Post-Game Quotes: Michigan State vs. Maryland
1/5/2015 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
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MICHIGAN STATE HEAD COACH Tom Izzo
Opening Statement …
Like I told Tom [Crean], that's probably one of the best halves of basketball that we've played as far as moving the ball. I think we had 12 assists on 15 baskets. I thought we rebounded pretty well. I think you see a little bit that we're on Branden Dawson. He was very good defensively. I thought a couple of the keys to the game were when [Gavin] Schilling did a great job on the ball screens, because they're hard to cover. This is a good team that just did not play as well tonight. I watched them against Georgetown and I watched them against Nebraska. They do a lot of great things. I don't know if [Troy] Williams was under the weather like a couple of our guys, but we did a pretty good job on him and he's been playing off the charts. Our defense was good. When our defense is good, we rebound better. When we rebound better, we run better. Each guy took his share. [Travis] Trice had an incredible performance, considering at halftime he was really out of it. To have 7 assists - he didn't shoot it as well. We had a couple of guys that were really sick and I think it was a gutty effort and I told them that's what we needed against a team that I thought would bring it to you. I'm pleased with the victory. I didn't feel we shot it real well, but I'm pleased with all of the little things, including Marvin Clark, who struggles at times. But when he went in there, he just relied on getting a couple of rebounds and then a big tip and then he hits his shot. If he would just worry about his defense and rebounding, like we used to tell Morris Peterson back in the day, I think his game will get better. Indiana is going to win a lot of games. This is a good basketball team and we caught them on a night when we were down, our former Izzone did a great job, fans were great on a bad night of weather. That's a big win for us, one we really needed.
On starting freshman Lourawls "Tum Tum" Nairn …
There were a couple of reasons. Number one, Travis [Trice] has been struggling a little bit. I think he's pushing himself a little bit and he was run down a little bit last night. Denzel [Valentine] didn't even practice yesterday. So, I just decided that between that and between the fact that we've got some rotation problems when we start the three shooters. Now we bring in Tum and maybe a guy like Alvin and all of the sudden we're taking two shooters out. It'd be nice to keep two in and rotate one. As I told you earlier, the plan was maybe to have JB [Javon Bess] in there and then we could get a better rotation. I think the rotation helps some, but it really helps when [Branden] Dawson played like he did. Rebounding, running the court, and the great job he did defensively. What I do from here on in - I don't know. I don't plan on it being a permanent thing, especially with [Travis] Trice. I'm proud of him for what he did tonight under the circumstances he was under.
On his team's defensive efforts …
We didn't shoot it really well, but, defensively, I think that's the best we've been. I thought that was our best defensive game and I think Tom [Crean] said the same thing to me. I complained about our defense because we had so many foul problems in that Maryland game, but Maryland did shoot 33 and 18. What I didn't like in that game is that we didn't rebound the ball, so we didn't run. One thing I think we did tonight was pushed the ball a lot better and we got some open looks. There were a couple times that the ball moved so well that it was fun to watch - it was like watching us three or four weeks ago. We're not a finished product. We played good against a good team tonight. Our backs were against the wall. Remember, he [Tom Crean] has a young team, too. I thought tonight our defense really won us the game, so that led to some breaks on offense.
It's crazy. If you look at the whole year, we're only giving up 36 percent. That's the lowest ever in my era. I don't know what teams are shooting from the three, but it's in the twenties. That's probably the lowest in my era. I keep complaining about our defense, but we are giving up some things. We haven't been the dynamite rebounding team, but we kind of knew that because we were going to be a little smaller. With Denzel [Valentine] not 100 percent, he's usually a better rebounder. I know he got some today, but Costello gets seven and Shilling gets nine and Branden gets 13. Still have to get a little more out of our guards. If we get that, I think our defense is good enough that we could rebound and run and get some. We have to shorten up our half-court offense. Sometimes we have certain players in there when we get caught and that's what I'm trying to avoid because I'm not putting them in a position to be successful. That's why I'm still not done with our lineup. Maybe by next week we can start subbing like we always have in the past by the numbers a little bit more, so we have a little bit more control of that.
On leading up to tonight's performance …
I'll be honest with you, last night I went home concerned. Denzel [Valentine] didn't practice. Travis [Trice] was so-so. JB [Javon Bess] didn't practice. Normally I'm not playing guys that don't practice the day before, it just doesn't work that way. It wasn't their fault, but usually that's a bad sign for us. I have to say that I was a little concerned. That's part of not knowing this team yet as well, especially young guys. I put it on the board today that energy and effort were going to be the two things that would win this game. I know how Tom's kids play. I know what we stood for. I saw Antonio Smith at the end of the game and that's the first thing he said to me, "Coach, it looked more like us." We haven't been doing that. Some of that has been Branden [Dawson]. Where I came up here and told you that he wasn't doing a very good job. Tonight I thought he was phenomenal. A lot of switching he had to do, he had to guard point guards, he was guarding a bunch of different guys. I just thought he was very good. Still rebounded and still found a way to get ten shots up. I thought we had decent practices the last couple of days, but I thought we brought more energy than we have lately.
On his team's energy …
I'll be honest with you, I did question their heart a little bit. I just felt like we were finding ways to lose games instead of finding ways to win games. I wasn't very happy on the way we switched out on that last Maryland play. So, I don't know. We got after it in practice a little bit more. We haven't been able to because of everything that we've been going through, but we did a little bit more. Maybe more meetings. If you want the truth, we had more film sessions and meetings and talked about not being able to make these kinds of errors. One other area that I didn't even mention, that might've been the best of all - they are, to me, the best transition team we've played over Duke and Kansas and everybody. Yogi Ferrell can push the ball as well as anybody in the country. And [James] Blackmon, I love him - I tried to recruit him myself. I think [Robert] Johnson runs. Who didn't play as well for them tonight was [Troy] Williams and I just noticed he didn't play as many minutes, so who knows. He has been playing really well, too. I think we did a very good job getting back in transition - one of the reasons we got 17 offensive boards. So, we rebounded the ball. I thought we did a decent job sprinting back.
On getting Javon Bess back into the lineup …
The problem is that he sprained the other ankle. There's so many freak things with that kid. He's so frustrated. He doesn't know what he's going to do. Here's Christmas, when you hope to get better, but he's only practiced a couple of times. That was the game plan at the beginning of the year. It would've been nice to bring a Bryn [Forbes] off and give him a chance to go against some other people. There were some good things, I thought, with that and still play the same amount of minutes. I don't know where we are yet with it, but I know this: I love the way [Travis] Trice responded, even though he didn't shoot it very well. To play that many minutes as sick as he was, and to have seven assists to no turnovers I think spoke volumes. I think Tum Tum [Nairn] did push the ball very well. Only two assists, I thought he had more than that. He made some good plays, and sometimes the plays led to the hockey assists, where the play went and then sometimes the ball went the other way. Denzel [Valentine] should shoot better, he's not a six for 18 shooter. I think if we get healthy here, we'll get better.
On the rebounding disparity tonight coming off of the Maryland game …
We got our butts kicked in the Maryland game. We really did. And we talked to them about that, that we got killed. Indiana went a little smaller too, and I think for the right reason. Put another shooter in there and it gave us some problems and made us sub differently. I think you're going to find that this Indiana team is going to win a lot of games, they're a hard matchup. With Dawson, we can match up better than some teams can. For some reason, James [Blackmon] didn't shoot the ball as well as he's been shooting. I think some of it was us and some of it was that he just didn't get into the rhythm. We took a chance and really corralled Yogi [Ferrell] because we have that much respect for him. I loved what they run for their personnel. It just seemed like tonight [Troy] Williams did not get into the flow of it. He's been playing, he played really well against Nebraska, for sure, and really well against Georgetown. Maybe we deserve some credit, maybe he deserves some blame. They'll win a lot of games, I guarantee that.
INDIANA HEAD COACH TOM CREAN
Opening statement…
Michigan State did a really good job of getting us back on our heels early in the game, and we allowed them to do it. I am disappointed that we never pushed back, figuratively, not literally. Our guys were excited to play, I don't think that there is any question about that. We have practiced well, but being excited to play is a lot different than being ready to compete and fight with a team like Michigan State. The good news is we have been doing that, the bad news is that we picked a bad night to not do it. They deserve a ton of credit because they played really well, but everything we needed to do in this game; get back on transition, get back on defense, definitely block out, we didn't do those things. Not with any sense of purpose. Offensively, I was highly disappointed too. We didn't cut with any urgency, our cuts and screens were soft as maybe I've ever coached at Indiana, maybe anywhere. That's it, we got back on our heels and just didn't respond. I thought our leadership was left somewhere back in Bloomington and I guess that falls on me because we didn't have any leadership in that game whatsoever. The second half, we played some guys that had some fight, tried to stay on the ground a little bit, but they played an outstanding game, and there is no question about that. I was concerned about how we were going to score in this game and how we were going to stop them. Because when you don't attack them with screens and move the ball at a pace, we just didn't do any of that so we have got to get better in a hurry. This league is obviously very unforgiving. They could care less what you did the last game. Whether you win or lose, you got to bring it quickly and we will start responding again in the morning.
On MSU's success and IU's struggles tonight …
Oh I am sure it was a combination of both. They did a really good job, they played well. He [Tom Izzo] told me as we were walking off of the court that it was their best game of the year. He is probably just being my good friend. They have a really good team. I sent him some texts as we were studying the film and I said 'wow this defense is good.' And they really are, they cover so much ground, they help, but we played into that and we didn't attack. When we attacked off the dribble, and it was really just one guy, Yogi [Ferrell], and really disappointed in our level of compete and attack tonight on offense as well as defense. When we attacked, it made them help and it was a better game. We missed a lot of shots. I think we will watch the film and see that we missed a lot of shots we usually make. So we picked a bad night. I don't know how many open ones we had, certainly it is not characteristic of us to shot that poor, but I am not concerned about that. I am more concerned about the level of cutting and screening, and attacking with the ball.
On how he felt his team matched up with Michigan State …
I don't know how much you have seen us play, but our half-court offense, that becomes fun to talk about when you're running. We have been pretty good at the half-court, we did a really good job the other night against Nebraska in the half-court, we did an excellent job against Butler in the half-court. I don't think it's that. I think tonight, we didn't look like we have ever played half-court offense. I am just bewildered at the lack of purpose that we played with, with the cutting and the screening compared to the way we have been playing and compared to the way we have practiced. I am not going to put that on youth either because we just didn't do it. You know [Hanner] Mosquera-Perea was certainly not ready to play tonight and now he will be in for a dogfight at that position because Emmitt Holt was. He didn't play well but he was a little more ready to play. Troy [Williams] gave us really very little fight tonight, and those guys have to go be good in the half-court. Troy is one of our better guys in the half-court at moving without the ball, and that didn't happen tonight. We just didn't respond, we didn't respond to the physicality. When you don't do that with screens, we are out there slipping screens, we have a call for slipping-screens. This was one game we didn't want to be slipping screens hardly at all. When you do that inside your half-court offense, your half-court offense is going to be very good, but we will improve. Sometimes you are just not as good as you think you are, and coaches really look and see how good they really think they are to win a game, but sometimes you have to have the same attitude when you lose a game. I think they had a lot to do with it, but we contributed to it.
On the disconnect between good practices and the game …
We got back on our heels and got disappointed real quick. You know, our whole message, and when you're playing really good teams, you can't get discouraged, you got to keep coming. You know, you can get in on pick but you are going to hit on from Michigan State, you have got to keep coming, you got to keep challenging the shot, you got to keep fighting over the screen. Well tonight we never made them do that on the defensive end. They didn't have to fight over any screens because we didn't set them. So we have just got to be much more efficient with our purpose and how we play. But we have been, we can't score the points and make the improvements. Going into tonight's game we have been outrebounding teams by nine, against some really good teams, and tonight we weren't even close. We really improved in those areas but we will just get back at it, and keep improving. We are not going to change how we practice, and certainly not change what we have been doing to get better. We just have to get our urgency revisited, quickly.
