Post-Game Quotes: UAPB
11/20/2015 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
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Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo
Opening Statement…
Funny game. I said that one thing I'm trying to change the culture of is when you have a blowout in the first half, which we played extremely well, moved the ball and did great things, but still not the discipline to come out and play the second half the same way. That was discouraging. We had some positives. I thought (Javon) Bess played better, that was encouraging. (Matt) Costello gets a double-double. Denzel (Valentine), I felt bad for him because he probably had five more assists if a guy would have made a shot and he didn't look for a shot hardly at all. He missed some easy shots but still gets seven rebounds and 11 assists. We had some other guys that I didn't think played as well. (Kenny) Goins missing all those free throws, Bess missing free throws, Colby (Wollenman) with three turnovers. There were positives and there were some negatives. I thought guys like DD (Deyonta Davis) took a step backward, guys like Eron Harris took a step forward. Maybe that's going to happen when you're playing a lot of guys right now, because it still won't be that many when we get into things. As enjoyable as the first half was, the second half, especially the first 10 minutes, were not enjoyable. Still got a lot of work to do but everybody's telling me around the conference and around the country that teams are getting beat, so I guess I should just shut my mouth, take a win, move on and start pulling for my football counterparts from now until game time tomorrow.
On if playing better after winning the Champions Classic after struggling against Columbia in 2013 following the tournament win was a point of emphasis coming into tonight…
It was. This is a different team than Columbia, too, and I can't say we struggled in the first half. For three-quarters of that game we played awfully well but then we started to give (Ghiavonni) Robinson shots and had some turnovers, and we missed some shots. I thought every shot Bryn (Forbes) took was a good shot, I thought 90 percent of the ones Denzel took were good shots, he just didn't get enough shots. The ball wasn't moving as well in the second half when it was moving so nice in the first half, it was going in and going out. Some of it too was the number of substitutions we made. I'll swallow some of that and take the blame for some of it, but if we're going to change things around here, we've got to figure out when we get a team down, we've got to step on it in the second half and the first 10 minutes of the second half was not very good. So I've got to make a fool of myself, which I don't have a problem doing, but you would hope that somebody would pick that up. I don't think our leaders jumped on it. It was a learning experience for us and hopefully we'll do a better job next time.
On what Javon Bess adds to the offense…
He adds a lot if he makes his free throws. He was a guy, if you remember last year, who could rebound and he could get fouled. But if he goes 4-of-7, it doesn't do any good. Javon, I still think has to be like an Alan Anderson. He has to take advantage of his quickness and has got to be ready to shoot. A couple of times he had some shots blocked and he wasn't ready to shoot. It's going to take a while, it's a new position for him. We got Marv (Marvin Clark Jr.) a few minutes, he's got to get his feet wet. He probably could have played a few more, but we had to get him ready and hopefully by next week he'll be playing more and more. That four spot, we need a lot. The four spot is very important in our offense.
On what he's seen out of Matt McQuaid so far…
Matt McQuaid does handle things well. I know Denzel loves playing with him because he knows if he gets him a shot he's going to make it probably. He can pass the ball. Lot of good things happen with Matt. He plays pretty good defense and is playing beyond his years right now, but competition is going to step up again and we'll see how he does. He's definitely making some progress and he fits in well. I think right now, as I said, he's staying steady or even a little better. Tum Tum (Nairn Jr.) took a step back tonight. He didn't handle the ball very well and he didn't make plays that I thought he could make. We need all of those guards and we need them to play well at the same time if we need to be a great team. (McQuaid) has got a bit of energy to him. He's kind of a funny kid because he's quiet and shy until he makes a shot and he goes bonkers. It's kind of enjoyable because he does it the right way.
On Eron Harris…
Progressing. He's about half of what I want to see out of him, but he's starting to feel his way a little bit. I guess if there's one thing I underestimated was what a year and a half off does to you. As I told him tonight, we were going to let him play through some things and we did and saw some encouraging things until he go lazy defensively. That's when Robinson hit some 3's. We just have to stay on him but you can all see that he has some talent. He's going to be able to score some points. He's going to be able to get to the line That's what him and Javon [Bess] pretty well. He's going to feel his way through, it's going to take some time but I like the way he is practicing, I think his whole demeanor is better and I think he's realized that if he's going to play winning basketball, he's got to do more than just score points. That's really helped him.
On Matt Costello…
A little bit of both. I did expect it from him tonight, but I don't want to underscore that in 19 minutes to get 10 and 10 is pretty good. Matt [Costello] did play well tonight. We kept telling him. I don't think any of our bigs look to pass the ball really well tonight. Deyonta [Davis] went from having a really big game like a lot of freshman to do kind of deer in the headlights tonight, which doesn't make sense, but I thought Matt [Costello] played with a purpose, rebounded really well, looked to score when he got it in there and improved his passing. He is going to be a complete player. We just have to get him to the free throw line more. He was a bright spot of the night. If he can keep doing that and we can get Deyonta [Davis] and [Gavin] Schilling in there as it goes, we will be very solid at that position. We just have to get everyone on the same page and figure out how to not have let-downs.
On Bryn Forbes…
I would like to see him get to the line a little more, but it's not one of his strengths and I think that we decided that if he's coming on a break and he has a chance to go to the basket of spot-up at the 3-point line, we would rather him spot-up at the 3. I wouldn't say it's all his fault, I'd say some of it is our fault, but he's got to do something else. He's actually got a great mid-range game. Hopefully we get him to the line more because he's a great free throw shooter, even though he missed one tonight. That is a strength he has. That would help if he had 14 points and gets to the line a few more times, those are 16 or 18 point games. He had a lot of good shots today, it was a big-time game for him. Denzel [Valentine] would have had 15 or 16 assists. We have to make sure we don't forget about Denzel [Valentine] either, he was so unselfish offensively. We weren't looking for him, but he was still our key guy.
On the depth he's been able to develop…
It's going to help. I think we have seven games in 15 days. That's a 4 a.m. get-home or a 6 a.m. get-home and then play Louisville a day and a half later, so we are going to need this depth. I think it's going to help us and you never know when there's an injury, heaven forbid. I think that part is a plus, but if you don't play the same seven or eight guys you're playing, then too, you have things like more turnovers, people don't know where people are going â€" which you should expect. I should expect some of this when we're playing 14 guys and I played 12 guys seven minutes or more so that's not the norm. That's tough especially when some of them like Kenny [Goins] are just coming off of injury or Marvin [Clark Jr.] is just coming off of an injury and has barely even practiced. I can cut the slack there but I can't cut the slack on why we didn't defend a little better at the beginning of the second half. I'll harp on the things that I can harp on and I'll appreciate the things that I should do better on appreciating.
Senior guard Bryn Forbes
On leading the team in points for the second-consecutive exhibition game…
I've just been finding open spots on the floor, and I have some great passers around me. Denzel [Valentine], Tum Tum [Nairn Jr.] and Matt McQuaid are all great passers, so they just find me all around the court.
On the difference in intensity as the game went on…
I think we just brought more intensity. In the first half we kind of came out slow, not really playing the way we should have. In the second part of the first half we went into the bigs a lot more. We made a lot more things happen, especially on the defensive end.
On the play of some of the younger players who got a chance to make an impact…
I've been impressed with all of them. From Matt McQuaid to DD [Davis] to Kyle [Ahrens]. Matt McQuaid played really well today. He facilitated and does a lot of things with his game. He can play the one, two or the three so it was fun playing with him today.
Freshman guard Matt McQuaid
On playing the point guard position at various time throughout the game…
First off, the upper classmen always help me with my pay at the point guard. Denzel and Tum always give me suggestions on what to do. The coaching staff is always on me too and are really helping me out to make it an easy transition.
On his eight assists and ability to facilitate the offense…
Yes, we were just trying to get good ball movement. We were always looking to make the extra pass to Bryn [Forbes] and Zel [Valentine] because when you have good shooters like that it's easy to make passes.
On Ferris State being able to make 3-pointers…
They hit a couple 3's and it kind of threw us out of sync. The upperclassmen got us together and rallied us.
Senior forward Matt Costello
On his thoughts on the pace of the game…
We still won by 36 and our defense was very good, but they just hit a lot of shots that we weren't expecting them to hit. So I felt like the score was a lot closer than it actually entailed. I thought we shot very well from the floor, hitting 3's. We did our job but they also hit some shots.
On what he liked out of the team as they move toward their first non-conference game on Friday...
I liked how we moved the ball. We were unselfish and had a lot of assists. We did a good job of running the floor and also defensively. We did a very good job on their big man. Gavin [Schilling], JB [Javon Bess] and Colby [Wollenman] all did their job, and I was impressed with that tonight.
On his excitement that the season is starting on Friday…
I'm ready to get this thing going. This is my last year, and I have to go out with a bang. I'm ready for the season to get started.
