Nov. 10, 2010
Box Score | Photo Gallery 
Wisconsin Coach Bo Ryan
On Rob Wilson’s injury:
“It’s like anything else; you just have to move on. He’s just rehabbing and trying to get himself back. It means more minutes for some other guys right now. He was shut down tonight by the trainer, so I couldn’t play him.”
On Wquinton Smith’s play and how he played with Jordan Taylor:
”Q gave us what he has given us since he first came here as a walk-on: energy. He’s gotten much stronger and better with his feet. I’ve always loved the guys that people don’t think can produce. I don’t look at Q as a walk-on, I’m just looking for players, and I’m looking for guys who can get things done on both ends of the floor. Defensively, he’s very good. He’s used to defending Trevon Hughes, so there’s no one out there that’s going to shock him.”
On his team’s progress through two exhibition games:
“That’s a fairly athletic team. That’s not what we’re going to face every night, but what matters is what you do when you’re out on the court. The guys showed some signs tonight. They did some good things, and there’s still some things we need to work on. I’m just anxious to break it down, go back at it at practice, and get ready for Sunday.”
On his team’s being prepared for the regular season:
“You never question whether you are ready. It’s just how well they’ll perform. Conditioning-wise they have done everything. They are in the position where if they keep making the effort to improve, then we will continue to become a better team.”
On Jon Leuer’s play tonight:
“He had a lot of different types of moves, he did about everything he could have offensively. He hit from outside, inside, got to the free throw line. He looked pretty good. We’re trying to become a multi-faceted team so that we don’t have to rely on one player.”
On Jordan Taylor’s decision making:
“He’s got to be a constant for us. The experience he gained last year is a valuable commodity for him. He plans on using that to help the team.”
On Mike Bruesewitz’s play:
“He’s active. He’s a live wire out there. He’s a mixer. That’s why he earned the position he was in tonight.”
On his ideas for a starting rotation:
“We’ll look at Prairie View A&M and look at some matchups. We’re not really concerned with who’s going to start and who isn’t. We’ll play off of experience and reward the players who are getting it done in practice.”
Senior F Jon Leuer
On knowing opposing players:
“Yeah, I know quite a few of those guys. I played Joe Drapcho, he was in my conference and I played against him a lot. He was the most familiar guy. It was a good team win for us, we moved the ball really well and we’re starting to come together a little bit and we’re just going to keep improving every day.”
On the exhibition season:
“Everyone’s healthy, well, except Rob (Wilson) but we’re starting to come together like I said. We still have some things to improve on, defensively especially. We want to get better in that aspect. Now the real game starts. It’s fun, it’s exciting, this is a good time of the year for us and we’re looking forward to getting the real games started.”
On running the offense:
“The main thing was getting quality looks, high percentage shots. I tried to establish myself inside a little bit and Jordan (Taylor) was able to penetrate a lot and get things going to the basket. And when we can get those kinds of shots usually shoot a good percentage. Those are the type of looks we want to get and tonight we were able to get them.”
Junior G Jordan Taylor
On playing with Wquinton Smith and his confidence level
“Wquinton is just generally a confident kid about everything he does and he’s just confident and opportunistic I would say and now he’s just getting his chance to kind of show what he can do. He’s really relishing that and taking advantage of it and he’s doing a great job.”
On running the offense
“The offense is pretty much predicated on getting good looks at the basket and getting guys moving. So when we do that and with the way Jon (Leuer) can score and everybody on our team can shoot the ball it spreads things out. It makes it easier for guys like Wquinton and I get in the lane and find open guys. When we’re getting good quality looks, you’re going to knock down shots.”
Sophomore F Mike Bruesewitz
On his improvement:
“This offseason I personally worked on a lot of my game, but the big thing came from playing against my teammates in the summer. They helped me a lot because I got to play with Jon and Jordan and guys that are really good in practice and that really helped me elevate my game. And the whole energy thing, I try and bring that every game to the team.”
On his shooting:
“I worked a lot with the coaches this preseason and this summer too, with just making my shot more consistent so I can try and help the team in more ways than just rebounding and hopefully put the ball in the basket a little more and take little pressure off the other guys to score.”
Minnesota State Coach Matt Margenthaler
Opening Statement
"This was a great opportunity for our program. The nice thing is that we have a week to prepare for the real season for us. I am going to use this as a positive and we are going to continue to get better as a program."
On his 2010-11 team in comparison to the 2009-10 team:
"We are missing a big guy. We had an All-American last year. Really, the last six years we have had an All-American at center and we just don't have that dominant big guy that we've had and that hurts us. We do have a couple of guys -- A.J. Wilson and Andre Gilbert, who are transfers and really have just not figured out how we are going to play. They are not going to play until they do figure it out.
I think that the rotation that you saw in the second half will probably be the rotation that you will see from us. We are a team that's kind of a makeshift team. Honestly this year, we missed out on some kids that we wanted late. Again, we just have a couple of transfers that need to figure it out. I like the majority of the guys that are coming back and I think that they work extremely hard. But again, it hurts us to not have that dominant center. That was very evident tonight."
On Wisconsin senior forward Jon Leuer:
"He is the real deal. He is unbelievable in the things he can do. You don't usually say this as an opposing coach, but he's fun to watch. The things that he can do on the floor inside and out--put the ball on the floor--and that's what impressed me. Obviously he cuts down and shoots some balls, but really even watching him on film a little bit. From last year we watched the Wofford game and we saw the La Crosse game and their bigs. It's not like they put the ball on the floor a lot, but when they do it's straight line drives and boy they are good at that. They are just hard to guard and you just don't find guys like him obviously. Our bigs just couldn't handle those guys at all. It was a mismatch from the tip."
