Post Game Quotes: Rutgers
1/31/2016 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
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Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo
Opening statement…
Well excited but disappointed. That is kind of how you talk about this game. I mean, when you make 17 3's or whatever we made, you have to be excited, but that old adage that as soon as you make some shots, you decide to stop guarding. So I think that we did a poor job on that and that was disappointing. The plus is that in the second half I think we buckled down a little bit. We got the ball inside a little bit more, we rebounded a little bit better. Those are the things that turn into fast-breaks or kick out 3's, but you still have to make the three's…we had some open looks.
I was proud of his (Eddie Jordan's) team. Only because in the first half after we really punched them, they came back and that's hard to do when you've gone through what he's gone through. He [Eddie Jordan] is missing three really good players, that's three injuries and it's been that way all year. Those guards are going to be pretty good and we didn't guard them very well. All in all, I say that we didn't really turn the ball over till the end. We had about three or four at the end, but we were shooting a little higher percentage. So those kind of things when you have team goals bother me, but outrebounding them the way we did was a plus and making those shots two games in a row. So this week, we will not be working on shooting, we'll work on learning how to guard someone again.
On primary focus in the next six days …
Well, some of those guys that shot 3's didn't guard anybody and I'm not reverting back to that because that was past years. We're going to focus in big on how to guard people, how to stop the dribble drive, how to contest 3's and the thing that I just think we got a little sloppy on. I understand some of it but I don't understand it.
I give Denzel Valentine credit. I always talk about a player-coach team but he saved me today. I didn't have to do much because he was doing a lot of the work. He got after some people in those huddles and it was good. He did what he needed to do and didn't like what he saw either. You get to the back nine, you have eight games left now. The job is to be getting better at each thing each day. I thought we took some strides, but it was consistency.
We consistently didn't have any balance between inside and outside. We went only inside those past games and then the last few games we only went outside. We're not throwing it. It was really good when we made the first couple then all of a sudden we miss six in a row or something and then we called some timeouts and then did a better job getting the ball inside. We scored a little bit more then, and then those kick out 3's were a little easier to shoot. But then we had to get some consistency on offense and defense because most shooters don't guard many people. This year I thought we changed that a little bit when a couple of guys started guarding better, but lost that today so we're going to have to work on that.
On more stable rotation...
I think it is a little better, but there is still some questions at that four spot. It should have been a game where JB (Javon Bess) played more because they went with four guards a lot. It could have been a game where Marv (Marvin Clark Jr.) did. I thought that Kenny (Goins) was very sheepish and then later on I thought he played a lot better. And I also thought Gavin (Schilling) was a little shaky earlier and then later on he played a lot better. Matt Costello was pretty solid. It's hard when Deyonta (Davis) has to guard 6-2 guards, that is still our situation that we need to get better at. But I did get a pretty good rotation down with guards. It's getting a little better right now. We're in a position where (Matt) McQuaid is playing a little better each game but didn't look for enough shots or get enough shots, but he's doing some things. He's passing the ball, he's pushing on the break, he's guarding decently. So I do think we are making some progress with our four-five guys.
On playing more guard-heavy teams…
Depends on how hard he [Deyonta] works this week. I mean those are some of the questions- but they have to guard us too. But if we're just launching 3's they don't have to guard us. So that is what we have to get on and it's not the players' fault it's that we have to just figure out some balance between the two and you know…tough game. Eddie (Jordan) is depleted. I really thought he kept his team hanging in there the first half but that is hard to do when we're making a lot of shots. We made shots but we had some open shots and I'm sure he was disappointed about that. So, that will be the big thing. I always said that our teams had one thing that has helped us in the NCAA tournament…we can play big, we can play small, we can run and we can play half-court. And now, that is going to be challenged in the next couple of weeks on whether we can do that and move some things around and still try to get some guys back to where. Marvin Clark would be one, and Kenny Goins, and then depending on what happens to Tum Tum-back to where they were. It would be good to give Zel [Valentine] a little bit of a break because he's wearing himself out.
But the other thing that I was very pleased with was the 28 assists on 33 baskets were impressive. That means we are moving the ball and everything but sometime not making the right decisions.
On 56 rebounds…
Well the 39 in the second half I am proud of because they were shooting 43 percent in the first half, and they shot 36 for the game but I thought we gave them some shots. I wasn't disappointed in them and that they said that nobody was more disappointed than Denzel. I felt like I got Denzel all the way back today because he was on edge. They missed some shots in the second half but they still shot 32 percent and they still got a lot of shots so that is part of it. They didn't miss many free throws usually you get rebounds on free throws. I thought Schilling did a much better job second half and Matt Costello did. Denzel did not get as many rebounds but that is because our bigs are starting to rebound a little better
On four practice days before Indiana…
Yeah, we need time, we need time off and we will take tomorrow off. Its been a winding three weeks with four games in 10 days and injuries and this is the time for us to get time off and maybe get healthy and work on some things that we are weaker on. Then we have the stretch run because that's really what it comes down to now with the last seven or eight games.
On the assist to turnover ratio…
We got rebounds and kicked them out and got quite a few 3's on the break and we had a couple of plays with some really wide open shots so it we wanted to make sure the ball was swung, swung, swung. We had some open looks and that and I was pleased with that. You can't blame guys and Eron missed a couple wide open shots early and he has been shooting the ball really well, but what I was disappointed in his case was he has been the best defender and maybe our lockdown guy and once the shots didn't go in the other part kind of disappeared and that is unacceptable because we need a lockdown defender with Tum out.
On the next three game stretch…
Two of those three are on the road and since you've seen all over the country and you put it on these games like Iowa and Maryland are playing as well as they are and they have as many wins as they do, you really have to rely on a lot of people to catch a lot of people and my job right now is to make sure we get better every day and see where that takes us at the end of the year and the Big Ten tournament. I don't know what its going to represent, there are good teams on the road you gotta find a way to win some games on the road there is no question about that but you know right now I just want to get some time that we try to get that rotation even better and see if we can figure out how well we can guard some people. When you look at the two games coming up almost two opposite teams one has got mostly guards most of the time and one has four big men. That really should work to our advantage I mean that's the way we should be able to do it.
On Tum Tum playing against Michigan…
No clue, I have no idea. He did have the boot off today because today is the first day they allow him to walk on it and I didn't even know how that went. I don't even know if it was sore or not sore or what they think. Today and tomorrow he was scheduled to do something after about the two or two and a half weeks. Maybe by Tuesday or Wednesday we will see, the scary part for me is that if not I think it could be another three or four weeks.
On the team having so many injuries…
Other teams have injuries but ours I mean I talked to Eddie before the game when you have guys out for the year or for an extended period of time it's actually easier. It's worse in some ways but it's actually easier and I was thinking well I don't want to change this and the hard thing is when you change so many things to try and keep it with different players and that's what we do in our system, but every system is different too but there has been a little bit of a problem when the injuries and not understanding when a guys coming back or when you have no clue on Zel or no clue on Tum, we did have a clue on Marv and Kenny and Gavin. Some of those guys you know the time they needed to get better so now we are trying to do this during the year, you know it's still hard on them and hard on us. It's not as comforting to not know exactly what your depth is going to give you and I thought that the one thing that we have to learn is everybody when they come back from an injury like Gavin gets the ball at the free throw line and does a spin dribble and I don't know where that came from, I think it came from frustration and not being able to do anything and you are trying to get it all back at once. We have to find out a way to come back and be fast enough and keep the flow going and give the offense a chance and let's get a couple rebounds. I am not just looking at it as his offense isn't the same as it was but that is part of the growing process that we have to battle. It has been my most fun team to coach because I've got unbelievable guys I really do. They have done a great job in a lot of areas it has been one of the more frustrating because I feel like we are a step or two behind on a few things that I think we could be a little better at. But it is nice to see Denzel back and that's going to help us. Bryn and Eron have been playing better defense you know I think we got hacky today which is going to happen but there is no reason they can't shoot it and guard so we have to get better at that and our bigs they were pretty good rotation with the three but it's getting that one more guy in there now that can do something. I think Kenny, I think JB could have done some things because he can guard smaller people but we have to do a little better job than I think we did today.
On coaches vs. cancer…
I feel like I wear these shoes more than I wear my dress shoes. I am not sure I am in favor of that just so everybody knows. The thing with Lacey is that I give the NCAA a lot of credit and coaches vs. cancer society, they came to me this summer with the idea and the laces, Lacey's Laces. It has really been cool you know and we have players calling from all over and I just talked to AP (Adreian Payne) right before we wore them against Northwestern and I just think it's one of the neat things that we all do so some of you guys with boots, dress shoes get some laces and put them on and look like a dork like we do but I figure it's an incredible cause and its really been doing some neat things for other people but probably some day for you people.
Junior guard Alvin Ellis III
On the change in pace from the first half to the second half …
In the first half, we were a little lackadaisical and a little too casual. The coaches told us that we needed to bring it up a lot going into the second half. Zel [Denzel Valentine] was really on us, and when he leads us we need to follow, and that's what we did in the second half. In the second half, we tried to come out aggressive on defense and throw the first punch.
On the first half defensive lapses…
We were making a lot of shots and we kind of focused on just our offense. We can't do that especially as it gets closer to the tournament. We need to play on both ends.
On the confidence it gives the team moving forward after shooting so well …
It gives us a lot of confidence. We just we just need to keep that mindset that we need to play the full 40 minutes. We can't keep letting teams stay in the game.
Senior guard Bryn Forbes
On the change in intensity from the first to the second half…
In the first half, we made a lot of mistakes on the defensive end - giving up back doors and allowing small mental errors. But in the second half after Coach got on us a little bit, we picked it up, stepped up the focus and energy, and paid attention to the small things.
On the offensive output …
Offensively, it was pretty fun. I don't think we got it to the bigs enough, but overall offensively it was a pretty good game.
On the defensive pressure the Spartans applied in the second half …
The second half went pretty well on the defensive end. We picked it up and started doing these we were supposed to do at the beginning of the game. I'm just happy we picked it up.
Senior guard Denzel Valentine
On what this performance proved …
We showed that we when we compete, we can play as good as anyone in the country. We started off slow a little bit, but in the second half we picked up our defense and got that lead.
On the intensity in the second half …
We kind of got after it a little bit. We were competing and getting rebounds, getting in the gaps, getting to loose balls and we need to bring our energy if we want to compete like that on a daily basis.
On the amount of offensive rebounds…
Our bigs did a great job of competing, boxing out and doing a good job of holding down the paint. The guards did a good job of boxing out the perimeter guys, and we were able to get transition baskets.
Rutgers head coach Eddie Jordan
Opening Statement...
It's always a wonderful atmosphere being here as a coach, and I told my kids what to expect from the crowd. For the most part we did a good job staying organized and not getting distracted. To get into the flow of the game and to deal with our size, it wears us out a little more because we're small. Our kids battled and I saw a lot of box-outs from our guys. I mean, you have a 6-foot-9 guy who is thirty or forty pounds heavier who will get a rebound right over our box-out, so I am proud of our guys. I thought we could have stayed more organized offensively in a couple possessions, but that was the only thing I was really disappointed in. We had more faulty possessions offensively.
On Denzel Valentine...
I thought tonight we sort of bypassed him just a little bit, but from what I've seen he almost reminds me of Otto Porter from Georgetown a couple of years ago. He is one of those guys that does everything well. He is a good teammate, they rally around him, he's got a good head on his shoulders from the outside looking in and he just does everything pretty well.
On his team playing a lot of ranked opponents in the Big Ten...
We concentrate on us a lot because of where we are, under-manned and under-sized. We are creating different themes and schemes to play to sort of reinvent ourselves almost on a weekly basis. Mike Williams is an under-sized two-man and he's playing forward, Jonathan Laurent is a backup three and he's playing center, so we are trying to find ways to have our kids play together and have some rhythm. Every game is a tough game, non-conference games are tough games for us. We loved the atmosphere and we love the competition. We've got guys hopefully this time next year singing a different tune.
