Post-Game Quotes: Michigan State vs. Illinois
2/7/2015 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
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Michigan State Head Coach Tom Izzo
Opening Statement...
Frustrating and disappointed would be a couple of class words that I have to use. We fought a little bit, but did not deserve to win that game in any way, shape or form. We can't make free throws even with the best players shooting them. We were 5 for 13 in the first half. We missed two front ends of the one-and-one and we missed two front ends of the one-and-one in the second half. Somebody asked me if I work on them so I can get really ticked off, but this is one of the more disappointing losses. I thought early we had shots, shots and shots. We just didn't make shots. The defense was okay. It wasn't great, but it sure wasn't bad. They shoot 40 percent and 25 from the three. They've been shooting the lights out. We just didn't do the job. (Denzel) Valentine was worn out at the end. He gets some unadvised fouls. I'll take any question you have.
On the free throw shooting...
I have a couple guys that aren't very good free throw shooters; they weren't the guys that missed them. It's just inexcusable. `Everybody's got a job to do,' as the famous Bill Belichick said. You have to do your job. Now, I have to do my job. No, we're not as bad as that, and our best shooters at the line should be able to make a damn free throw.
On the foul on Travis Trice at the foul line...
I didn't see it, BJ (Branden Dawson) did. I guess he just backed into him, you know, three or four steps. I can't say I saw it, but it sure didn't matter, because maybe we didn't want to win it. We can't just step up there and miss two out of three free throws. That's inexcusable. I didn't see the play though.
On Travis Trice...
I think it died with Trice and that's going to have to change. He had great shots, he just missed them. It's really disappointing. I think you saw him check somebody the last five, six minutes of the game. That's the way it's supposed to be all the time. That's disappointing. He and Denzel struggled. There's nothing else I can say. Denzel shot decent, but there were some bad shots. You can't win games with two of your best three players struggling like that. They did a good job keeping Branden off the boards I thought, but you can't go to the line and miss free throws. It is demoralizing and he missed two free throws. Is it that bad? Not with the guys that are shooting, because (Matt) Costello is a good free throw shooter. (Bryn) Forbes is a good free throw shooter. Valentine is a very good free throw shooter and Trice is a very good free throw shooter. He's shot 70 percent until this year. I guess that's the way it works.
On the difference between the first ten minutes and the next ten minutes of the second half...
Missed shots. Missed shots. Missed shots. I give them credit. They made some tough shots. I thought we did a hell of a job on (Malcolm) Hill. Valentine got undisciplined and got into foul trouble. He fouls the jump shooter. He had two ridiculous fouls; he fouls him on that three and you can't do that. You can't do those things. I find it was more our lack of making shots. Trice had a bunch of shots, some great fakes, step in and you don't make shots. The other team is going to score some points. They shot 41 percent, 29 from the three. We make any free throws and we win the game. We just didn't.
On the team being mostly jump shooters...
Not really, we went inside a lot at the end. We went inside to BJ and he had that turnover. We went inside to (Gavin) Schilling and he missed a couple of layups. We went inside to Costello. That's two of the three.
On missing shots...
I don't think it should be like this. It's the same thing (as with the free throws). I disagree with that, I really do. If we're just jacking threes, maybe I'd agree with it. We took 20 threes, that's about what we take. I think Trice took a bad one. I think Denzel took one, but 17 or 18 of those threes, I would live with every single one any day of the week. I'm sure my opinion is going to be questioned a lot this week, rightfully so.
On the last two shots...
Is it confidence? Is that what you want to ... I don't know if it's confidence. They were both bad shots, so it wasn't like they missed good shots. They were both bad shots to be honest with you.
On what going back to work entails...
We're just going to have to shoot free throws until people's hands have blisters on them. It's ridiculous. We've addressed it and we've brought guys in. Sooner or later, you have to be able to step up and shoot a free throw. It's just hard to explain how energy-zapping that is to go up there and miss two, come down, then miss two and they come down and score. It's ridiculous. I think the difference with tonight is, okay, BJ missed them, but Costello went for three in front of better free throw shooters. Bryn is making free throws and putting them up there, but didn't do the job when we needed him to do the job.
On if this experience is comparable to any in the past...
I've never seen a game where we didn't perform offensively in situations like that. I've been involved in some games, but this will be another one for the books. There's nothing I can take out of that, nothing I can compare it to. To me, it's utterly unacceptable. I'll take full and complete responsibility for it. Probably not the most disappointed I've been, but I'm the maddest I've been. I can't stomach that; I can't stomach what we went through today, so I understand if people aren't able to stomach it. We'll regroup. We've got a lot of basketball left. We did some things well enough to play against a good team. It is a good team.
On his team's defensive performance...
I thought we did a hell of a job on (Kendrick) Nunn. He was 0-4 from the three. He's been shooting 45 percent. I thought we did a pretty good job on Hill. He's a hard guy to cover. When Denzel got his third foul, that's when things got really miserable. They've got a good team. They bring both of those guards in. They seem to do that a lot. He runs his team with the upmost patience and gets in the paint a lot. I thought their guys did their job. They did what they had to do.
Illinois Head Coach John Groce
Opening Statement...
Obviously, that was one of those grinders where I thought both teams were really going at it and throwing haymakers figuratively. It was a physical game. Obviously, we have great respect for them and this environment and the job that they do. I am really proud of our kids for having great poise and composure throughout. I thought that we had a real `next play' mentality today. [Nnanna] Egwu and [Tracy] Abrams, who is leading from a different role this year from the past two years, deserve all that credit. I thought Tracy was good in timeouts, I thought his leadership was huge and it connected our team. [Jaylon] Tate was very vocal. We did a good job of having a next play mentality. We got down early, by 7 or 9 points, we had 4 or 5 turnovers very early in the game and we finished with 4 turnovers the rest of the way. I thought we settled down there. [Kendrick] Nunn and [Malcolm] Hill made big plays offensively for us. But maybe what is as impressive as their plays was when I looked at the stat sheet and realized that we had a guy 6 foot 11, 250 pounds out there for 39 minutes guarding, blocking three-balls, getting nine rebounds. I always thought that about seniors dying hard. I thought he really competed today, working hard, giving us a great deal of leadership, a great deal of poise. I was really happy for him. Obviously for us now, the guys get a day off tomorrow and we start getting ready on Monday for a good Michigan ball club that we play on Thursday.
On Nnanna Egwu's performance...
Well, I think it's huge. I think he goes undervalued sometimes. Those of you that follow him have a great appreciation for him now, especially after three years of what he brings to the table, the intangibles that don't show up on the stat sheet or the box score. He did that today, plus the box score. I thought he was really good, really locked in. He had two great days of practice and it's rare to see a guy that plays as hard as he does, to have the motor he has, to have that size and play 39 minutes in a game today and that's pretty special.
On the technical foul on Jaylon Tate late in the second half...
Obviously, I don't have the benefit of looking at the monitor so I have to give them the benefit of the doubt. We had three good officials on the game today. They were explaining it to me. There were two parts to it. One, there was the foul itself. Two, was it a dead ball with the free throw or was it live on the one and one? I'll find out more once I get the chance to dive into it a little more. I'll certainly ask the league office. But at the end of the day, I was most proud of the way we responded to things like that throughout the game; the adversity. We were able to make that next play and I was really proud of our guys.
On Nnanna Egwu's aggressiveness...
I thought he was [aggressive]. I've got to do a better job of monitoring his practice minutes and game minutes. Today, he played 39 because he is the kind of guy that will literally never complain about anything. He doesn't have any excuses. He is a culture guy. He is an Illinois guy. Everything he does, on the court, off the court, academics, the way he acts, the way he leads. He is what we want to be about. He is a no excuses guy, but he and I need to get on the same page to make sure that he has some energy going down the stretch. We did monitor him in practice a little bit the past two days, but we've done that. I agree with you, I thought he had a lot more energy today. He had some pep in his step. I thought he was very active.
On the decision not to foul and allowing MSU the chance to tie the game with a three at the end of regulation...
Well, we talked about that. It's kind of tough obviously. We've played it both ways. Today we decided to defend. We had confidence in our defense. I thought our defense was really good in the second half. Obviously, they're in a half court situation where they can run some things where they could potentially shoot it off the inbounds pass. You certainly don't want to have the worst case scenario where you're fouling a guy doing that. So, it all depended on where they were inbounding it. We talked about it a lot for sure and fortunately it ended up working out for us.
