Post Game Quote: Illinois
1/8/2016 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
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Head Coach Tom Izzo
Opening Statement…
Well, first things first, Denzel (Valentine) practiced last night pretty well and I thought maybe we were going to play him. In the walkthrough, he wasn't his bubbly self, so I made a Mateen Cleaves decision not to play him. He could have played, wanted to play, but he wasn't there yet. We need him back. In practice, it was just different having him in there, but it was a decision I made and at least the outcome was better. When I didn't play Cleeves we lost to Wright State, so I feel better about the outcome. I thought at times we played really well tonight. Eron Harris had his best half of basketball in the first half, doing a lot offensively. Defensively, he was so much better than he's been. We got the ball inside a little bit to (Matt) Costello and to (Gavin) Schilling and we did some good things in there. I thought Tum Tum (Nairn Jr.) ran our team well but we missed some good shots. Costello missed a ton of layups and cost himself a double-double, I think. He still is playing better each day. I thought our breakout guys - (Matt) McQuaid and Deyonta (Davis) - were better. At the end, (Deyonta) struggled a bit but he was better. Matt might have had one of his best games in a while as far as throwing great passes and running our team. He's still not looking for a shot enough but he's getting better. Remember Illinois is missing a good player, but of course so are we. We jumped on them early and that was the difference in the game.
On if something was said after the Minnesota game about players finding their roles…
I thought we took a couple of bad shots in the first half, but we played to what we do, to our roles. We have talked to our players about it. We explained do what you do, do what you do best, don't try and reinvent the wheel and do things that you don't do, because that's not going to get you more time. What I thought we did a little better at the start of the second half is that we moved the ball side-to-side. I did not think we did a very good job of that, too much dribbling, in the first half. When we started moving it side-to-side, those slips for Costello and curls, we got some good things. I said to my team, the guy that might be the hero is Colby (Wollenman). We put him in for four, five minutes in the first half and he did what Marvin (Clark Jr.) and Kenny (Goins) struggled to do, and that's how they guarded a guy and where to be. Just add another guy to the list. But Colby actually did some very good things too, played his role.
On being back home after 27 days and playing everyone in the game...
I think it's good because we've had two-a-days, we worked over the break. When you do that, it's nice when players can all feel like they were a part of something. Very true. I thought our guys did that. They all deserved to play, maybe a little more than they did. Twenty-seven days, that's unbelievable. I don't know how that happened. That's bad scheduling by me. That just happened with the Big Ten that we started off with two games on the road. That's nobody's fault, that's just the way it works out. I'm the one to be blamed going on the road here in the middle or end of December, that's crazy on my part. Being back home was good. I want to publicly thank the alumni group that came in. Almost 1,000 kids came back, some of them have been out of here for 20-years. Some of them brought their kids. I think that means I'm getting older, I'm not sure, but it's a little scary that the ones who were with me now have kids that are growing up. That was pretty cool too. I have great appreciate for that and that helped us.
On if having to play without Valentine may help other players and his team in the long run…
It might help other players, it might help our team in the long run. It sure as hell ain't helping me. Denzel Valentine's a special player. I've been saying that. Now that I've played without him for a while, he's just a special player that our guys love to play with. Last night, when he practiced, there was just a calmness about our team. Bryn (Forbes) is making more shots, Eron's making more plays, our post guys are doing better. We're rebounding the ball and running it, Costello doesn't have to have an outlet, he can just get it and go. I've learned a lot. When they say one player shouldn't make a difference, it probably shouldn't, but ours does. Thank god we'll get him back soon. I can't say I know exactly when. I'm going to stick to the same thing I've stuck with. He's been cleared medically. No problems there. I've got to get him cleared mentally, make sure he's in the proper state. Then I've got to have enough guts to play him because I'm not going to worry about one or two games when no championships are won in January. We're going to make sure for him and for us that he's healthy and I think that's going to be hopefully sooner rather than later.
On if Bryn Forbes' game is close to peaking…
You know, I don't think so. I didn't think Bryn had his best game. He can make shots, but he's been playing a lot better defensively and he's been rebounding better. Tonight he has one rebound and maybe wasn't as sharp defensively. He's been playing better defensively and tonight I didn't think I'd put it there. He can make shots. Eron Harris was a better defender and I'm going to be critical of Bryn because he's a very good player and he's got to become a great player. I think he has all the tools to. As he said to me, he was a little out of sync tonight and he brought that up to me. We've got to get that sync back in sync.
On if he's satisfied with Forbes' shot selection…
I think for the most part. I thought we got him some really good shots. I thought a couple of guys forced a few but when you're playing a game like this, you take 62 shots, I think for the most part we are. We aren't getting the ball inside and back out enough. When it goes in, it's not coming back out. All of the sudden we're averaging 13, 14 threes a game when we were averaging 20. Part of that is Valentine getting his six or seven but part of it is on the break, Valentine throws those cross-court and Bryn gets a lot there. But the little bit of it, when it goes in it's not coming out and when it's out it's not going back in. That's what we're really trying to get, some balance in there. I think the first half the ball went inside 11 times and we scored on nine of them, either on a kick-out or a basket. We've got to improve in that area to be honest with you.
On if Matt McQuaid' performance was about him being more aggressive…
Yeah, he even passed up a couple of shots tonight. He's one of the best shooters and he's passing up shots. But it's a lot to throw at the kid, he's been in a little mini-slump, hadn't scored a bucket in the Big Ten. I thought he took a giant step tonight in all honestly and hopefully he's going to continue to get better. He made some great passes, you really can start to see his basketball IQ is very high. We've got to take advantage of that a little more.
On if Denzel Valentine tried to talk him into playing tonight…
I love Denzel, but if Cleaves can't talk me into playing him…because I was afraid of Cleaves. I look at Denzel and I look at his future, I look at our future and I look at one game. It was a fairly easy decision. The only problem is you want him to come back sooner rather than later from the fact of having a seamless re-entry. The longer you're away, it breaks. We're getting into that area now where the next couple of games, if he can't come back by then, then the seams will start to show. He has been working. He's been running on a treadmill underwater, he's been biking, he's been doing a lot of good things. I just think it was a feel. I felt it right because he talked to me a little bit and I could tell. Last night he was talking me into it and today I could tell it wasn't feeling quite right. He's going to have a little soreness in it. He's going to have to learn how to deal with that. I can promise you this- medically right now, he's been cleared to go. Now it's a matter of how he practices tomorrow and the extra conditioning he gets in, so when he's ready to go, we're ready to go.
On if Valentine's absence has helped lift Harris' game…
I do think it's helped. I think it's helped Harris and maybe a little bit Matt Costello. Those guys have kind of raised their game up a little bit. We've got to get (Harris) more scoring if you ask me. Thirteen (points) was good, he got nine shots tonight but the only disappointing this is still keeping it under control. Four turnovers is illegal for a two-guard but the way he checked, especially in the first half, he might have guarded as well as he's guarded. I think we've definitely stepped up and upgraded in that area. If it's because Denzel is up and him getting more chances because he's maturing a bit and getting used to the system, but he's been good. He wants to be great and he kind of understands what he's not doing as well. He's starting to rebound a little better in practice, you'd like to get that up a little bit because he's such a great athlete. He had to guard (Malcolm) Hill and Hill's a lot more physical, he did a pretty good job on him. But as I said, remember now, Illinois is missing a very good guard so I wouldn't look at this game that we dominated them. We played good, they were injured, and that combination wasn't good. But I thought (Illinois coach John Groce) has done a pretty good job with that team because he's had some other injuries. I appreciate it, we've got work cut out (for us). Penn State is a funny team too, they had a big win at home. They could have, should have beat Maryland then they got blown out in Ann Arbor, so like everybody else in this league, it's been a little topsy-turvy.
Senior Guard Bryn Forbes
On the variety of players that made contributions…
Absolutely, I mean Matt Costello played well. Eron Harris played well, Tum Tum [Nairn Jr.] played well. Everybody played well today. It was just nice to see that with Denzel [Valentine] out we were able to get a little more from everybody.
On the team's overall performance …
After about the first five minutes we really started to get things rolling - things started going our way. I think we could have played better, but still played pretty well. It's just nice to know that we're coming out of this game on a good note instead of not playing our best.
On the defensive effort tonight …
We guarded the perimeter pretty well tonight. We guarded the inside really well, we just stuck to our assignments, and we just executed on the defensive end. We knew what we had to do and we executed.
On the challenge Penn State will present on Saturday…
I haven't got to see a whole lot of Penn State yet, but I heard they were in a close game with Maryland and could have won that game. I heard they had a big win against Minnesota and also played tough in some other games, so it's going to be another tough one.
Freshman Guard Matt McQuaid
On the way the team got out in transition early…
We got our running game going and were getting out in transition and moved the ball real well. The wings were running and it opened up a lot of stuff. Offensively we moved the ball real well and got great ball movement and it paid off.
On the large margin of victory …
It feels good. We still have room for improvement, but it's definitely a good next step up to where we want to be.
On the upcoming road game against Penn State…
Penn State played Maryland close, and it's going to be a tough road game for us. We need to be ready to play.
