Post-Game Quotes - Ohio State - Michigan State University Athletics

Sunday, February 22

East Lansing, Mich.

1 PM

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Ohio State

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Photo by: Matthew Mitchell Photography

Post-Game Quotes - Ohio State

2/22/2026 5:28:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

Michigan State Head Coach Tom Izzo

Opening statement…
Hey, I thought my guys played great. We did a good job, players did everything right, and I think Ohio State just played better than we did, but we sure didn't do anything wrong because, and you'll write it, I'll get fired, and I don't want to do that either. But I was really disappointed in our team. Really disappointed. I thought we started off the game, I told Robbie Hummel before the game, the biggest thing I'm concerned about is unforced turnovers, we had four of them before the game started. We had one in the first 10 seconds. It's ridiculous. And so, I can't sugarcoat that, but everybody tells me at this point in my career, the less said the better, so I want to make sure I give all the credit to Ohio State, they did do a good job. I talked to (Bruce) Thornton before the game, told him it's been an honor and a privilege to coach against him for four years, I said you stayed put, you didn't run and leave like everybody does nowadays, you've been an incredible player, you've been an incredible person, I'm a big fan, and I told him even more after the game. So they did a better job than we did. We had three of the greatest practices that I've had since I've been here, I told a couple of you that. And we did not bring it today. And they did, and he did, single-handedly, almost beat us. So give him credit, we couldn't guard him with a fishnet. I finally put a freshman on him that did maybe as good a job, but it wasn't one guy, it was our coverages, and some guys just didn't cover like we're supposed to cover.

On if what they prepared for changed in the first couple of minutes of the game…
Zero, zero chance. I mean, the only guy, and it creates good and bad, but when (Puff) Johnson started instead of (Devin) Royal, Royal's more physical inside, Johnson's probably a better shooter from the outside. But the whole game plan was to keep Thornton out of the paint, out of the right elbow, and it just didn't happen. So, we worked on it, we put stuff on the floor, we did this and that, we just didn't guard it very good. So, and he played really well, give him credit.

On senior center Carson Cooper's offensive performance…
I'm glad you said offensively, because that was part of the problem. We have a unique thing in basketball, we play both ends. We're not a football team that can just play defense, and then we're not one that can just play offense. In basketball you have to play offense, and you have to play defense. And there's no question that last year Coop was one of my best defenders. I think one of the best defending big men. He struggled with that a little bit offensively, he did some good things and made some shots and free throws - happy for him on that. But we got to get more out of people than we got, or we're not going to be good enough.

On the team's communication…
I talked about communication, that was not a communication problem at first. I learned from my buddy (Steve) Mariucci, and this sounds weird, but I script the first four plays of every game. They do that in football, and I said, that sounds good, why do you do it? Well, then people can't screw it up, if we're on a certain yard line, we're running this, this, this, we practice it. So I've done that for 30 years. So the first play was scripted, the first three plays, four plays were scripted. I don't know, like, I'm going to take blame for most of it, because I'm the coach, and nowadays you can't blame a player, or you can't, so I'm going to take blame, but I'm not taking blame for that one. Brian Gregory, my old assistant, used to always say, when it starts bad, a lot of times it ends bad. And it started bad, and give my team some credit that we bounced back, shot 50 percent the second half, this and that, but for the first time, our crowd wasn't that into it. And my assistant said to me on the bench, boy, the crowd's kind of dead. I said, 'Kind of dead?' I said, 'We scored nine points in the first 10 (minutes).' I said, 'You've got to have something to cheer about, you've got to have something to get excited about.' And I said, so, our crowd bounced back. I felt bad for them, because this was the Izzone's last game, and we owed them something, because they've carried us the whole year. So, my players went back out there and spent some time with them, kissing the S, because that's a tradition they started, too. I wonder if everybody in the country knows that tradition, but it is a tradition. So, our students from the Izzone go kiss the S at the end of the game. So, that part of it, I hope our players apologized and everything, because the fans have another packed house, another great situation. It was really cool having a guy there from World War II. Judge Mathis was there, I tried to get him to put the officials in jail, he wouldn't do it. It was just not a good day for me.

On freshman guard Jordan Scott's performance…
Well, until the very end, I mean, he guarded the best, I thought. And let me tell you, the kid's really good (Bruce Thorton). I think what happened is with a guy out, I think he took over even more than he's been. And his team responded, his coach responded. They let him go. They just gave it to him every time and can beat you going left, beat you going right, really beat you going right. He can beat you with a jump shot, but he's got a hell of a mid-range game. So, he really played well. And I just think Jordan (Scott), I'm always assured that he's got some passion and some energy, and that is a treat right now. I always say I don't want him to change because sometimes the systems change you, and he's been really, really good at that.

On balancing rest time and having his starters on the floor…
Well, when Kohler (Jaxon Kohler) was out as long as he was, and then I did something I normally don't do, I put him back in, and he got his third foul. But you know what? I listen to my media. You won. And we won. When he got that third foul, I was thinking about all of you guys. I was thinking about all the fans. Interesting. So why don't you play guys like that, you know the officials, you know the calls, you know what's been going on. So, I am just kidding you. I'm not mad at you, but I'll let you write your articles, and you hopefully will let me coach my team because when he got that third foul, and I'm just saying to myself, what are you guys going to say? On the bench, I'm saying it. It was pretty cool.

On how he feels about his team resiliency…
Yeah, I guess I was pleased with that. I mean, we found a way. We got up, what, 10 was the highest, 11,10? 10. And then, we missed free throws and didn't guard them, too. I bet everybody knew that in the last three possessions that (Bruce) Thorton was going to take the ball and drive it, and we just didn't respond. So, all kidding aside, I am disappointed in my team, But I've got to be disappointed in myself because somewhere I didn't get to them. I mean, when I say I thought we had great practices, what I say is the hardest thing to do is self-evaluate, maybe I evaluated it wrong. Because you couldn't have that many good practices and play like we did. You really couldn't. And it sounds like I'm taking too much away from Ohio State. I'm really not. I respect and admire the job they did. I'm a huge (Bruce) Thornton fan, just for all the reasons. You win a couple of games, everybody's telling your players what they are, that there's a reality to this. This is the time of year that you have to be getting better every game. Today, we did not get better. I told them, I'd have a team meeting tonight. I'd figure out some things tomorrow, work, and figure out some things, and it gets easier, though. We go to Purdue.

On if the team was expecting a zone from Ohio State's defense…
Yeah. Not the whole game, but what we expected was they were going to play at about 50% zone, and they played about 80%. But they were down a guy, so, yeah, we expected that. So that had a little to do with it. If you ask me, we just missed some shots. We missed the layups. We took some bad shots, things that we normally don't do. We looked like a team that played like we were going to win anyway, so we'll just do what we want to do, and that was the message at halftime. You guys don't get to do that.

On the offensive game plan…
Yeah, we were going to Jaxon (Kohler) early. The first play was going to him. The second play, we went to him with the same play, and he drew a foul on the big guy right away. And then with the third play, we drew a foul on that, too. So we did exactly what we wanted to do. We had weird lineups in there, too. If there was something that hurt when we went zone, Coen (Carr) was struggling. We had to play Coop (Carson Cooper) out of position, because Jaxon (Kohler) was out. So, yeah, it wasn't that we didn't know the zone was coming. We figured it was coming a lot. In the second half, we shot 50 percent, so it wasn't that at least. We just didn't do what were supposed to do. And Jaxon (Kohler), out of the lineup is a big thing right now. I mean, he's one of our guys that can score it. And we didn't do that. So, we couldn't expand it, couldn't get into gaps because everybody was just shrinking it. And then, Cam (Ward) struggled from the line, and so that takes away from him. The beauty of this, to me, is, I watch UCLA come in here and get beat down by 25 or 30 two games in a row. To be down 23 and come back and win, against a really good team. And that's what I think the problem is now. And we fell into the same thing. I mean, not taking anything away from them, but this is one time, you deserve to take something away from, but do it to me, because we don't want to hurt anybody's feelings. So, do it to me because they weren't ready to play. When you throw the ball away on the first play, you're not ready to play. Just simple.

On what allowed redshirt sophomore point guard Jeremy Fears Jr. to be able to get inside the arc…
Well, we settled a few screens. Like I said, our bigs, there were things they did, but there were things they didn't do. And one of them was setting some screens, and in the second half, we had McCullouch (Jesse McCulloch) in there, so he spaces us out a little bit more. Other than that, I don't know, I'd have to watch the film. And Jeremy (Fears Jr.), I thought was wasting a lot of time early. I didn't think he pushed the ball all day, and that's what he's so good at. He's starting to get great at it.

On what opened the offense up in the second half…
It wasn't great coaching, I'll tell you that. Players did a better job. I mean, Kohler (Jaxon Kohler) hits one three in that stretch, but he does get 10 rebounds. He only plays 16 minutes or something, so, I mean, he's a big part. He's one of our more prolific scorers. And I think when he's out, it hurts Jeremy (Fears Jr.), because everybody just swallowed it inside, and we didn't make some shots. Kur (Teng) had some good shots that he missed. Just the way it was.

Senior center Carson Cooper
On the team's improvement throughout the season…
There are multiple different areas that we can look at and get better on. It's not just one thing or one guy that's an issue, right? There's lots of different aspects of the game and of our team that we can continue to get better on it. We've seen that in games, including Illinois and stuff like that where, you know, we're having fun, and even though it's a close game, and we're playing together, we got this synergy. And now's the time to have that all the time, and there's no room for error or games that you can just drop.

On if the team could rally around his second half performance…
I mean, I think so. I felt like, at least I was pissed at myself a little bit in the first half by not playing as well. Coach definitely got on me about that. So I just wanted to try to make my impact. And kind of make them have to think about me a little bit, and not as much about Jeremy [Fears], and I think we continue to … We got a lot better offensively in the second in our execution.

On adjustments he made at halftime…
I think in the first half, I felt like I was getting open shots and getting to my spots, but in the second half, I just wanted to keep being more aggressive to get to those spots, I think in the first half, I let them, you know, maybe get a little physical with me, and I kind of like that. Take away from getting to a spot, something like that. But the second half, it felt a lot more fluid. There wasn't any hesitation, and I think that's when I play my best offensively.

Sophomore guard Jeremy Fears Jr.
On the team's slow start…
Probably why does the same stuff keep happening? At what point is it going to change? Slow start, easy buckets, to not guarding. It's been the same thing over and over. It happened at Rutgers, it happened at Penn State, it happened at Minnesota, it happened at home. Like, what point is it going to click? We scout, we practice hard, we do what we need to do. So, why is it not translating? Bruce [Thornton], he made a lot of tough shots. We didn't expect Royal to be out, I think he was sick, so they were down a player. But overall, majority of the game, it was one player that made a lot of tough shots.

On if anything changes from first half to the second half…
I don't know honestly. It's just the same thing keeps happening. At one point, it won't happen, you won't come back, and you are going to go home. We need spark, we need energy from the get-go. We need togetherness, we need for all of us to be on the same page. We need to know what we are doing. We got to put the pieces together, that is all I have to say. It's been over multiple games, like you said it's been seven games, and we are trailing. Why is that? And we have to figure that out. That is something we talk about in this locker room, and us guys to my left and right have to figure out.

On Carson Cooper's second half performance…
He was special. He hit a lot of big shots. Grabbed some rebounds, made some free throws. Really overall, he was big for us.

On the team's urgency approaching March Madness…
Should have been there when we were in the race for the Big Ten Championship. You give yourself a chance, then you go and you lose at home. We played great, we scored 10 points in a minute or a minute and a half. Where was that sense of urgency the whole game? Wisconsin, they come out and go out on a run like that, and we cut it to nine then they go back up. That sense of urgency should be there from the jump. You can't pick and choose when you want to bring it and how you want to bring it and when not. It should be there every game, every moment.

Freshman forward Jordan Scott
On guarding Bruce Thornton…
He's a 2,000-point scorer for Ohio State. He's a veteran guy. I knew it was going to be an exciting matchup when I got put on him. I think he had around 30 points. He was their go-to scorer, so we knew it was going to be full point. I just tried my best to try to take him on.

On guarding high scorers differently…
It just means you're at an even higher level than you were at already. I know that when he has the ball, or doesn't have the ball, he's going to try to get on a run and try to score. I'm just trying to be prepared and on red alert at all times.

On his hustle being developed…
I think I've just had that since Day One. I honestly think just growing up and playing basketball, I've always tried to make offensive plays and offensive rebounds. It's just something I've always tried to make a part of myself.

Senior forward Jaxon Kohler
On playing the game like they did…
We just need to cheer for our teammates and keep that energy alive, so we can get back to whatever that might be. I need to do a better job of not getting in foul trouble. I can't cut myself away from the game.

On inserting himself back in the game…
We just need to make winning plays. Going into the second half, we needed to not only get the lead, but we needed to separate ourselves from them. We needed to get stops, whether that was on defense, scoring in the zone, or rebounds, just making winning plays. That was my mentality going in. We acted on the cause. We tried to be another layer of defense, and like I said, just make winning plays.

On his rebounding…
I know today was unfortunate with the foul count, but I can't let off the gas pedal in terms of how aggressive and physical I'm being. I have to be smarter about it, but I can't be any less physical because that's why I was able to get into position to get those boards, and to make sure I could keep their bigs off the glass. Going forward, and looking at these good teams that we're about to play, I have to do the exact same thing and bring the same amount of physicality, but without getting fouls."

Ohio State Head Coach Jake Diebler

On Devin Royal out and Amare Bynum not feeling well...
Our team had a little illness. It's kind of been making its way around. We've been doing everything we can to help protect our guys, and our performance team did an incredible job getting as many guys ready today as we could. It's next man up, and the encouraging thing is I thought we had some guys really step up in battle. Hopefully, none of this stuff is right, long term, and we can get everybody back to practice and get ready for the next one.

On needing more help with scoring...
I think our free throws, we didn't shoot well enough from the free throw line, and we struggled from three. I thought we had some great looks. We had some really good looks, and our guys worked hard. We do player development all year long, and guys have been working hard in the gym to stay ready, and the ball just didn't go in for us today from the three-point line like we're capable of. You know those kinds of empty possessions eventually, I think were the difference in the game.

On what you can take away from this game...
I think the culture and foundation of our programs stood firm today. We battled with great toughness. We played together, we were connected, and we handled adversity for the most part really well. But the thing I told our guys, we coach in truth here, and the truth is we battled really hard, we played tough, and we helped each other throughout the course of the game. But the truth is we also didn't execute at the level at times in the second half that we did in the first half. So those are the things that we got to own and continue to improve on. I am proud of the way this team fought and battled, and guys stepped up.

On Bruce Thornton being an All-Big Ten player and making a case for NCAAs…
I think yes, Bruce is one of the best guards in the country, and the way he's guarded with physicality, he probably could shoot like 10-12 free throws a game. He just plays the game the right way. He doesn't try to trick anybody. He just plays with great poise. I thought his toughness today, when we knew we were missing firepower offensively, and he rose and stepped up. I thought that was great and against an elite defense, elite defensive guard, and all that stuff. I think it says a lot about who he is, and I think our response as a team today says a lot about who we are, and certainly he leads the way for that. This is a big-time team, and we stepped up, we raised our level, we played tough and fought the whole game. I think it does say something about who we are. We're fighting every literally hour to get back to full strength and we're hopeful that's going to be the case soon, and I think that'll help us too down the stretch.

On Cooper and Fears in the second half...
Really good player, and he's impactful on both sides of the ball. The usage rate, and I think what he does for them offensively even when he's not scoring is big time. They made some adjustments that I thought helped him get the ball into the paint better and against our defensive scheme. When we tried to counter that, we just didn't execute as consistently as you need to against a really good player. And then Cooper, you know, his efficiency was big time, and he stepped up for them in a big way. So those two guys were really good. I thought we did a good job impacting Fears ability offensively in the first half but like good players do, they respond, and he certainly did that in the second half.

On the forwards play defensively today...
Great fight. They do a really good job catching the ball deep and close to the basket. I thought in the first half we prevented that from happening. They got a couple of deep touches there in the second half, and a couple more. We were mixing up coverage against the single coverage, double team. I think it's a battle. We got in some foul trouble, which impacted us and we had to go smaller a little bit. I'm just proud of the way our guys battled, you know we are a physical team, they're a physical team. I thought the game there was good physicality on the interior from both sides.