WATCH: Michigan State C Carson Cooper Speaks After Win Over Minnesota

Junior center Carson Cooper posted a game-high 11 rebounds in No. 7 Michigan State's 73-51 win over Minnesota on Tuesday.
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EAST LANSING, Mich. -- Michigan State junior center Carson Cooper has been playing some solid basketball as of late.

In the Spartans' 73-51 victory over Minnesota on Tuesday, Cooper turned in a near double-double with 9 points and 11 rebounds while also recording three blocks.

Cooper's 11 boards served as a game-high and was a huge factor in Michigan State's dominance on the glass, as the Spartans outrebounded the Golden Gophers, 40 to 22.

Cooper addressed the media after the win. You can watch part of his media availability below:

Below is a partial transcript from Michigan State coach Tom Izzo's opening statement of his postgame press conference:

Izzo: "The game was interesting. It felt like the first 5 minutes, we had five turnovers, and we really weren't playing very well, but our defense – and that's what they say, ’Your defense is stifling.’ And in all the years I've been here, I thought the first half of basketball was one of the best halves defensively I've seen my teams play in a variety of different ways. And so, then we started taking care of the ball and moving it a little better. I still wasn't pleased with our offense, even the ball movement. I mean, we just don't look real sharp. We looked sharper at the end when we got the ball in and got it out. So then, we had a big talk at halftime on what we were going to do because we've been notorious lately for giving up a ton of points in the second half, 42, 44. The goal was to keep it under 35, and I guess we were right on that goal. But again, we turned the ball over three times in the first 3 minutes of the second half but yet only nine for the game. I thought some of the highlights were my guards. Tre [Holloman] played very well, but Jase [Richardson] and Jeremy [Fears Jr.] having 14 assists and one turnover was impressive. Book [Xavier Booker] did some good things, made some free throws. Coen [Carr] – he’s just a human highlight film. And I thought early, Szymon [Zapala] did a good job. He had four offensive rebounds in the first 5, 6 minutes. But our defense was pretty good 90% of the time against a team that has been really playing well.”

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Aidan Champion
AIDAN CHAMPION