Michigan State 69, UALR 47
11/20/2011 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Nov. 20, 2011
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Michigan State Head Coach Tom Izzo
Opening Statement...
I said we were going to have our ups and downs with this team, and definitely after taking a couple of major steps forward we took a major step backwards. Looking at our performance, not taking anything away from Steve (Shields) and his team, I thought they were well coach and played awfully hard, but we had leads and opportunities. We started the game off with three turnovers in the first couple of minutes. After putting an emphasis on that, we missed 16 free throws and three front ends of a one-and-one. We don't get an offensive rebound in the first half, in I think the first time in history of my part of the program. There was a complete lack of energy from a lot of young guys. I have to take some blame for it. I'm rotating those lineups in there, trying to play 11 guys which isn't going to happen very much longer but I'm trying to see what my team is and isn't. I am learning some things about it. I had 19 point leads and subbing around all the time and probably broke some momentum. I know part of it was the four games in nine days and all of the travel or if it was the youth or poor coaching or what it was. I was disappointed with my team.
On if with young players there is a danger of them thinking they can just show up...
I sure hope not, because they're not showing up. I don't mind guys missing shots and we're missing some wide open shots and there's no reason that some of these guys should miss those shots. I can live with that. I can't live with the defensive lapses or the lack of rebounding. Any of the effort-related things tonight, we failed. Keith (Appling), give him credit, in the second half he started pushing the ball like he's supposed to. I thought (Derrick) Nix, the first three-fourths of that game played awfully well for what we wanted him to do; in fact, really well. I thought Day-Day (Draymond Green) played okay for him. He has a sprained ankle. He sprained it in practice the other day. At least he rebounded and did some things but he wasn't on top either but at least energy wise, he brought it. After that, it takes a serious dip. That's unacceptable. If they're thinking that, they better quit thinking it.
On what he's starting to learn...
I can't play 11 guys. I already knew that. I'm trying to rush (Russell) Byrd because he is one of our best shooters. I'm as bad as he is. He's been out a year and a half, it's not going to come. I don't expect that we have defensive lapses on just flat out plays. That's going to be a work in progress. As I keep telling you and I keep telling him, he's not going to be even close to the regular guy until Big Ten time. Every time I play him now, I have to hope he gets a little bit better which I feel like he will. It's a problem. Alex (Gauna) has to play better. I sat (Brandon) Wood out of there a lot and (Branden) Dawson deservingly so because he wasn't going as hard as he can go. Yet, I have to keep more of a rhythm rotation in there. That will come. That part of it I take 100% responsibility for.
On if he expected a better response from Adreian Payne...
I did. As I said, some of it has to be the four games in nine days. I've never seen where I had what I call a team melt down. It wasn't that anybody was a problem or didn't care, we just didn't have the fire that you need to have to play. We didn't respect the game. Maybe not the team, but we didn't respect the game. That's one of the problems when you play a bunch of name teams. I know, in my mind, Steve (Shields) does a heck of a job with this team. They almost beat us in Grand Rapids a few years ago. They were an NCAA team last year. They have a very good coach. They have a lot of players back and they still have some young guys too that probably didn't play as well as they should have. We should have played better than we played. That's the part I'm going to hold our guys accountable for.
On Austin Thornton's performance...
Stats sometimes are misleading. I need Austin (Thornton) to be our leader. I need him to be our captain. I need him to be a communicator. He couldn't buy a shot early. I thought it took some of his game down where they got some threes on him. Stat wise, he played good. That would be my comment.
On if he is concerned if turnovers will continue to be an issue...
Yeah, I am. We start the game with three of them, I don't know if it was effort. I don't know what it was. It was ridiculous. It sounds like a broken record. Practices are going to change with turnovers. So you guys might want to get there a little bit earlier from now on when it's media day.
On if free throws are a focus on a Sunday after a quick turnaround...
What did you coach my team today or what? Because that's exactly what I said to my team. That's a very good evaluation. Keith Appling missed more free throws than he missed all last year. It was a complete lack of concentration. We can fall behind with four games in nine days and there's probably some truth to it. If I thought guys were grinding and it happened, I would think one way. If I thought they were just existing and it happened, I would think another. I think existing was what was happening tonight. I'm not tolerating that here.
On shooting a low percentage but having 14 steals...
We did do a pretty good job defensively on those shooters. (Derrick) Nix did an incredible job on those ball screens the first three times he was in there. He was stepping up. He was flattening it out. He did a great job on those and that helped the guards. Our guards did a pretty good job. B.J .(Branden Dawson) and Brandan (Kearney) struggle. When you're young and you're inexperienced and you're not real good at something and you're just getting better at it, the minute you lose some focus. The book says from good to great, but I'm going to write a book, good to bad because that's what we went. We went from good to bad. We have to do a better job with that. Like I said, I think we should all be held accountable. We'll be better Wednesday.
UALR Head Coach Steve Shields
Opening Statement...
I guess looking at Michigan State, this is a team that I have the utmost of respect for, with everything Tom Izzo has accomplished here. We played up here five or six years ago, and even before that, knowing how great they're rebounding is and how disciplined they are. I think coming into tonight, based on their previous statistics for their points in the paint and second chance points and comparing those to the statistics tonight, you would've thought it would have been a closer game from our standpoint. But we can't turn the ball over the way we have our last few games, having 20 turnovers at Eastern Michigan and 19 tonight. Obviously Michigan State is a very physical team; a very well coached team, but those are areas where we have got to get better, valuing the basketball. I think that overall, hopefully this will be a good experience for our guys, playing in a hostile environment.
On the team's rebounding...
If you look at their stats coming in, we had negative rebounds statistics, which was a huge concern. We got to turning the ball over in the second half, and we gave up easy baskets in transition. That's one thing about Izzo's team that sometimes might go unnoticed. He runs a lot of sets, and they execute those well, but they're very good in transition. We had to get good shots, and not take bad shots.
On UALR being in Michigan for four days, possibly making the team tired...
I don't know if I can use that as an excuse. Any time you're on the road you want to pride the team in being able to handle tough situations. We always talk about how the toughest team wins and obviously valuing the basketball is important. We have got a young basketball team. Seven of the 12 guys here with us, are new guys and this is our fifth game in 10 days. You can't use that as a crutch. We play conference games on Thursdays and Saturdays in the Sun Belt Conference. You have got to be prepared for quick turnarounds and traveling in adverse situations.
