Men's Basketball Post-Game Quotes
11/24/2014 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
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Tom Izzo Quotes vs. Santa Clara 11/24/14
Opening Statement
I thought we played a great first half in a lot of ways. Not a very good second half. We had a treat tonight that Gregory Kelser was here and Magic showed up and talked to our team. The one great thing he said was whenever you get a team down you have to take care of your business. We sure as heck haven't learned that yet. In a few of our second halves, we gave up 40 points and yet it wasn't our defense, it was our turnovers. We ran our offense good enough and we didn't make shots. It was hard with Brandon Dawson out. They zoned us, we haven't been zoned much so we haven't worked on it much. We definitely didn't work on it with Marv [Clark Jr.] in there and I take full responsibility for that. Brandon came in at noon sicker than a dog. We're hoping and thinking it's the 24-hour bug. We had them there and possibly could have played but he couldn't even go through the walk-through. So that's why he didn't play. We got some things out of Marv offensively, but he's got a lot of work to do. When we're running the court, we seemed all out of whack. I didn't think we looked in sync the second half. They had a guy missing that was a key player and we had a couple guys missing. The only negative for me was trying to find out where this team is. There are probably more positives than negatives but I just hate how we ended the game. Tomorrow, if anybody wants to join us for breakfast, we'll be shooting free throws.
On the how well the break was working early...
Those two guards are good and I thought we did a heck of a job. [Jared] Brownridge didn't score a bucket until he scored two at the end. He was three for 12 and the others were three for 13. Give Trice and Valentine credit, they did a hell of a job defensively. It doesn't matter who you're playing. Those guys are very good and hard to guard. They're really good driving guys and I thought we handled them well. I don't have a good feel for where we're at yet, but I know teams in our league that haven't played half the teams we've played yet. So, there are some other teams that don't have a clue where there at yet either.
On whether they are getting something from Marvin Clark Jr. that they didn't anticipate...
We knew he could shoot it. He's had some great shots. I thought Denzel [Valentine] and Trav [Trice] gave him some great looks. When you have those two guards getting 14 assists, they're playing well. Trice didn't shoot it as well. I thought he didn't shoot it as well, but defensively I thought he was pretty good. I couldn't ask for much more out of him. Marvin does some good things, but there's some things he's got to work on. He kind of just stays in one speed and is a very unemotional guy. He's going to have trouble with me for a while because he's got to change that. He had great stats and a pretty good game, but there are other parts of the game he's going to have to do. [Matt] Costello and [Gavin] Schilling have been bright spots. Travis has been a bright spot, and Zel [Valentine] has been a bright spot defensively.
On the progress of Gavin Schilling...
Well, he's so strong and athletic. He does an incredible job defensively and collects a lot of rebounds. He's got a nice jump hook. That one he just kind of threw up there. When he does start shooting it, he's got as good of a left hand as he does a right hand. I think he's making some progress as is Costello. We didn't get the ball inside at times as good as we did the other night because Marv was kind of everywhere. Not all of that in a positive way either. He was like a blind dog in a meat house, he was all over the place. Matt Costello would have had some things in there if he would have taken his time. He missed some free throws and still could have had a double-double.
On the how well they are moving the ball to each other...
To be honest with you, it's been one of the best we've had. That ball is swinging around and that ball is moving. We're making extra passes and they're all looking for people. I thought tonight we missed a bunch of really good shots. That is one thing this team has, between that and their camaraderie. Our leaders have to lead a little bit more. What I've noticed is when they aren't playing as well, it's a little harder to do that. We have to get Zel going a little bit. In practice, the guy shoots it so well. He lives in here. I never see him shoot badly in practice, but he hasn't been shooting it well in a game. His rebounding has been up. Those are some staggering statistics you see in terms of percentage of baskets coming off of assists. You look at some of these other teams and we do as good of a job as anybody in the country.
On having to play some of his best players in the final minutes of games that are decided...
Well there are a couple things that you can do with that. Tonight, I just wanted to leave him in there and I only have so many subs. By the way, Kenny Goins hasn't been playing because we think we are going to redshirt him. He's been looking good and practice and is going to be a player for us down the road. As far as Zel goes, you want to get a kid some confidence, so I was trying to go to him on a few things. I think he didn't respond as well. I think Magic said it best. He comes here tonight and says something that we didn't do at the end of the game. You have to have that killer instinct. So I said, I know you guys don't want to listen to me but this guy is a bigger deal than me. From player to head coach, that guy is a lot more important than me, so damn it listen to him. That's what we haven't learned yet. I think Trav tried to do a little bit of that, but we're going to work on that.
On having both Gregg Kelser and Magic Johnson in the building at the same time...
Those two guys, I just love both of them. They both try and get here whenever they can. They always try and get back here for the holidays early to spend some time with us. He rattled off our last two games. He had to have watched them. He said he watched one on the internet. He had to because he rattled off too many things. I know players are looking at me like, `he told him to say that,' but I didn't because I only saw him for five minutes before the game. I just have so much appreciation that some of the greatest players in the Big Ten and NBA history still care about their program. We were talking about Pat Riley and how he keeps the family close and that's something we do. That's the ultimate compliment and he's part of that family. I can't think of many times we've had them both here at the same time, so that's why we took the photo.
On how to manage the amount of games they're playing in such a short period of time...
The biggest fear I have is six games in 13 days. That's a good reason why you play a guy late and move on. There have been teams I've had and teams other guys have had, and they've only played six guys the whole year. I don't know when injuries are going to happen and I don't know when guys are going to get sick, so guys have to learn to play through fatigue. I really have to get Zel going too and as much as people don't think I care about guys personal goals, I do a lot for that too. It's a balancing act. That's why I'm doing what I'm doing. Trice told me that by playing him more, he's played himself into shape.
On the amount of turnovers...
They were ugly, stupid and bad. I really believe it comes from fatigue and a little bit from not playing together. Guys have to realize they can't be so casual with the ball. When you get a lead those things are going to happen. It doesn't happen to Trice so much because he wants to lead the league and lead the assist to turnover ratio. That's what happens when you have goals. Last game I talked to my team, we were up by 22 rebounds with two minutes left and we only won by 17. That might not be a big deal to them, but we led the nation three or four times in rebounding. Games that you should out-rebound you don't end up outrebounding and games you shouldn't, you hold your own. So that ticks me off when we give up five rebounds in two minutes. I'm not sure players understand that yet, but we have so many new young guys.
On whether the leadership shown by Travis Trice is what he's looking for on his team...
A player-coached team is what you want. That's what you need and credit to him. I think Bill Belichick said it best. He has the greatest phrase I've ever heard and I think every coach has stolen it. Just do your job. If you just do your job and the next guy does his job, then everything takes care of itself. If everyone does their job in football, then every play is designed for a touchdown. If you don't do your job, then it really upsets a lot of people and that's where turnovers come from. We're making progress. I just didn't think we shot the ball very well. When you have open shots you miss, it just doesn't look as good. Also, when you miss free throws. When you look defensively, for the majority of the game no matter who you're playing, we stopped dribble penetration; we helped on ball screens and did some pretty good things that I'm going to be able to build off of.
On the status of Alvin Ellis III...
I don't know. It's not a secret, because I never leave those things secret but he got the boot off and did a little shooting. He actually did a little shooting drill yesterday. He hasn't done any layups yet. I think doubtful for this weekend. We're getting to the point now that he's missed a couple weeks so his conditioning and his game and his shot. It looks to me that Alvin and JB [Javon Bess] will be back around Christmas time before they get back to normal unfortunately. Bryn [Forbes] is still having trouble with that hand. You can see that at times. It's nothing wrong with it, but he's just got to deal with it. I'm hoping BJ [Brandon Dawson] will be back doing something and it's the 24-hour bug and not the two week bug. He looked better on the bench then he did at 3' o'clock.
Santa Clara head coach Kerry Keating
Opening statement...
Well, that was fun ... if you're a Spartan fan. I'm not concerned about our team in a sense that we got it handed to us by a very good team, obviously. My only concern is that we're really fragile because we're so incredibly young and inexperienced. We've kind of taken some blows with our experienced guys. The first of which was this summer when Andrew [Papenfus], fifth year senior captain suffered a seizure as a result of a brain tumor. They've been kind of dealing with that and Andrew has been dealing with that. Andrew actually had to leave the court because he couldn't take the environment, it was obviously stressing him out, so we didn't have him on the bench. Then, of course, the news that we got yesterday that very possibly Yannick [Atanga] will be ending his career with an ACL tear. We've dealt with that before, with guys that have had season ending injuries, but had a chance to come back and we're going to fight to try to get Yannick back if we can given the circumstances that he's in as a double major. He's doing things right. When you have nine freshmen and sophomores, no juniors, and two of your four seniors are removed from action then one of your freshman, 6-10 280 [pound] big kid is out for another month, it kind of puts you in a tough spot. You have to be perfect; we probably would've had to be perfect even if we had those guys in a place like this at the level we're at. It just makes it that much harder. We just have to understand that it's a learning experience for how to pay attention to detail even more so and we're not afforded any leeway opportunities to slip up. [We] got punched in the gut trying to come back. We missed a lot of easy shots and we just weren't as physical enough as we needed to be on the boards and with the ball to be able to give ourselves a chance and give Michigan State a game. All the credit to them for handling their own adversity, obviously with Dawson out for whatever reason. That speaks volumes to how good they can really be when they're at full strength. I know they're suffering from some injuries too, but I'm looking forward to seeing what type of season they can have.
On Michigan State's play against Brandon Clark and Jared Brownridge...
I don't know if it was as much of what they did or what we didn't do. Obviously, they're a good defensive team and they're tough minded. I know they have attention paid toward those two guys based on what they've done in the past, but there's an adjustment that both of them are making to be in this position that they've earned based on what they've done as recently as last year. Obviously for Jared [Brownridge] it was last year and Brandon [Clark] over the course of his career. Both of them being under-recruited players and now having the chance to play and excel at a high level. It's an adjustment more so for Jared as to not having as much attention on him as last year, even with the type of season he had. Even though at the end of the year and there was attention on him, he was still able to perform that way to know that he will be the focal point of 29 to 30 scouting reports. Brandon is no different. Those guys just need to exercise a little more trust in their young teammates and that's a process that we know we're going through, and it's one that we're going to be patient and go through and probably take a lumps like this along the way. I know that I'm not as concerned now as to how we'll be playing in January and February, which has been the case in our program the way we have to run it. A great learning experience for us to learn how to do things on the other end, and what happens when you're on the other end of that as we were tonight.
On Michigan State's fastbreak...
We see that at our league with Gonzaga and BYU and we certainly want to be in that category too with our athleticism and our speed. Stops help that and obviously we aided to that by taking a few bad shots, which are sometimes typical of a young team trying to get back in the game too quickly. They challenged us at the rim when we did get there and we weren't able to convert to the free throw line until the second half. They have the athleticism and the speed to get up the floor and space out. I think [Marvin] Clark gives them a pretty good dynamic at that four spot that they don't have at that other spot. Obviously, he can shoot the ball really well and did a great job filling in for [Brandon] Dawson tonight. Any time you have two shooters like [Travis] Trice and [Bryn] Forbes in the game you're going to have to get back, but also understand that they can get you on the perimeter. They had weapons and tools. [Tum Tum] Nairn brings speed to that that they're going to utilize. Transition defense is definitely one of the keys. Transition defense and keeping Michigan State off the boards - I think that's about 20 years of a scouting report there for you.
On what you gain as a program playing Michigan State...
We have a lot of factors that go into our scheduling. I like to think that I've inherited some level of genius from my father being the chief scheduler at Kansas. I think [Mark] Hollis here will attest to that and what they do at this level. We've been able to schedule properly based on the type of teams that we've had. We usually do this about two or three years in advance. We don't have guys coming or going, we haven't had anyone transfer our of our program in the last four to five years. We've graduated every single one of our kids in the last eight years and have the highest APR in the league, too. We're an academic orientated school that doesn't have the resources to have teams come to us for money. This was born out of the tournament itself because you're able to play a fourth game by rule in these tournaments before we go to Orlando tomorrow and play Thursday. It's an extra game and it's an extra game that we're able to play. There's really no harm in that - win, lose, or draw at our level. It gets us a chance to play at a level that we all want to be in and play at the end of the year because teams like this are going to be there. You're better off playing them on their court as part of a tournament that's an extra two games. You're allowed to schedule 29 and we've scheduled 31 every year that we've been in NTEs. I said before the game too that we've been fortunate enough in our program to take advantage of these NTEs and post-season tournaments. We're 21-6, we were 21-5 in the last for years of NTEs and post season tournaments .Our guys have risen to that level, but two of those teams were senior led. There's a learning curve involved in that. We have 10 freshman and sophomores next year with no seniors. The year after that we return 13 players, all 13 back. This game will pay dividends for us three years down the road. It's tough for me to be able to get that across to our players because we're all living in the moment and we're present in our process now. With respect to our seniors, I want to give them this opportunity too. We're recruiting the Midwest pretty successfully too, both Jared [Brownridge] and Brandon [Clark] being from Indiana and Illinois. It's nice to get them back in front of their families in this environment too, even though we were on the wrong end of it tonight, I like the fact that they get the chance to put their arms around their own families for a change.
