Michael P. Leaf (June 7, 1961 – August 19, 2019) was an American college basketball coach. He is known for his tenure as head coach at Winona State University, where he won two NCAA Division II National titles. (wikipedia)
When he came in around Christmas last season, he just came to practice and did his thing. He didn't want to interrupt. He just went out and learned the things we wanted to do.
I think we really got frustrated in the first half. They were definitely on fire. We were able to keep our composure and knew our shots would eventually fall. Fortunately, the tides turned.
What can I say? He's a tremendous young man, a special individual. The day I signed him, I was an extremely happy man.
They were really guarding him tight, and he's not the kind of kid to force anything. It's pretty impressive what he's done (in his career). He'll have to do it the next game.
It was gutsy there in the second half as we came out and took it to them right away. We couldn't quite go over the top, though, staying with a 10, 12 point lead. That's pretty much how it ended up.
Our defense was just awesome. We were making them take some tough shots and we were cleaning those boards and pushing the ball up the floor to get great shots.
We had several goals, and one of them was to host the conference tournament. We did that as well last year. It was a great success. We had great crowds and super support.
That was really a war out there, it really was. Those were two excellent basketball teams. We just had to battle, battle, battle.
I can't say enough about what Joe and Travis did off the bench against Northern. In a game like that, it would have been easy for them to put some pressure on themselves. But they elevated their game and responded so very, very well.
We've been doing it the last few years, so we're used to it. They're a talented team. They won a lot of ball games early, so this was a good win for us.
