Player Quotes vs. Ferris State
11/9/2015 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
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Michigan State basketball coach Tom Izzo
Opening statement...
I liked the way Ferris played. It was a good game for us. I told you on media day that the one negative about this team is they have shooters. And what are shooters notorious for? Not guarding anybody. They lived up to it tonight, we just did not guard. We gave up too many 3-pointers. We probably played better than I think. I think (Denzel) Valentine coming off of a big game was sharp and I think that (Bryn) Forbes and my man Eron Harris has got to learn to guard somebody, so I'm putting that out there. I thought (Gavin) Schilling was really good. I thought Matt McQuaid played pretty well. Tum (Tum Nairn Jr.) was okay but we didn't play with the energy and that's part of the culture change I'm trying to do. Let's make every game where we are going to play it and play the game, not the team. Today we failed a little bit but part of that was due to how well I thought Ferris played at times. Every time we got a run going we gave up three 3's. It's not like they shot a high percentage, but if they make 10 3-pointers, we knew that's all they were going to do. On the other side of it, that post player they have is really good, Stolicker, and we did a heck of a job on him I thought. This is a team that had 21 offensive rebounds against Central Michigan so there were a few bright spots but guarding, guarding, guarding, is going to have to change if we're going to become a real good team.
On Eron Harris...
Yes, I thought the shots he took and missed, we worked hard on him stepping up and I think he did that tonight. He did a better job on that, and he did a better job on moving the ball. I'm just disappointed because he's an athlete and he's tough and he's going to be working on it.
On Gavin Schilling...
I would have played him more but he stubbed his toe a little bit and hurt his toe and the last game he got into foul trouble, so both games he's played 13 and 12 minutes or something. Staying out of foul trouble is something those bigs have to do, but I think Gavin [Schilling] has been very efficient and rebounded pretty well, ran the court pretty well, made a couple of plays in there, so he's playing better. He's been one of the bright spots since Italy until now.
On movements in the lineup...
There will be some moves and the playing groups are going to shrink a little bit determined by the players, not by the coach, and that's what these games are for and that's what the next couple of practices are going to be for. We did some experimenting, I got stats from teams all over the country a lot of them played seven or eight people, and we have our guys a chance to see who would move up and who would move down and that's going to be rotating a little bit throughout the year, but we will start honing in now on our playing group a little bit more.
On Denzel Valentine...
I was disappointed in Zel [Valentine] because he had been so good, and I want to see him get to the point where every day he is laser focused. He was very casual on some things and he knows it, so I'm not worried about it, but that kind of led the rest of our team. He knows it.
On moving the ball...
There was a lot of that. Early on I thought we did a great job with that but then there were a couple plays, one where Bryn [Forbes] had the ball and didn't pass it to Denzel [Valentine] when he was wide open for a dunk - that drives me crazy because being unselfish is the way that I'd like to have this team play. There were some positives, 29 assists on 35 baskets is good. We just missed some wide open shots, but I thought part of the things offensively is that we had to play against a four-guard defense a lot and they had some guys that could really shoot. I did like his team and I think if he gets everyone back - he had a kid sitting out - the [Jared] Fleming kid played really well and [Drew] Cushingberry played really well. I thought we did a rea job on their big guys and that was a big key for us. On Tum Tum Nairn Jr. driving to the basket...
He was solid, wasn't great but solid, and he can run our team. What he doesn't get enough credit for is when he's in the game, people aren't getting wide-open 3-pointers. That's why he played last year and that's why he's going to play more this year because you have to be able to guard somebody. So it'll be fun. It'll be a fun couple days of practice. We'll see if we can get a little better here in that area. It wasn't awful; I'm just expecting more out of this team. I think we have enough veterans, we have senior leadership and they should expect a little more out of him. It's a long season. I'm not trying to win a game in November, but I am trying to setup a way of playing now - that we get a little hungrier and figure out when we get a lead, how to step on somebody instead of letting them off the hook. What did they cut it down to? Twelve, 11, 13-something like that? I didn't appreciate that from our stand point, but I applaud it from their standpoint. I thought they did a very good job, and that's what I just told him team.
On where Deyonta Davis is
I really like the way he's played. He's missed a couple of shots inside and you can see that he's just not strong enough in his upper body, but his lower body is fine. He also made some good moves. He's going to be a heck of a player. Tonight, I just wanted to get him some time, and that's why I wanted to start him in the second half and I did. In the two preseason games I put in every lineup I wanted to play, and now we will evaluate the plus and minus. We will see who will fit in with whom. It didn't work out how I wanted it to tonight totally, but it did work out how I wanted it to be because I got out of it what I put into it. It wasn't necessarily to win games by 20, 30 or 40- it was so I could see different groups of guys playing together, and who played when things didn't go right and who rallied the troops, things like that. It was really good. Both these games were good for us. I do think Ferris has a chance. They're going to be a good team in that league, a real good team in that league. Like I always do, I pull from my division II teams.
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.
