Post-Game Quotes: Oakland

Michigan State Head Coach Tom Izzo

Opening statement…
There were some good things and there were some bad things. We just didn't guard the three, but I think everybody would agree that of the five three's they hit in the first half, four of them were pretty well guarded and they just made them, give them credit on that. I thought our guard play defensively wasn't good enough and that was disappointing every time we got a lead. We're just going to have to get better defensively in those spots, but we have 27 assists on 38 baskets you know you're really sharing the ball; the ball was moving. I don't have many complaints offensively. Seven turnovers and we had two at the end when it seemed like we got tomahawked, but did a good job there. The effort related things weren't there tonight. The defense wasn't as good at times. The rebounding wasn't as good the whole night. We get outrebounded on the offensive boards, that shouldn't happen. The turnovers were great, so I just thought the effort related things we didn't do as well and give them credit they made some shots. I do like his team, I just told him that. I told him he's got to do like me, he's got to get better defensively because they've got an outside firepower and they've got a hell of a post player in there that can score. I wanted to leave here feeling good, I feel decent. I thought we got some work done on our break, but we're going to spend a little more time on our defense and didn't want to play the Ward game much this week because I knew guys were tired. So, no excuse when we come back. We've got to improve in that area and hopefully our guys will have a good Christmas, come back ready to go.

On how his team ran the floor…
It's funny. I think he's, I'm hoping he's talking more what he saw in film, but I thought we were good tonight. I though Nick ran early, but our wings didn't run as good tonight, but I do think we're a good running team. I do think we can get up and down the court if Cassius is pushing and we subbed a little better and then at the end it was crazy, but we got some guys some rest and I think that would help a little bit. Nick gets in foul trouble and he was having a hell of a game and yet he gets seven rebounds and scored near pretty good. I like the way he ran the court, so I'll tell you more after I watch the film. I didn't think we were as good as we were against Iowa or some of those teams, but I do think we can run and you run better when you rebound. What I was worried about tonight is that we thought our wings and even Nick were sneaking out of there and that's why they got 11 offensive rebounds. They were sneaking out and worrying about running before they rebounded so we'll have to sharpen that up a little bit.

On his team focusing in after the first three minutes….
Like I said, I thought we had great practices, but there is a point in time when everybody plays the score. They come in with a 4-8 record, but they're a better team than 4-8. They've lost some tight games and like I said to them it's like a Super Bowl to them and it should be. Greg does a good job getting them ready for that and when you have the ball right here and a guy just steals it from you, you kind of figure you're not into the game so that's why I just took him (Cassius) out. I told him two things, that and there was one other thing on pushing the ball or guarding the three and we really worked hard on keeping our hands up and we didn't always do that. But like I said, I wouldn't say and my staff said at halftime four of the five threes were pretty well contested. They just made some and three of them were right at the shot clock so have to give them credit for that. Second half I think there's enough blame to go around, but we played a lot of people. I wanted to give guys a chance, a little Christmas present. I got guys in a few more minutes and I don't expect that to happen much looking at the Big Ten this year.

On what he liked about Cassius offensively…
Well offensively he was ready to shoot. I think we did a good job of finding him. He pushed the ball pretty hard after the beginning and I thought he made a couple of those nice floaters, but the passing, I mean the way our guys move the ball around the perimeter and he had some wide-open threes and he's as good a shooter as the guys they've got. If you leave him wide open, he's going to make them. In fact, Josh had a couple. The ball slipped out of his hands twice, he had to lob to Nick and he hit a three, but I thought Cassius did that, I know he can do that. He's got to bear down on the defensive end now and he does that he goes from a very, very good player to an elite player and that's what I told him after the game.

On what he sees from his freshmen…
I try to get them more time. I think Gabe can do some things. He got a little lost defensively. I was actually more impressed with Thomas and Marcus a little bit, but Aaron still shows some things. I think Foster it's just a matter of him getting comfortable. It's hard because a couple of those guys maybe should have played two or three more minutes, but it's just the way I do it here, so I'll take the blame for that. I could have gotten them a little more time, but we've still got eight veterans. Kyle's playing really well right now and those eight veterans are all playing well and it's hard to play at nine and ten. They'll get a few more minutes and hopefully in the next game they'll get some minutes, but it's not going to be like there's a million minutes and they're just going to have to keep getting better in practice. Gabe Brown has gotten a little better in practice lately. We've got him on the scout team and he's playing their best player. He's really improved in that way, I think getting him used to game situations.

On his reaction to the way the game was called…
You know I don't know. Greg was complaining, I was complaining so probably wasn't called as good as we wanted to, but I think you're right. I mean they get eight free throws we get 12, there wasn't a lot of free throws out there. Personally, as the year goes on I wish it would be called like that. Unfortunately, it probably won't be. But it's a hard game to officiate as crazy as it got there for a while. What I give them a lot of credit for and us a lot of blame for, we had some 15, 16, 17 point leads, they cut it back down to 12, 18-point lead back down to 10 or 12. That means we haven't learned to step on our guy's throat and they haven't learned to give up, so I think both ways both coaches got something to coach.

On Nick Ward taking his match up as a challenge…
You know as I told Nick, he is one of the best on-ball defenders. You know he struggled last year with the ball screens, but on ball, but because of that he lets the ball get in too easy and then he gets a little bit in foul trouble. I thought Nick did a hell of a job on him (Xavier Hill-Mais). I mean he had a couple baskets on Nick, but usually Xavier's (Tillman) our best defender and Xavier struggled with him more than Nick did. So I think Nick did a very good job. I mean Nick was running the court, you know he got in foul trouble and that was a shame because he was having a monster night both ways. And that's a good point, he hit that 10-footer and then he hit about a 15-footer on the baseline and he looked good. You know he's been working on it a little harder, a little more time to shoot I think has helped.

On how he wants the team to finish halves and games…
You know we got that lead I think it was 16 in the first half and then all of a sudden they come back and then they hit that one at the buzzer. I didn't think we finished as strong as I wanted to. The second half is a little hard to figure because of the different subs I put in there, but guys gotta realize that if you get somebody down; you know when I hear the Jordan's talk or the Magic's talk or even the Lebron's talk or the Kobe's talk, you hear those guys talk about what it's like to get a team down, and I know how Draymond feels about that, it's important because you're going to give team's a chance to get back in it if you do that on the road. Then the crowd doesn't help you it helps them and those leads disappear. So we still got some work and most of it is defensively. I mean were good, we're not lock-down great and we've got some improvement to do on that.

On what he thinks they need to do in the next two and a half weeks…
We're gonna really get after it. We're gonna get after it defensively. This has been the weirdest month of my life as far basketball wise cause those games, there were so many of them and then finals. And I told you guys we were gonna really get after it, we did. We went two-a-days Monday, and Tuesday we did one and then meetings, walk-through, Wednesday we got film work, we got a lot done, but to be able to guard we gotta go one against two and get after it. And we just haven't been able to do that. And in fairness, these guys are probably tired. You see teams all over the country…the advantage of this early season blitz that you're seeing, cause everybody's trying to capture TV or the media you know like the Big Ten did, everybody is trying to do that. A lot of big games, those big games take a lot out of you, and they take a lot of you when you're traveling, and then you've got exams. And so it's not the norm. I mean these last two years a lot of teams are doing things a little different and when we move those two Big Ten teams in there, it really shrinks our opportunity to, like I'm upset we've got three games in 20 days. I just saw that Duke has no games now for the next 15 days. People didn't think that's good I don't, so I don't know what the balance is in there, but I think we gotta find one. I think it's hard on the kids, it's hard on the coaches. I do not think, I don't really blame them, I guess I blame me more because we have not gotten after it at the level you need to get after it to become better defensively. Those are grind things, you gotta be a grinder to do that. And we don't have a lot of, just grinder. So we gotta create some grind. That's what I hope to do.

Coach Izzo's final statement…
Well I'd like to say, because with Terry Hutchens, I know a lot of you guys knew him and I just found out about it right before I went downstairs. Just a shame, a guy I enjoyed to be around when we played at Indiana and that's a shame. We all know by now that Mark Dantonio lost his mother. There's things like this that bring everything into perspective a little bit. I don't know as much about the accident, you guys probably know more, but I just wanna say to those families our thought and prayers are with them. And for all of you I hope you have a great Christmas. You know you look at all the things that go on in the world and hope you all get to spend some time with your families. And I got my 92-year-old mother here, I'm gonna actually spend a couple days and take the projector and throw it in the toilet and not watch anything and try and enjoy a little time and start grinding on the morning of that 26^th. It'll be two and a half months of fun because then there'll be no excuses. We know when the games are, they are every three days. It gets a little bit more on-line with everything. But spend some time, have a great time with your families, have a great Christmas. You know, find a New Year's resolution like be nice to the coaches or something.

Michigan State Point Guard Cassius Winston

On tonight's performance...
I did a good job of finding my spots and finding my rhythm and things like that. Everything else just took care of itself.

On the transition...
I think I did a good job of getting out in transition. Pushing the defense ahead and every shot I got I was able to step into a rhythm.

On outscoring Oakland 47 to 6 on the fast break…
That's huge. If we can dominate like that we're going to win a lot of games and a lot of big games. We pride ourselves on getting out in transition and making easy plays.

On 27 assists on 38 baskets…
It just sets the tone. We're going to move the ball and find the best option. Nobody is selfish and everybody wants to get involved, that's the type of team we are.

On the team hitting 13 threes…
I think we did a good job of getting the ball inside and out. Getting rhythm shots and rhythm threes instead of getting threes on the move, those are always harder. We did a good job of getting some rhythm threes.

On what Cassius is looking forward to heading into the break…
I really just want to be home and have a little break. Just be with my family, it's going to be very good for me.

On what needs to improve heading into Northern Illinois…
Consistency. When we play at a high level we're a really really good team. Sometimes we just have lapses and then we have to make a run to blow it open and things like that. If we play at a steady consistent pace and then have those runs then we are going to be a way better team.

Michigan State Forward Nick Ward

On going six for seven from the field…
Hitting the mid-range only makes them press up on me so I can make more plays for myself and my teammates. I missed the first layup which is unusual but you don't have to make every shot.

On outscoring Oakland 47 to 6 on the fast break…
It was us running our lanes. We were doing what we usually do. Defend, rebound and run. That really helped us get those fast break points.

On what needs to improve...
I want to see less foul trouble obviously. Just us keeping on doing what we do best. Defend, rebound and running. We need to just play MSU basketball.

Michigan State Guard Matt McQuaid

On the effectiveness against the zone…
Coach has always emphasized attacking the zone anyway we can. We try to attack it from the point to Nick from Cassius to Nick. We try to get the wings to come in too. We've been working on the zone a lot this year and I think so far we've done a pretty good job. They slowed us down a little tonight, we had a little stint there, but overall I thought we did a pretty good job in the zone.

On tonight's fast break…
I think in the second half Cassius did a better job of pushing the ball and me and Josh (Langford) have got to do a better job of running our lanes. At the start of the game I don't think we did a good job for Cassius and for Nick too. When we run, it opens up a lot more and everyone has to do their job on the break because it makes things a lot easier.

On the break before Northern Illinois...
We have to come ready to play. Over the break we have to look at what we need to get better at individually and then when we get back we have to put it all together and work on some things. Our guard defense tonight was not that good, they shot 56 percent from three which is unacceptable here so we have to do a lot of things better.

Oakland Head Coach Greg Kampe

Opening statement...
I've been around a long time, and I've never looked at a stat sheet before and saw 47 fast break points. We play fast, and we did not want to play fast. We wanted to walk the ball up the floor, which we did. That kept us from getting transition three's today. One of the staples of our offense is transition three's, because I have so many guys that can shoot the ball so well. We decided to give that up. We couldn't stop them. Their speed and Winston is so unbelievable in transition, with his change of direction and change of pace with the ball and the way he can control the ball and find people. The zone (Oakland played) I thought really hurt them. The two things that have been our achillies heel this season are our half court defense and our rebounding. They were strengths tonight. We really guarded in the half court. When Xavier (Hill-Mais) fouled out, it was a 12 or 13-point game, we were leading the rebounding battle and they only had four offensive rebounds. I am really proud of the steps we made forward as a team. I've never been in a transition like this before where we have nobody that played last year. To put a whole new team out there and come into this environment against a top-10 team in the country, and to compete defensively and on the boards like they did, I'm really really pleased. I think we're going to be really good. I like my team, we're going forward. This was so unlike Michigan State/Oakland games, where there's normally 40 free throws shot. Our games are usually bloodbaths. Today, it was a bloodbath and nobody was calling anything. They shot 12 and we shot eight.

On how good this Michigan State team is…
It's a different team. As you prepare for them and look at them, there's no lottery pick out there. I see pros out there, I think both Winston and Ward are pros. There's no Jaren Jackson Jr. that, last year, we knew we weren't going to score by the rim. When you prepared for them, you thought there were things you thought you could do against them. Then you go play them, and you find out you can't. They are the fastest team that I've coached against in 40-some years. They're the fastest team I've seen as far as not just fast, but getting something done. They get stuff done with their speed. Ward is unbelievable. You can't think he's going to get down the floor like that. We're trying to sprint back, we're screaming and yelling about running, and I've just never seen a team that's that fast but also get things done. I give it all to Winston. He is so good with the basketball and gets it to where it belongs. He's just a smart, he's innate and has an understanding of the game. I've never seen a Michigan State team like that. I've seen fast teams, but I don't think I've ever seen any team like that. I think they're not just really good, but really really good.

On defending Michigan State's passing…
They've got so many guys that can score by the rim too, that what do you do? They always seem to make that next pass. That's a hard thing to guard. We're not a zone team, but to compete with them we had to play zone.

On the balance of the Michigan State team…
It's one of the hardest things to do as a coach is to find a rotation. He's got a really good freshmen class. He got to play his freshmen class a lot tonight. We're a win now society, it doesn't matter what Greg Kampe has done at Oakland or Tom Izzo has done at Michigan State. Those people that pay that money want to win right now. It's a fine line of developing your bench and playing to win. In Big Ten play, how do you take Cassius Winston out of the game? That three-man rotation of Goins, Ward and Tillman, how do you put another guy in there? We're here to win, Tom's job is to win. At night, I guarantee you he watches more film than any person in the history of basketball would want to watch. In a basketball game, things can change like that, we're not going to play a guy at the expense of losing. It was a 12-point game with seven minutes tonight, and it ended a 30-point game.

On Kenny Goins…
Their strength coach must be phenomenal. I recruited Goins, he turned us down to walk on here. He didn't look anything like he looks now.

Related News

Players Mentioned

Gabe Brown

Kenny Goins

Jaren Jackson Jr.

Matt McQuaid

Nick Ward

Cassius Winston

Related Videos