Post-Game Quotes: Wisconsin
1/26/2018 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
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Michigan State Head Coach Tom Izzo
Opening statement...
First of all, I want to thank our students. I thought the teal shirts were awesome. And I thought the way the crowd responded to our team was special. It was really neat that our students honored the survivors. Still our top priority in the healing process is for our courageous survivors. As a campus community we need to come together as Spartan Nation to be a part of that healing process and that's going to fall on all of us. As far as the reports today we will cooperate with any investigation going forward, as we have always done.
As for the game, it was interesting day to look at our players. There were a lot of things swirling around today and I was a little worried about whether they can stay focused in on the task at hand, and they did a pretty good job at it.
I thought we got great play out of Bridges again early. I thought Wisconsin, give them credit. Gard did a heck of a job at half time. I thought we were a little complacent at the start of the second half. We played pretty well in the first half and didn't play as well in the second half. Jaren Jackson had a bunch of blocks, so did Nick Ward. Jackson set a record, the last guy to have that record was Ken Johnson, that was my first year here.
So, I was very impressed with Jackson doing that. He struggled a little bit shooting the ball. I thought that Cassius Winston went through a little bit early, but then came down and hit some big 3s late and that was a big difference in the game. Our rebounding was good, our shooting percentage was pretty good, our free-throw shooting was good. The only negatives I saw was we had three turnovers at halftime, the second half we had 10.
On Lou Anna Simon…
I'm not going to answer any questions concerning that. I'm going to stick to worrying about the survivors. I'm going to try and do my part and helping them heal.
On reports he will retire…
I'm not going anywhere. I'm definitely not retiring. There's a lot of things that happened today that are a part of life. I'm going to worry about my team, I'm going to worry about survivors. And worry what I do and have no plans on doing that.
On his reaction to the Outside the Lines report…
I've seen the report, it came out a little late for me. It's been interesting two days with the things that have gone on and still trying to prepare for a game. I'll hold judgement on that until I really get a chance to sit down and look at everything.
On the maturity of the team while dealing with everything going on…
I told them that this is one of the things in life that you have to deal with. Everyone talks about academics, there's no book for this type of thing and players have to learn to make adjustments. I told my players, if they're concerned about anything don't be afraid to talk to me. I said, let me worry about what worry about, and you guys just worry about the game and the survivors. we have tried to stick with that and will continue to stick with.
On MSU needing a change in culture…
You know guys you're going to be disappointed, but I gave you my two statements and there is nothing I'm going to say right now after a game in a press conference except that I support the survivors to the nth degree. I hope that I'm a big part of the healing process for them and our campus community. That's what I hope I can do here since I've been here longer than anybody.
On who he is answering to with Simon and Hollis gone…
Who am I answering to? Probably my wife. That wasn't even meant to be funny because it's not a funny moment, but right now that's who I answer to. You know they'll tell me, I mean I think they've got an interim president right now, but like I said guys believe it or not I'm trying my hardest to do two jobs right now, to handle all the things out there and yet get my team prepared. So I haven't been privy to everything that's going on with the university as far as who's going to be president and who's going to be AD. That would be a shame for us to be worried about that when we've got to worry about what these students and people have been through.
On his concern for the future of the university and his team…
No, I'm concerned with the healing process and I want to be a big part of helping them heal. I can only, I don't know what I'm going to do down the road but I will be involved in some way in helping this healing process for both our community and those survivors.
On what he said to his team to keep them focused…
The good thing for me is I'm pretty honest with my team when things are good and when things are bad. When things were going on last year I think I remember telling you guys about the Nebraska game when our backs were a little against the wall and everybody had us written out of the tournament I could feel the weight in that room. I didn't feel that weight because I've tried to address this the last two days a little bit with my team because I know how things spread and everything and so I told them before the game that the best thing they can do to help everybody heal is to play the Spartan way.
On his thoughts of the crowd…
I'm just amazed personally when I came out and they were in their teal and I heard what it was for and everything. I was really proud of those students. I thought they were pretty good, I don't know if there has to be ruckas - we have to get runs going and I don't know if we got as many runs going, but I mean our guys even agreed after the game that the crowd was very good.
On how this whole week has affected his emotions…
That's a deep question and a good question. You reflect on a lot of things when you go through these kind of things and what I tried to do is like everybody - you're looking at who to blame and did you blame yourself and you do this and you do that and you blame other people. I just kept saying to myself how selfish am I? I'm just going to worry about those people and I've reached out a little bit, I talked to a father, I did some things to just kind of try to understand. You know we all, you all think you know what everybody goes through. I don't think anybody had a clue what anybody went through because this horrific thing is not happening to many of us. I just kept reminding myself that instead of being selfish, there's a basketball game I've got to team to coach, instead of being selfish in my own thoughts or in thinking about all the things in the time I've been here. I just kind of said 'you know, I'm going to worry about them a little bit on how I can make this a better place'.
Closing Statement…
Well I appreciate it guys. I know it's not exactly what you want, but I also know that I appreciate you being here so thank you.
Wisconsin head coach Greg Gard
On being pleased with their effort, aside from first half shooting...
I think I'll know more when I go back and look through the tape and really slow things down. I thought specifically in the second half, we really battled and did a lot of good things, but you have to make shots and that hurt the first half, especially with Ethan (Happ) getting two fouls. You take your best player out of the lineup and it puts us out of rhythm in terms of substitution, where we're going with scoring, what the game plan is from an offensive attack stand point. Credit to Michigan State for making some plays and hitting some shots. I thought we had some decent looks in the first half, in the second half, we did a better job of moving the ball and a better job of finishing around the rim. We were 2-10 in the paint in the first half and I think 14-16 and the second half from what I was told. We were more patient, played with better balance.
On cutting the lead to six points down with all the injuries they have had…
I never worry about the score, I never look up to the scoreboard too much. I try to judge momentum possessions, whether you use a time out or not and we play the whole thing out. That's why we were pressing there with 40 seconds to go, understanding that these guys have no quit in them, they have, not even with all the injuries we have had, the youth that they have continued to battle and fight and they have given us all the fight they have, every single day. I like their competitive fight, we will grow and continue to get better as time goes on, and we have. We took a slight step forward tonight I thought, in terms of some of those intangible things. We will keep working at it, but I like I said, I just want them to battle possession for possession, which for the most part they did.
On Miles Bridges improvement this year…
Adding the 3-pointer to his game has made him a harder guard. Obviously, he's explosive to the rim and he's done a good job of putting the ball on the floor. But adding that (3-point shot) not only puts you in a position to have to guard him more alertly on the perimeter, but it also stretches your defense, you can't give as much help to Ward or Jackson Jr. or anybody, or as much help off dribble penetration. When you put more shooters on the floor, it puts more pressure on the defense.
On MSU not having as many points in the paint and being able to live with MSU's jump shots…
For the most part, again I will know more when I watch the film in terms of how they got them. There were a couple I thought we could have played the screen better, whether it was with the defender on the screener, being more active and in position. There was a couple where I thought we could have taken a different route, based on where we change where our route is, based on where the screen is. But, again, I will know more once I watch the film and really slow it down piece by piece, why a guy stayed, why a guy didn't leave whatever it was. But, for the most part that's what we try to do against tougher teams. I thought we did a decent job of trapping the post in the first half, second half we didn't do it as much, we didn't touch Ward as much. Other than that one 3-pointer they set up off of a timeout to screen the back side, we did a pretty good job of making it hard for him when he did catch it and then scrabbling out of it.
On Cassius Winston Improving this year…
Yeah, he has improved and you know the other thing you are always cognitive of is, Jackson Jr. hit one (3-pointer) tonight, but I watched him on film and he puts another dimension to it. Not only his length, his shot blocking ability and you have a guy that size that can put the ball on the floor and finish like he can, his ability to stretch defense too. They have strategically done a good job positioning him, similar to what we have done with bigger guys who can shoot the ball over the years.
On responding today after the Iowa game and if they can build on this…
Absolutely, I thought we played hard at Iowa, we didn't play smart all the time, we got away from our rules. We didn't obviously do a good job defensively in the paint, it wasn't for a lack of effort It was for execution. This group, by and large, I have never had to coach effort, this group has brought it, for the most part, all the time. It's been more of the execution and the understanding, the how's, the why's and why it's important every time.
On having hope for the future…
Absolutely, when you see those guys in the locker room, they expect to come in here and win and that was in the timeouts, it was our time and we were right there. There is no quit in these guys. We are going to fight and keep trying to improve and get better, which hopefully tonight was a step, know we have to keep building.
Sophomore guard/forward Miles Bridges
On tonight's game…
We just figured that we wanted to come out with energy. That is what has been winning us games these last few games. If we could come out with energy and move the ball around and stay solid on defense, we knew we would have a good chance today.
On Wisconsin's second half…
They played great defense. Once we rebounded and ran, it was kind of easy for us.
On free throws down the stretch…
That is what we have been practicing on every day after practice and during practice. We know free throws win and lose games, so everybody came to the line and knocked them down.
Sophomore guard Cassius Winston
On tonight's start…
That is a big thing about us. We are trying to get out to better starts. We are not trying to have ourselves in a hole. We are coming out with a lot of energy and a lot of intensity at the beginning of the game.
On the start of the second half…
It is something we have to work on. It can be all types of things but we just have to buckle down, focus, lock in and bring that same energy.
On Wisconsin forcing them to lock back in…
It was good. You definitely don't want any cake walk games. You want a challenge because everytime we have to get better and they came with a lot of energy, made a lot of plays so we had to battle that.
One takeaway from this game…
We did the things it takes to win. We got some big rebounds, made some big stops, and made some big plays, which is how you win games.
On tonight's energetic crowd…
The crowd was huge. Especially in a situation like this game where we didn't know how the crowd would react and we didn't know the type of energy that they would have when things happen in the school. But they came with a lot of love and a lot of support and they cheered us on heavy, which was huge in this game.
On hitting free throws down the stretch…
Those are big shots down the stretch to freeze the game out. Coach trusts me to go up there and knock those down.
Freshman forward Jaren Jackson Jr.
On tonight's start…
We were able to make a lot of shots early. We wanted to make sure our defense turned into our offense really well. I thought we did a good job of handling them on the pin downs. If you make shots the game goes easier.
On coming down the stretch…
You have to make free throws. I missed mine but a lot of my teammates were able to pick it up. Especially in the second half, free throws are going to be key.
On tonight's turnovers…
That is one of our achilles heels. We turn the ball over a lot and if we turn it over under 10 times usually that leads to a win.
On Jackson Jr. breaking season block record…
I made it known that I wanted that record and I am glad that I got it but that record just stands for me just playing hard and helping out my teammates so if I can keep building that up then we are going to be fine.
