Post-Game Quotes: Michigan State vs. Purdue
3/5/2015 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
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Michigan State Head Coach Tom Izzo
Opening Statement
Welcome to NFL Films. That was a hell of a game. I don't even know where to start because there were so many things that happened, and I just know there were two teams that played awfully hard. I enjoy a team that plays as hard as they do. When we were going into this thing, I told my team, "this is going to be a slugfest." That team plays as hard as any team we've played. They're an NCAA [Tournament] team if I've ever seen one. We did a heck of a job on [Rapheal] Davis and he's a heck of a player. Those other guys made shots and we did a pretty good job inside with so many guys. We were digging in on [A.J.] Hammons, and he's played so well this year. When we lost [Branden] Dawson early, it was difficult. We were getting outrebounded and we ended up down one [rebound]; we just gang-rebounded. We had so many guys that stepped up; whether it was big guys like [Matt] Costello or Colby [Wollenman], my Wyoming Flash, he did so many things. Alvin Ellis III gave us some things, Tum Tum [Nairn] gave us some things, but [Travis] Trice and [Denzel] Valentine need to really raise their game up a level and I thought they did. Can't figure out why we are missing so many free throws. I mean we have been shooting them so good in practice. I guess I might as well find one negative thing and move on from there. I'm proud of this team. You don't know what it's like to go through the injuries that we've had. Then tonight, the foul trouble and the injury to Dawson. It just made our bench extremely small against a team that was playing for a lot and still is.
On Matt Costello's rebound and dunk on a missed free throw...
It really was (the clinching play). With the great rebound - was it on a missed free throw? Geez, we don't do that very often, do we? I thought Costello did play with more emotion. Gavin [Schilling] just wasn't able to play because he was in foul trouble the whole time. Just gets his arms involved, and you can't do that. Matt [Costello] just gets his body involved and that is what you've got to do. He [A.J. Hammond] is good man. He is a load to try to cover. I thought Matt [Costello] did a great job of getting him the ball in different spots. I thought we did a good job of putting pressure on the passer. Any time it went, we got help. Give Dwayne [Stephens] and Dane [Fife] a lot of credit for working hard on a game plan to try and do that. You have to give our players credit too because I thought they played with energy for just about the whole night.
On coaching senior players over the years...
I think what our players understand, and this is the bottom line to this whole thing, they have a job and I have a job. My job is just to hold them accountable to what I want to accomplish and to hold them accountable to what they want to accomplish. I'm telling you, it's not easy to win games in this league. This team isn't really as gifted as some that we have had. If you look at the situation with the free throws, I feel pretty proud of what they have done under those circumstances. We have become a much better defensive team. We haven't played as well the last couple of games, but I was missing my best defender and my best rebounder tonight for most of that game. I don't know what Dawson played, six or eight minutes. I don't know what he played. But you know what? I'm going to push a freshman, I'm going to push a senior. I don't think it's any different, maybe you can ask them. It's hard to believe when I'm thinking about Dawson or Trice and I'm looking at the picture of the aircraft carrier game during our pre-game meal with the big picture on the wall down there, and I'm thinking "God, those guys played in that." I'm looking at Dawson, thinking about him blowing his knee his first year, missing that summer and coming back and playing so well over in Germany. There have been some incredible memories. With Travis, and the sickness he went through, it's a hard day - senior day. I think the best thing is having the celebration after because I don't think I'd be very good before. It's hard enough to give a speech that night, so it worked out good. I think I'm just as hard on the seniors as I am on the freshmen.
On his relationships with the seniors and how they've changed over the years...
Yeah, I'd say I look at them a little differently. I realize what an impact what I do has on their life. Now I've had a bunch of them that have gone on, some of them feeling a little different than when they left in certain ways. Then a year or two goes by, and when they come back it's so rewarding. I look at them a little differently now in that respect. Derrick Nix was here a couple of weeks ago, and man, we talked for hours. The one thing, I've been the luckiest guy in America. I've had relationships with 99 percent of my guys and probably 100, there have been a couple that maybe weren't good relationships at the end, but not many. I think those relationships are what make senior night so difficult for me. I take a vested interest in their lives, and that's the one thing I can say that I do; I take a vested interest in their lives. Sometimes when you do that, you get too close to them. Sometimes it's hard to get through that, but I wouldn't change it. I wouldn't change it because of Christmas and the calls. I wouldn't change it because every football reunion they are back. I wouldn't change it because when you struggle a little bit on Sunday, they are still texting and calling. It's the greatest part about our senior day and what leads to the rest of their life hopefully. That was part of the pregame speech. For some tonight, it's a memory maker for life. We all remember what we did last, whether we like it or not. It's going to be a hell of a game when they tell they're grandkids. I hope [Mark] Dantonio was proud of us.
Purdue Head Coach Matt Painter
On the amount of turnovers his team committed...
No question about it. Especially in the first half with the points they scored. Most of those fast-break points came off turnovers. We had to do a better job rebounding and I thought we did that, but we had to do a better job of taking care of the basketball. We gave them too many free points in transition and if you allow them to hit some transition threes and they get open looks, then they start making tough ones and we let them get their heads up.
On the level of physicality throughout the game...
Sure, I thought our guys didn't embrace how the game was called. Our guys need to do a better job of being excited about it. We were able to have some success in the first half, but then they ratcheted it up a little bit. You have to adjust. We had games like this where they let us play and I didn't think we made some physical plays, especially shooting the basketball. I thought there was a lot of contact, but it was fine because it was consistent across the board and it allows you to be more physical on defense. I thought our bigs didn't really embrace it as well as they could have; really all our guys didn't. You have to give Michigan State credit. I thought they were mentally and physically tougher than us in the second half.
On the lack of production from A.J. Hammons and Rapheal Davis...
Yes, there were a lot of things that went into that. I thought [Matt] Costello was great defensively doing some really good things. We just had to do a better job of keeping our balance in the post and shooting shots. A.J. [Hammons] had a couple good shots, but they just didn't drop for him. We just have to be better at what we do. Sometimes late in the season, it just doesn't go your way. You just have to be more physically and mentally tough. I thought we showed that in spurts; a good chunk of the first half we had that, but then they had a couple runs.
On the two three-pointers that MSU hit at the end of the first half...
I think it was really critical for them to make those back-to-back threes and then get into transition, that was huge. Then we don't execute at the end of the first half. We tried to score at the end there to give us a little momentum, but couldn't. That was big for them.
