Post Game Quotes: Oakland
12/14/2014 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
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Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo
Opening statement...
Well I was very concerned about this game coming off of finals. I have a lot of respect for Greg's team, the way they scored the ball and the great job that [Corey] Petros does inside. I mean he was a load. We probably played poorly the first couple of minutes defensively gave up, I think they got three or four three's in the first five or six minutes, and couple of pound-down's into him [Petros]. I thought we played pretty good the second part of it. At halftime, we just kind of went over the different mistakes we were making defensively. We just didn't seem to have the grit we have been having lately. First halves have been really good, and as you all know second halves have been really poor. So we really challenged our guys at halftime, and I think the difference was that [Travis] Trice came out. He has had a little bit of a sore ankle. He's got a muscle down there that has been soar for a week and a half so he is not shooting as well, and yet we are still shooting the ball really well and he is maybe our best shooter. But I thought he defensively raised it up a level. He has four assists, he had a steal, he just changed it. I always tell my guys when the head dies the body goes, and when the head rises the body follows. So, he is the head, he did a hell of a job. I thought Denzel Valentine with three minutes, four minutes left, came down to me and he said, `hey Coach, Travis hasn't shot it well but he really was the difference tonight.' That's a hell of a compliment because [Kahlil] Felder is a good player and we made him earn his shots. He got to the free throw line more than I would have liked. Some of the other positives were eight turnovers, two in the second half that made a difference. 25 assists on 34 baskets, that was great. I did not feel we rebounded really well, and I give them credit. They have length, they did a good job. At half, BJ [Branden Dawson], [Matt] Costello, and [Gavin] Schilling each had one rebound and that was unacceptable. But when you make big shots it cures a lot of evils, and we shot the daylights out of the ball. 10-for-17 from the three, 56% percent from the field. That was the difference. I still really like Oakland's team, he [Coach Greg Kampe] says that they are young and he thought that made a difference. They were open, they could shoot it. I thought we did a pretty good job until the very end. The kid [Max] Hooper can really shoot it and [Dante] Williams is a shooter. They are going to win a lot of games; I really believe that, we just shot it so well. In closing, for my part, I'd like to thank our fans. I was concerned about the game. Eight o'clock, I am not crazy about that, on a Sunday night. It was foggy out and no student here. It is usually when we get families, it is hard to get families when you have school the next day, and I was more than excited by the crowd we had. The way they came into the game, and even though Wednesday is a nine o'clock game, we may need them even more that game so I'd appreciate if they found a way.
On if he thinks the team can play with anybody in the country with shooting like tonight...
Well if we shore-up some of the other things we don't do as well, and yet I thought we took a lot of good shots. We are getting better at moving the ball and even though Tum-Tum [Nairn] he's got to take a couple of shots inside, but boy he made some nice assists, so did Travis. I thought we executed our plays as well as I have really seen us do that in maybe over a year. I thought the screen was better, Dawson did a much better job of screening, he looked for his shot. I mean Denzel looked for his shot more. Those are two things we harped on in the last three or four days. It was nice to see our guys respond well at halftime, because we got after it at halftime. I did not think we were as sharp defensively. I thought we were making shots, but I didn't think we were sharp defensively, but boy I give Travis credit because he did a hell of a job. On if he remembers a team of his that at this point in the season has moved the ball as well as this one....
No. No I really don't. You know, I'll give Jimmy Boylen credit for that. He came here in the summer and we talked about the Spurs and how much fun it was to watch them move the ball. From the day we started practice in the summer I have been harping on that. Yet when you have players like Valentine and Trice, who are very very good passers, Dawson is an excellent passer. So we got three very good passers and I think that is part of it. The other part is they get along so well and are so unselfish. You know, the ball never stops. I think last year a lot, the ball would stop, and the ball is not stopping. We are getting good ball screens, our bigs are starting to come out and do their job. You know we have a lot of things to work on, and now we are going to play the wishbone next, you know the wishbone of basketball. Which means a defense that we won't see very often, so we will see what we do against that, but for tonight I would agree with that statement.
On the play of Dawson...
I shouldn't say this, but I have been hammering on him. I mean he has got to play like that, the only thing he didn't do as well was rebound, and he is so good at it. He had a good first shot; he shuffled and dribbled it in there, just jumping over people. He can do that so well. If he makes his free throws, which I'll be honest with you guys, he makes such a high percentage in practice now so we got that solved. Now it is just the mental part in-game. He would have gotten two more points which would have been his 1,000th point here, and that would have been enjoyable. I think in general he has practiced well and he played well. We will see now if consistency, you know I am not going to pat him on the back until I see weeks, months, a year of consistency.
On the play of Tum-Tum Nairn and his shooting...
What really was disappointing was before halftime he had a 12-footer, and what bothered me about that was that he had not time. A point guard that doesn't know time, you know that's what I was most disappointed with. He actually, if you watch him shot, and you know I have, there is nothing wrong with his shot. He is just not very confident; he is not looking for it. It is not going to change overnight but I think he has got to get a little better at that. What he is starting to do is penetrate, but we have to get him coming to a two-foot stop because he is broad jumping in there. So yeah, I would like him to shoot a little bit more. I am not ready to sell the house on his jump shot, mortgage his jump shot. I don't think there is anything wrong with it, I think it's just his confidence which he has got to continue to work on himself. He checks, he guards people, helps, he gets steals, he push the ball well. He penetrates and kicks, both his turnovers were one at the end of the half. He is doing a lot of really good things. He can really guard, you know even though he is not that big, he can really guard. So yeah, I am happy with him, I would like to see him shoot a little more but if everybody did everything right they'd be leaving after a year. So it gives me someone to coach.
Oakland University head coach Greg Kampe
Opening statement...
"We knew that if they shot the ball; we would be in trouble. Our only chance would be to take the three away from those three amazing shooters and amazing players. I don't care who they play; they could play Kentucky, if they shoot the ball the way they shot it tonight they can beat anyone in the country and surely they are going to beat us pretty good when they shoot the ball like that. We tried really hard to run them off the three line, but young teams, and that's what I have and maybe have ever had, they make mistakes. As hard as you try and as hard as you push them and make them understand, they have to be in a moment like this before they learn. They got the chance to experience this moment, and hopefully we will learn a great deal from it.
On evaluating the team...
Honestly, coming in we felt that if we could shoot and keep those three kids under control and only have one of them make shots, then we could play with them. We played Iowa State who is ranked 14th in the country, and it was a game the whole way. The difference is we shot the ball there. We shot at about fifty-something percent there, and tonight we couldn't make shots. I don't know what Tom [Izzo] will say about his defense, I believe we had some open looks. I believe we executed and ran some good stuff. [Corey] Petros, the ball just wouldn't go in for him tonight. Against Iowa State, he was 10-of-12 on those same shots. Maybe Michigan State was more physical. Maybe we wore out because it was harder to get the shot. That might be why; I'm not smart enough to know. I know it didn't go in and we shot 39 percent. For us that was the difference. We were shooting well early. A key play in the game was, Max Hooper just made a three, I think we were up 18 to 15, I could be wrong on the score, and we had the ball and we ran a set and Max [Hooper] came wide open and our point guard turned him down and shot and it bricked out, and they got a transition three to tie. I thought that turned everything. If we got a bucket there, not that we were going to win, but they just went on a big run at that point and we started it with that shot.
On what playing a team like MSU does to a young team....
Here is what I told them in the locker room. We go to Arizona next, and I told them before the game, no matter what happens tonight we have to go to Arizona. This game is for you, but this is what I told them afterward, we weren't ready for this one. Nationally ranked team on national TV, hall of fame coach, Breslin Center, the Izzone wasn't here but I said the Izzone. We weren't ready for that. Those young freshmen just weren't. Nick Daniels couldn't even make a free throw. He was 100 percent coming in. I think he missed four or something like that maybe five. We shot air balls. Those freshmen weren't ready for this moment. The only way you get ready is to be in it and we will be in it again Tuesday night. We have Pittsburgh, Clemson and we have Maryland. I'm going to tell you something; I think we're going to win one of those games. If we do it's because of tonight. I don't care what our record is. I'm old. I don't panic. I care about our team getting better and winning the Horizon League. That's the league we're in. That's what we're trying to prepare to do. Tonight helps us. It really helps us.
On Branden Dawson...
Did you see the game last year? We had a chance to win the game and [Adreian] Payne had a good game, but we couldn't stop [Branden] Dawson. He's a freak athlete at a position and level that our size can't match up. We wanted to keep him off the boards, but we knew he's the difference. For us, when playing, he is the difference. He's the reason they beat us last year and tonight there's no question. [Denzel] Valentine really shot the ball, but [Branden] Dawson he made some key plays in the first half, getting his hands on rebounds, keeping it alive. He tipped one and then [Denzel] Valentine ran it down the court and turned around and made a three, that's a big play. He's good. [Branden Dawson] is a big time athlete. Maybe against some other teams in the Big Ten, you know Michigan State plays a great schedule, maybe they have someone who can match him. I don't.
