What Richard Pitino said after New Mexico’s NCAA Tournament loss to Michigan State

In a battle of regular-season conference champions, the New Mexico men’s basketball team succumbed to Michigan State, 71-63, Sunday night in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

The 10th-seeded Lobos (27-8) held a 31-29 halftime lead over the second-seeded Spartans (29-6) but were outscored by 10 points after the break at Rocket Arena in Cleveland, Ohio.

“Michigan State is a terrific team,” New Mexico head coach Richard Pitino said. “Physical, tough. Foul trouble for us was very, very difficult. They had 19 points to our five from the free throw line. But give them credit. It’s a championship program, it’s a program that we’re trying to build towards.”

The Spartans went 19 of 28 from the foul line while New Mexico finished 5 of 10.

Jaden Akins paced Big Ten power Michigan State with 16 points. Tre Holloman added 14 points, four assists and three steals off the bench.

Nelly Junior Joseph led the way for the Lobos with 16 points and seven rebounds but fouled out for the first time all season. Mountain West Player of the Year Donovan Dent had 14 points and six assists.

With Colorado State and New Mexico falling in the round of 32, the MWC finishes the NCAA Tournament with a 2-4 record.

Here are the highlights from Pitino’s postgame press conference.

On Michigan State’s defense

“They’re big, they’re strong, they’re athletic. I mean, they had some blocked shots from behind that I hadn’t seen all year. Certainly there’s another level of athleticism that we’re not used to. We knew they’d make us earn it. I was wishing we could get to the foul line a little bit more; we did not. Making five free throws against a very, very physical team is hard.”

On attempting to speed Michigan State up

“We just couldn’t get that run game going. We got it a little bit towards the middle part of the second half, but we didn’t want to get bogged down in the half court with them. They’re bigger, they’re strong, they’re quick-twitch, they’re athletic. We kept harping on it like ‘Let’s get out and run, let’s get out and run.’”

On Junior Joseph’s foul trouble

“I thought the third and fourth (fouls) were pretty questionable, could’ve gone either way. I don’t think it’s why we lost the game, but he was certainly a very good option down there. The two games this year he’s been in foul trouble — one was San Jose and then this one — we certainly didn’t win either one of them.”