Post-Game Quotes - Oakland - Michigan State University Athletics

Michigan State Head Coach Tom Izzo

Opening Statement…
Things do not change, just years go by and it is the same thing when we play Oakland. The score ended up the same, we won but what a job they did. We are one of the best defensive teams in the country, one of the best three point (defenses). They just chewed us up, I do not think we were very good in the first half. I did not think we played with energy in the first half, but I thought they played with toughness and energy. It is almost a shame because he has his best shooter not playing now, he blew his knee I think. I think this might be, would have been his best team. He has got something he has not had yet, he has great toughness inside. Those two kids, I cannot pronounce their names, but (Michael) Houge and (Tuburu) Naivalurua. I do not have names like that in the UP it is four letters and under. Those two kids played really well and (Ziare) Wells came in and played well. What did we do well? We turned the ball over the first half seven times and in the second half we only turned it over four. We outrebounded them pretty bad, which surprised me because this team is a way better rebounding team than some that he has had. I think Raymar Morgan, my new appointed student there said it best when he said it looked like we were already on vacation and that is not taking away from them, that is taking away from the energy that we played with. What I am really thankful and proud for the 24 times that we played is the crowds that it draws and I want to thank all of the Michigan State people who came. I have seen other games in this arena, not even half of what we had today. The crowd filled in so nice. A lot of them were Michigan State people, but there were a lot of Oakland people too. It is what makes the game worth it. I think I am running out of time, you can only win so many of those. Pretty soon, something is going to happen because he has played us so well every time that once in a while I feel this much guilty, only this much, but that is it. Every year it is the sweater thing for him, I wanted to add the officials because I knew that would flare him up. Believe it or not I hardly said a word today to the officials and he was crazy. Absolutely loved that too, love that about him. He is fighting for his guys and rightfully so. I said before the game if we win by one, I would be happy, I am not going to go home and do cartwheels because I think we got some work to do. But I am going to be happy because it has been a helluva long, good, and stressful 12 games. We are 11-1. We played some great teams, we played some good teams that were not supposed to be great. This team is always going to be a tough game. They are a little better than they were. They are learning how to play without a guy, they won five out of six going in. I will take this win, there were some power five wins and this was a good win that was not power five for us.

On having each other's (Greg Kempe) support through the changing landscape…
Wow, I remember a couple years ago when you (Greg Kempe) had the kid that ended up in Arizona, I called you about him and you said, 'what do you think?' He says, 'Well, you should go after him but I'm trying to keep him.' And I said, 'Well, I'll call him and try to get him to stay.' And that's what's missing in our profession right now. We are absolutely poaching our own players, and you better hear me when I say that because it is the truth. It'll never happen here. And I'm grateful for it too, but this is a good win for us. We had to go against a zone that is the only thing I will say about this zone, it's so good. I can't give him that much credit. I don't think he knows what they're doing sometimes, but what he's done this year to me, but I'll tell you what I think you've done. They are flying around. You're (Oakland) way more aggressive in that thing. You used to pack, and they are flying around and you turned us over a lot in the first half. Second half, we did a little better job. And I think you did tire a little bit, because you don't have as many bodies as we have.

On Coen Carr's performance…
Yeah, I was happy for Coen (Carr), because he missed those two shots, and I was on him all week. And, I'm going to say something that I probably shouldn't say, but I'm going to say it anyway. This week I had a talk with his agent, and I don't get into that a lot, but he's got a really good one who cares and that he's not blaming, he's talking. And I talked to his mother, and she said she was a little concerned because he's not…. And I said, I'm going to get back at getting after him about the things he can do', because he's a phenomenal rebounder and he hasn't been rebounding well. And I just told him in the locker room, 'you better thank your agent and your mother.' If you think in my career, I told a guy to thank their agent and their mother very often, you're freaking crazy, okay? But that's what happens when everybody works together and he had a pretty good game. I mean, he still missed some wide-open shots, but I think he got some confidence and he did get some big-time rebounds, and that's what he's got to play. We need him to play well if we're going to be anything but better than we are.

On switching up the playing rotation…
Well, he's (Greg Kempe) got to look at some different guys too. His is because of tragedies or things that have happened. I'm still not happy. We're still inconsistent at one position and sometimes it affects others. But hey, you know what? I'll musical chair it till I have to. And if it's not great, that's the way it works. If a guy doesn't, I think we try to look at it as if its effort related. I heard him get on, it's fun to be down in the court with you (Greg Kempe) now because I was calm today and I listened to you. And when you got on a couple of those players, I went in my huddle and said he was right. 'That guy should have covered the baseline.' I said, 'he can coach too, remember that.' And I really believe that we're both trying to hold guys accountable how hard they play.

On the competitive nature between the two coaches…
Do you think that's the advantage of being in it forever and you're not playing for a game? I agree with that. Half my decisions are what's going to help us. I mean, I benched two guys during that game because I said I'd lose the game because and I don't want to lose the season. And I think when you have some presidents that care and ADs that care, I talked to your president the other night. I was at a function, and it makes it, so you make the decisions that are best decisions for your team and your program, not to keep your job. I don't think either one of us are worried about that and that doesn't have anything to do with getting complacent. It just has to do with what we believe and we're going to do what that does. It does cost us our job.

On Coen Carr taking accountability…
Coen Carr is one of my favorites because he works. He got it pretty good. If you look at his eye, he got pretty good in there, but he's not an excuse maker. If you knew his mom and dad and he was an excuse maker, they'd kill him. So, he's not going to be an excuse maker. And there was no excuse. He missed two wide open shots, and yet he made some big plays for him, which I think will help him. And we kept saying, I kept saying to him, 'the guy you're guarding is tougher than you are right now. He's taking it at you. And I think that helped Coen (Carr) too. Sometimes I think it helps you down the road and him and I will talk about it, and we'll pick our players apart and eventually we'll gain; that's the way it used to be. I told Bruce Weber, he was at your practice (Oaklands practice), he was at my practice, both of our good friends, and coaches used to help coaches. Now you don't want coaches around because they're stealing your players. That's sad, it's really sad. And so, the few that I have are going to remain that way for me.

On if he was surprised about the attendance at the game…
I was. I don't know why, because we've had some great crowds here, but like I said, I see some other games here. That's what makes this game so much fun here, is people come to see both teams and I know they're coming to see you beat me. I know they are. I think some of our fans are, to be honest with you, because I think they have an appreciation. But I never, ever, ever sleep the night before the game. I asked my wife, I told her, it's just, 'you've always played us well.' I like this team better than some of your others because you're smash-mouth tough. I mean, I really believe that. You took it at us early, man.

On if this is going to be a continued series…
I'll straighten that out right now. As long as I'm here, we're going to play it. So, you don't have to worry about that, even though I think I'm the one insane because it's going to happen. But I had a lot of respect for you, your program, and the people down here. And a lot of respect for Detroit. There are some great things happening here. Boy, yesterday was pretty cool with the Final Four stuff. I mean, Scoobie (Tarik Skubal, 2024-2025 AL Cy Young Winner for the Detroit Tigers) was in our locker room. He came in the other day, but he said it best. He goes, 'What a way.' He goes, I get to come to this game, big game. That's what he said. And then he's going to the Lions, he's going to the Red Wings, and he's going to the Pistons tonight, I think.

Oakland Head Coach Greg Kampe

On the crowd today…  
If they'd have beaten Duke, I thought it would be 21,000. If we'd have beaten Purdue, it would have been 21,000. It is mostly Green and White, but there's a lot of Black and Gold in there.  There was probably five to 7,000 of them, and I've told 313. I said, we want to play this game, and if you have Oakland, you're always gonna have 5,000 to 7,000 people. They'll add on to it.

On still playing each other as the college basketball landscape has changed…
I mean, what he's done for me in our program, I'm getting choked up because it's true. He's helped me raise -  I got really good players because I was able to pay some, and he's the one helping me do that. You know, he, on his own, came down and did an event twice now for me, that I've raised close to half a million dollars. Having someone who I respect - you've heard me say often, he's the best coach in the game, and I say that, and I mean it.  But having someone, we've come the same path, we believe in the same things. And to be able to talk to - what you guys don't know is about five hours from now, he's gonna call me, and he's gonna tell me what we have to do to win. And I can't wait for that because I want to know what he thinks. But when you have that in this day and age, and you both believe in a state, and you both believe in your school, and we're kind of the spokesmen for our school. I mean, after 40, I mean, everybody says, Well, you got him by 10 years.  I don't have him by 10 years. He was at state as long as I've been at Oakland. Jud (Heathcote) wouldn't go away for a while.  But to have that, this relationship, for me, is the single most important relationship I've had in my professional career. And I'm lucky.

On his assessment of Michigan State's chances of making a run in the NCAA Tournament…
I'm not going to sit here and say that in front of him, because it's putting pressure on him. We played 14 teams ranked in the top nine. Number one, number one, and they're all the number ones. On a given night, they can beat any of them. There's great coaches. They're gonna win the coaching battle.  They're gonna win the effort battle. They're gonna win the rebounding battle. Can they make shots?  In the nights they make shots, they can beat anyone in this country. And for a coach, though, you have to coach to learn how to win when you're not making shots. That's really the key on how great your season is.  But when you get to March - when we beat Kentucky, we made 15 or 16 threes, and (Jack) Gohlke made a bunch, but some other guys made them, too. You have to make shots in March.

On the competitor in him losing to Michigan State…
Well, I was really mad at the officials in the last few minutes. So the competitor in me came out. But the game ended, it's over. As I told my team, winning this game, would you rather win and go to the NCAA tournament or win this game?  And what we learned from this game, will help us in our conference. Because there's nobody like his guys there, but yet, we're just gonna have to check out. We're gonna have to do the place that we miss down the stretch.  And then the big thing was, we hung our head a little bit. When a couple things went wrong. That one little stretch.   You can't do that.  One can't become two, two can't become three, and it did. We don't turn it over, and yet we went turnover, turnover. Start the second half, Brody Robinson grabbed us and got us back. He made a three, and he got his back, and then we were good again. And I don't know if we win the game.  We probably don't win it, but if that travel, foul, whatever happened there, that was gonna cut it to four. If it goes our way, who knows? But now, that helps his team, because somebody's got to step up and make a play for his team.  And trust me, when they're playing at Purdue, that's gonna happen. That crap's gonna happen, and they've gotta make plays. And that's why this game's so good, is because we both learn. It's not winning this game, it's winning the season, and this helped us.

Post-Game Quotes - Oakland

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