitch (McGary) were just going to run a screen-and-roll, I looked and the whole baseline was open so I kind of just rejected the screen. The middle was wide open, I got an open layup.”

“I think I got a couple good looks in the first half, they just didn’t go down. The second half I just got into a rhythm a little bit more, started being more aggressive and getting to the basket. Anytime you can get to the free throw line a lot it’s a good way to get easy points on the board and get your confidence up so that’s what my deal was in the second half.”

“Whatever the defense was going to give me, that’s what I was going to take. The lane was wide open, the baseline was wide open, so that was the best opportunity for me.”

Michigan Guard Derrick Walton Jr.: “We’ve been working on the one-three-one, we just thought it would work at that time. We went with it, trusted it, and it worked for us.”

“My teammates help me a lot; we stay together, they encourage me to be myself and be a leader of this team. I’m embracing the role and they’re helping a lot.”

Florida State Coach Leonard Hamilton: “There were about three things that happened in the game that really lead to our undoing. They beat us to about five loose balls that were 50-50 balls in critical parts of the second half, and they were just a little more aggressive. We stepped out of bounds three times, dribbled off our foot once, uncharacteristically. Not any fault of our players, just kind of the nature of the game. Sometime you run into a game and you have bad luck like that.”

“I kind of figured that coach would use the one-three-one tonight, and we worked on it a little bit this morning in our walkthrough in the ballroom. We had not spent a lot of time against the one-three-one. I thought our players were extremely tentative when they went to it. What we wanted was available for us, but I think you have to have repetitions going over schemes consistently in order for things that you have to do to become habit. It made us tentative, we we’re not nearly as aggressive.”

“They deserved the victory today. They did the things they needed to do to win the basketball game and I thought we came up just a little bit short.”

“Mitch McGary is obviously just an outstanding player. He didn’t do anything that surprised us, he’s just talented. He played like great players play, he played great basketball. He has not been playing much, he’s been recovering from his injury, but Mitch is a special, unique, extremely skilled big man that has a great future in the game of basketball. His strength is his basketball IQ. He makes great decisions with the ball, kind of like a point center. He not only performs at a high level himself, but he makes his teammates better. You have to give him a lot of credit for being a guy who’s a tough, skilled, smart basketball player. I wish he had missed a couple more games before he came back. He’s a handful. You can expect him not only to be successful in this tournament, but I think there will be a lot of other coaches feel just like I feel right now.”

“We knew that part of their scheme is that they drive baseline. They executed their offense better than we did our defense. That’s part of what they do, they drilled the baseline and they locate players on the other side. They’ve been doing that all year long, so it was no surprise. It’s just that our player looked at the screen just long enough for Stauskus to drive baseline.”

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