No. 13 Michigan State vs. Mississippi Valley State Quotes
11/18/2016 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
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Head coach Tom Izzo
Opening statement...
I think I understand why Jim Boeheim got in the Hall of Fame a lot earlier than I did. He's much smarter than I am. I think we needed a game where we could get out and run, and makes shots. Confidence is important, but we made some shots. We went into the game saying we're not going to turn the ball over. We need to do a better job of not taking as many threes. We're going do a better job of moving the basketball, we're going do a better job on our fast break. There's not many times in my era here that I put 80 percent of our emphasis on the offensive side of the ball.
And then I said we're going to offensive rebound better. Well, we took more three's than we've taken all year, but they were within, other than the first five, they were within confines of the offense or the break and hey were more inside-out passes. I thought the first five we took were awful. They were open, but they weren't inside out. Once we started doing that, Miles started hitting some guys. When you get three guys with 11, seven and six assists, it's phenomenal.
I thought Nick Ward played a lot better. Eight must be his number, with eight rebounds, and 18 points and 18 minutes. I'd fly to Vegas if I was him tonight.
I just felt in general, we shot better. In the second half, we didn't play as good. Miles kind of took a little time off in my mind. And I told him, that's where he's kind of go to get better. But that first half performance was as good as any I've seen here in a long time for a half. It's kind of like Denzel's in Chicago last year, Miles did it for a half. We just did some phenomenal things. So, it was a step in the right direction. Nobody is looking at this as we beat a team we should beat. I think after not scoring many points in the first seven or eight minutes, to score 100 you have to have an incredible last thirty two minutes. And the game is going to get much tougher on Sunday night with dunk city coming in here. A very well coached team, and a very good team.
On Miles' performance...
Well, the right hand jump hook, the dunk, the couple of passes he made, I thought were phenomenal. I didn't think he forced anything. That's the efficiency he's gotta have. 14 shots? And to be that efficient. I thought he let the game come to him. And the second half, I thought he almost let it come to him too much. But, it's really fun to coach a guy who is so unselfish and got more excited jumping higher on a couple of his assists than a couple of his baskets. Other than the dunk, I think he likes that.
On Magic Johnson being a Miles fan, and what he thinks of how amazing Miles can be and if he thinks he can be the next Magic...
You know, that was fun. We were giving a pre-game talk, and Ervin walked in. We don't like Ervin around here, we love him. I mean, he's done so much for me. But, he still has the same passion for the program and the players in it. He still keeps up on it the same way. He knew every play against Arizona and he knew every play against Kentucky. You know, he did come in and speak a little bit. I think the young guys really appreciated it, but not as much as I did. He didn't have to do those things. He didn't have to get there early. He doesn't have to go through the things he goes through. I'm sure he'll come to our practice. He's going to be here a couple days and he'll be good to talk to some of those guys.
But Miles, is a great player. He's just got to keep working. I say that not with tongue in cheek either. I say that because when he drifted off, he became more of a normal human being at the start of the second half. I like him abnormal, personally. And that's what I told him at the end, we just gotta keep that fire. But he was never lazy, maybe the competitiveness, the want to win games, is there. But the competitiveness, the want to score or rebound, make assists, be aggressive, I thought dropped off a little bit in the second half. But maybe I'm asking too much, but that eight-minute stretch was remarkable to say the least.
On Matt McQuaid and Aaron Harris getting their rhythm...
Well, because we ran better. We didn't run very well. And it wasn't, when you look at shooting like that, you say, well you're playing Mississippi Valley instead of Kentucky. We had the same shots. It's about having the confidence to make them. When you have the confidence to make them, you hit a few. That's the problem we have with our schedule this year. Young guys and everyone is coming at them - you're not going to get a breather. I think tonight, after the first five minutes, and Lou [Lourawls Narin Jr.] put a lot of pressure on our guys. We're going to get the ball inside, we're going to get it out, we did a much better job. We still took too many threes, but like I said, all but four or five of them were in what we wanted to do. We offensive rebounded pretty well. We only got 12, but there aren't many misses when you shoot 66 percent. Still a little shakey from the line, and didn't get there as much. I think that was more the way the game went than what we weren't doing.
On using a 3-point offense…
I am not looking. I would rather get those threes down to 20 instead of 26 a game now. So, I am not looking for that at all. I'm really looking to get the ball to Miles inside a little more. They went zone and they packed it in and we had to do what we had to do. If we can get them off the break, if we can get them inside-out, I guess I don't care how many they shoot. If we're just getting them with the ball moving around the perimeter, I do care how many we shoot. I want them to hunt threes and I don't think they hunted threes. To take 28, and I don't think many of them were hunted, I thought we missed some good ones early, which bothered me because I said we were going inside and getting it back out and they didn't do that so I called a couple timeouts to straighten it out.
On the free throw shooting…
Well, this one doesn't concern me as much, but the other two games really did. The only reason I say that is because they played zone like two-thirds of that game and they gave us outside shots. It just wasn't as much, but we're still not getting it in and getting it out as much. As good as Nick [Ward] played when it goes in there, he's got to get it out. We have to get it into Miles a little bit more and Kenny [Goins] was nonexistent tonight and I don't know why. He just did not seem with it, which is really odd because he's usually about as steady as any guy I've got, but tonight wasn't that night. They didn't do quite as good of a job in those areas, but I am not concerned considering the game and how it went. I have been concerned about turnovers and free throws in general and still, too many threes, so we'll look at that and see how we can improve it. The team is improving,.Nick is getting better. Josh [Langford] is still, as you can see, he's dragging that leg and that's a problem right now, but we're playing a little bit with Tum [Nairn Jr.] and Cassius [Winston] both in there and I think they're going to see a little more of that too at times.
On playing the four freshman together…
I do. I think they could be playing a lot more together. We just need a full Josh because he's the best defender in that group by far and Miles is a pretty good defender and a couple guys that aren't as good of defenders, but we're making some improvements. Without Josh being full go right now, it makes it a little more difficult, but I think you'll see those four freshmen in there more than a little, yes.
On using timeouts…
I think I'm going to have to, this will be a stupid statement I guess, but coach a lot harder every play. We're just not smooth yet and why would we be? So many new bodies in there, not just the freshman. So many people in the different positions they weren't in before. If there's one thing I want my point guards to do a little more is that they have to get after it a little more if guys are in the wrong position. A couple times that didn't happen. A couple times we had come out and said how we were going to guard someone and they didn't guard him. I just decided I'm not going to let that go now, so we unfortunately subbed a little bit more than I wanted to as far as in and out, in and out, in and out. We took some timeouts, but in a game like this, for me, the bad habits have to change and if you looked at the game film of those two games we lost, one of them, I'm going to be upset about all year because I think we should have won in my opinion. The other one should have never been the game it was. The players know that and the coaches know that, but it's my job. It's my fault. I'm the one that has to be held accountable and I'm going to hold them accountable if I have to use all of my timeouts in a half. That's just the way this year is going to be. There's going to be a lot more. If we are way ahead or if we are down 20, there might be some timeouts like that. We're going to have to keep improving every day. I told my staff that they better plan on coaching every second of every day â€" it's going to be like putting cologne on in the morning â€" every day. Take your vitamins every day. Every day. Every day. That's what we're going to do.
On Josh Langford's hamstring…
You know, I wasn't worried about it, but I am getting concerned about it because we gave him a lot of time off for a normal hamstring. You are right, it could be a fickle thing. Is it just me or can anyone else see him dragging that thing? We are going to do some checking tonight and because when he's at full-go like he was for a few of those practices, he's very effective. He's a great defender and a good rebounder and can run the lane. He can make some good passes. He got sloppy tonight, it just seems like he's not there yet. There's no question about it. So that's what the medical people are going to have to decide along with Josh and along with me.
On pumping his fist for Eron Harris…
Believe it or not, the pump of the fist was half for Eron and half for the fact that we actually moved the ball from there because you guys that weren't at the first two games never saw that. It was yesterday's practice, it was hammer. Today's shoot around, it was hammer. We've got to do a better job of that and it's going to be a lot of slippage because there's a lot of bad habits on that. We had a lot of guys standing around, especially the young guys that are used to having the ball in their hands all of the time. We have to keep that thing moving. We took a step in the right direction. We did not conquer Rome or anything, but we took a step in the right direction there.
On this game as a confidence boost…
I think it was important. I tell my players what you have to do is use this as a life lesson and not just a basketball lesson. You're going to get knocked down a lot of times in your life, and how you respond to that. How do you respond to getting embarrassed? I don't mean getting embarrassed because Kentucky was a better team than us, but we did not play Spartan basketball, and that's embarrassing to the program. Maybe that's why Miles played so good. I know Marquise [Gray] and Antonio [Smith] were coming tonight, they called and Draymond [Green] and Mateen [Cleaves] called and then when Magic [Johnson] showed up, I just looked at Miles and said, ‘I can be mad at you and it's not big deal, but if you embarrass the Flintstones, those guys fight you.' I don't know if that's why he played better, but I'm going to use that hammer a little more.
On the team's ability to move the ball…
33 assists is a lot of assists, but on 39 baskets is even more incredible and we do deserve some credit for that and I though Cassius with 11 and Miles gets his first double-double. Those are all good things and I don't think anyone should get enamoured over who we beat. We're supposed to beat them. You still have to make shots and as we learned, we had open shots against the other two teams that we didn't make, so I think confidence, as you said, getting in the flow of things, getting their fast break going a little more. I'm encouraged by the step we took. We are a long way from a team that's going to have to be really good in the next three or four weeks and moving forward. We have a long way to go yet, but I think the players know it too and I think they could tell in practice yesterday and that was very encouraging.
On Nick Ward's effort level….
I said of all of our players right now, Nick Ward has made the most progress. If you look at weight and if you look at where he was at the start, if you look at what he's improved on, if you look at how he runs the court. Nick has made some incredible strides. Nick makes me sleep with one eye open once in a while because he still does some things that he's not in the right spot or this or that, but the progress he's making has been incredible. I'm really proud of where he is.
I appreciate it, hopefully we'll make some progress here and it will be a different game on Sunday night with only another one day prep, we are kind of challenging ourselves and how we'll be in the tournament next weekend when we play three games in three days. Hopefully guys will understand that at tournament time. Tomorrow we will be back at it at 9 o'clock and hopefully we will be prepared.
Mississippi Valley State Head Coach Andre Payne
On his thoughts about the game…
I thought we came out ready to play. I thought my guys were prepared. And then we slipped for about three minutes. You can't do that. When they have that much talent, more talent than you have, you cannot slip. You have to play consistently. And that's what happened. At about that 7-minute mark in the first half, the players started doing things their way instead of going with the game. And for a while, we couldn't control the pace of the game.
On Michigan State…
Unfortunately our guys were hard-headed to be honest with you. They decided they were going to do what they wanted to do instead of sticking with the game. We had some bad decisions and our guys made some bad plays. When you're on the road this much and you're playing against major teams, you cannot afford to make two or three mistakes because they will make you pay. They can make two or three mistakes and we may recapitalize for more time. So that's what I'm trying to get these guys to understand. When you have a lot of high school and transfers from junior college, we may have dominated those decent players where they come from, they don't understand we are playing high, major teams. They will make you pay for the errors that you make.
On Miles Bridges…
I think he did an outstanding job [in the first half]. I think he put fear in our guys. Once they decided that they were not good enough to play against him, once he smelled that fear, he actually played about three years older than what he actually is because he smelled that fear and went into attack mode.
Michigan State sophomore guard Matt McQuaid
On what helped them to move past the slow start…
Yeah, we had a slow start, but then we got our offense going. We were moving the ball, everybody was sharing it, everyone is getting a touch. We were going inside-out and that got us open shots outside and easier shots. And that's what we practice all week.
On most baskets coming off of assists…
It definitely helps when we get assists on shots instead of people just going one-on-one and trying to make plays. When your teammate gives you passes, it's a good feeling because that means that they believe in you to make that shot. Tonight we got great passes - I got really great passes on all of my shots and that's the reason I made the shots. My teammates, we did a great job of that.
On the unselfish nature of this team…
This week in practice we were really stressing moving the ball, passing and cutting with a purpose and it just opened up a lot of things for us. We were going inside-out, getting into the lane, penetrating, and just finding people open. We were getting our toes on the three point line, close up there, and it just got us into a rhythm and we were working from there.
On the short turnaround before the next game…
We have Florida Gulf Coast coming up - they're a really good team. We have to do a lot of preparation going into that to be ready for them on Sunday.
Michigan State senior guard Eron Harris
On getting the offense back on track…
We're feeling good right now and I'm happy to be back on the winning side. We're ready to go into the next game. We're feeling good right now. We need to get back-to-back wins so we can go into the Bahamas feeling good. Everything happened for us tonight, but we still can improve. We still need to play better defense, we need to rebound the ball, and we need to take care of the ball a little better, too.
On the early steal and score by Winston, and how that got the team going…
Those types of plays, they spark us. When you have a defensive play like that, we get energy from those types of plays. We go down and we score a layup. I was just so happy to play back in the Breslin - we felt that energy. I've been here for almost three years and I hadn't felt that Breslin energy like I did tonight in a long time. I'm so ready for the season to pick up and have some fun this year.
On the importance of games like this to get your confidence going…
It's so important, it changes the energy. Everyone's energy is just up and we need that confidence. What's in the past is in the past and we have a huge future to come. We're confident in our future and we're excited.
On the short turnaround before the next game…
We have to get some rest tonight. We come in and have a long day tomorrow. We have to get to practice, watch a little film. We have to get a win on sunday.
Michigan State freshman guard/forward Miles Bridges
On being back in front of the home crowd…
I was really excited. I kind of had some butterflies going on. The exhibition games I wasn't really worried about, but this was the first real game, so I had a little butterflies. My mom was there, Magic Johnson was there, so I just wanted to bounce back and have a good game.
On what allowed them to be so successful tonight…
We had a lot of turnovers against Kentucky and Arizona and that really was what lost us those games. We just wanted to limit the turnovers, get in transition - we don't want to slow it down - and we want to rebound and get going.
On what the game plan was going in…
At the end of the first half, we just wanted to get the lead up to over 20 - get it to 30. Coach Izzo just told us to keep going, going, and going until we were tired, so that's what we did.
On the unselfish nature of the team…
I really wanted to get Matt McQuaid and Eron Harris going, because they've been in a shooting slump. Once I got the ball, I penetrated and kicked every time because I knew they would collapse on me. That's what I learned from the two losses, that people are going to collapse on me. So, I just wanted to get our shooters going.
On what a game like this does for the team going forward…
It helps our confidence, especially the three-point shooters. It helps us to play together and just to get a win under our belt feels good.
On the short turnaround before the next game…
We just have to put this one behind us and stay focused. We're going to film at 9 AM, so we'll get some sleep tonight, forget about this game, and it's on to the next one.
