Post Game Quotes: Michigan State vs. Michigan
2/1/2015 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
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Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo
Opening Statement...
I felt that was a game of about four different halves. Early on, I thought when (Zak) Irvin hit that first shot was probably the best defensive play we made. In all, I thought (Branden) Dawson did a pretty good job on him. (Muhammad-Ali) Abdur-Rahkman killed us and did a hell of a job. I thought Michigan, in general, played well and yet, I thought the first half, the number of shots and layups we're missing are just mind-boggling, including down the stretch, when we need one stop and a defensive mistake. We still have our best free throw shooter at the line. The strength of our team is our rebounding; we don't come up with a rebound on three tips. You've got to give (Max) Bielfeldt credit on that.
I wasn't real pleased with the way we played; I was pleased that we got a win. I was pleased by the way we shot in the second half and executed a little better. It seemed like in the first half, we turned one over and they threw it to me. Although, I think I could have hit a shot or a free throw better than we did, so maybe that was a good move on our part. The turnovers only ended up 12, but there were some at the beginning of the game, we missed free throws and layups and all of a sudden, we're down six or eight. We bounce back and start doing a better and better job. They shot 40 percent in the first half, but I thought we made some tough shots. In the second half, we shot better, but our defense wasn't there.
All-in-all, it was a win. I think it is a good week to have off. I don't know if we adjusted well to the week we came off of, but we need to shore up some things. Yet, we're 6-3 and tied for second in the league. That ain't all bad and by tonight, I'm watching somebody win the Super Bowl and I'll feel a whole lot better than I do now.
On Matt Costello's performance late in the game...
Matt struggled. He struggled on ball screens and that. Yet, he made some unbelievable plays down the stretch, the blocked shots, the block on Irvin, a guy that can go around him and the block on the layup. That's what's frustrating about this team right now. We just haven't put it all together. We can't get guys putting it together. When (Travis) Trice is playing well, (Denzel) Valentine isn't. Dawson is better and the most consistent player, but there's a big difference for most of that game when Gavin (Schilling) is in there and doing a better job on the ball screens. Matt bounces back, gets some free throws and makes some big plays, dominating. We need to see that more often.
On guys wanting to "be the man"...
Trice quit trying to hit those fall-away shots, he got in the paint and that was one. It went to Valentine down the stretch and for the most part, did what he was supposed to do and either got fouled or got shots at the basket. I thought we did a better job of that and I thought that was encouraging, you're right. We found ways to lose games, but we found a way to win a game that we really needed to win. I keep going back to the first half because...there were so many shots that were what you would call free shots. Matt had to struggle with a couple layups, I mean point-blank layups. You're not going to be a great team if you miss those, but if you're having one of those days where you miss and you find a way to win, that's something that's encouraging.
On Denzel Valentine...
I thought for a while there we were trying to live and die with the three, but Denzel worked on it hard just like I knew he would. His shooting doesn't bother me because I know how hard he works on it and I know he's a good shooter and that it will come back. Sometimes, I'm asking when, but I really do know that. He did a great job to stay within the moment. There were a couple times in the last couple of weeks that he's letting that affect everything. Denzel did the best job when he was on (Aubrey) Dawkins and on Irvin. He was very good defensively. A lot of times with those guys that are shooters, they let their offense dictate their defense. I thought Denzel worked through that and that was encouraging. They were good shots and him making them is what he's supposed to do.
On any changes during overtime...
I thought we just guarded the ball screens a little better. I thought BJ got a little tighter there in the one stretch where we didn't sub him at all. That's not what we normally do, but I thought he was so valuable out there. I don't know. I thought we executed a little better and got Trice into the paint, instead of the fall-away shots. I thought we took some bad shots too ... not the shot for that guy and how he's playing. I thought we took their shot selection; our defense got a little better. They played well though.
On what he likes best out of his team's current performance...
Personally, I don't have mixed emotions. My emotions are that I don't think we played very well. There's no mixing in that. I think we're better than we're playing. We played very well at Rutgers, before that I do not think we played very well. A lot of that reverts back to our shooting. We've been pretty good defensively, outside of that second half. I thought Michigan did a good job. We have to get better if we're going to have a chance later in the season, at the end of the year. If you ever needed a week off, this one is needed. Last week was a confusing week too. We wanted to work a little bit on Michigan on Tuesday or Wednesday when we knew we were not going to get much prep time. They're a harder team to prepare for because they zone some, they went 1-3-1, they run a different offense than most teams. That probably hurt us a little bit, but it is what it is. We had our chances, we just didn't capitalize.
On Branden Dawson...
He's been pretty steady, to be honest with you, in the last five, six, seven games. He's playing as consistent as he can. Today, he got a little bit tighter and lost his man a couple of times at the end, but I'm pretty pleased with the way Dawson has been playing. I never thought I'd see the day when he could play 41 minutes in a game. He ran pretty well. He got out on the break pretty well. He rebounded pretty well. He takes the shots he works on. He's very good. We need more of that. He's been as consistent as anybody I've had. We've still got to get Travis and Denzel to be consistent at the same time. Then, with Gavin and Matt, you've got a little offense with one and better defense with the other. With Bryn (Forbes) and JB (Javon Bess), we need to get him back in there now that he's healthier. One's better defensively, one's better offensively, you've got to mix those guys together somehow.
Michigan head coach John Beilein
Opening Statement
A good Michigan-Michigan State basketball game. I was really impressed by (Denzel) Valentine. Obviously, they have a lot of other good players on the team as well but I thought he really stood out in that he was able to pick us apart with different things we did one-on-one, zones, everything. When you have a tall guy who can really see like that, and can shoot, it really makes your team really go. I didn't like his game, but I've got to respect his game a ton today. It made a big difference in this game. I thought the first half in transition we weren't as good. We can't mimic the speed they play with and we can't mimic Branden Dawson's ability to offensive rebound. He and (Matt) Costello had some blocked shots. Big players in this game. I like to think of it more as a really close overtime game instead of the disappointing way we played in overtime. We'll grow from it. I talked a lot about how failure is a fertilizer for growth, so we had all kinds of sprinkles of fertilizer out there today.
On if MSU did anything Michigan wasn't expecting today...
Not really, they're just really good. I think they're really good. There was nothing. They run so much man-action in their zones and they really did a great job against the 1-3-1 but I really expected that. When you look at a team, whether you can play 1-3-1, and teams that have high assists and good shooting are not ones to play 1-3-1, so I pulled that out real quick. They had a dunk and a three to start. They're good and they should be. They have some talented players.
On Muhammad-Ali Abdur-Rahkman's performance...
I think you're seeing that great growth from Muhammad right now. We saw a little bit in video when we recruited him, but we never did got to see him play live. We saw it in video, but we hadn't seen it in practice or games. I think we saw it in the month of January and let's hope it continues into February.
On the Breslin Center crowd ...
That wasn't a Breslin crowd I felt was ever out of it. We made some shots, I think we banked in the first one; you don't like to make those. We also had some other guys step up. We also missed some good ones in the second half especially when we were up last. No, the Breslin crowd was great. They have a great crowd here and we love playing here. It's really a tremendous basketball atmosphere.
On how he prepared his team to play at the Breslin Center...
I don't think we did anything special that we do for any other game. It's the speed of their fast break. They get great rebounds, but what they do differently than us is their rebounders rebound and their bigs and guards outlet, where we let our guards rebound a lot. We do that every game. If that was the first away game, that would be different. But we've played in some pretty good venues already, and this is a good one. Without question, one of the best.
On Derrick Walton's status...
We don't anticipate him being back for a while. It will be some time, but we're going to give it a great rest. We don't have a definite date yet but it won't be in the foreseeable future. I think we have an idea of what's going on and what we do know. I don't expect him back too soon.
On Dawson guarding Abdur-Rahkman in overtime...
Their overall defense is good and they switched a lot of screens at different times. Our timing on offense is - and not an excuse, please - because we have so many new guys out there playing. Max (Bielfeldt) was blowing up plays, Muhammad blows up plays, Aubrey (Dawkins) blows up plays. But they won't for long, they're learning on the fly and that's why you can't get plays open. Tom and Michigan State are one of the best defensive teams in the country. You have to really execute against them.
On Michigan's effort and what it tells him about his team...
I love the way the team is growing right now. God knows if you saw some of our games, we have a lot of room to grow. I do like that our kids are hunkered in and they're going after it. You lose to Wisconsin in overtime, you lose to Michigan State in overtime, and nobody wants to lose those games. I do see the growth. We will really, going forward, talk about that more than anything we have to clean up. But at the same time, we have to clean up a lot of things.
On if the injuries have been a blessing in disguise for the development of Abdur-Rahkman...
I think with all of our players as well. Max (Bielfeldt) is getting a shot now. I saw the old Spike Albrecht today because of Derrick (Walton) being out. Rahkman will be the one that stood out only because that was the position we lost the most of. Even when Caris (LeVert) would go to forward, Derrick was the off guard. Muhammad, all of the sudden, is playing 30-35 minutes a game. I like what I see and love the kid. Really good kid.
On going scoreless in overtime...
I think it was that Michigan State's defense is really good. We had a couple of good looks that didn't go in. And I think we probably panicked when we got down by six. We took an ill-advised three. You shoot a jump shot and it shouldn't get blocked. You pump fake and take it to the basket. Those type of things just changed the momentum. Tough shot and there's a rebound, blocked shot, and all of the sudden, the game's not a two or three possession game.
On Matt Costello's performance on the defensive end...
He's way underestimated as a basket defender. He's a really good player, but he's really underestimated as far as blocking shots. He's not playing over the rim a lot, but he's got great timing, and you don't see that a lot. A couple of times we got to the rim, he cleaned some things up. Those were big plays in the game.
