Post Game Quotes: Tennessee Tech
12/10/2016 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
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Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo
Opening Statement…
Well, I probably should feel better than I feel right now because we got a win with probably in my career the most bizarre line-ups I've ever played. Some of it was my fault; some of it was guys not using their heads. Ninety percent of that game, we played very good defensively. In the first half I thought we were phenomenal. Everybody had hands up stopping the penetration. What happens to this team is that I don't know if they can't stand prosperity, or we're just worn down a little bit. When Nick (Ward) and Kenny (Goins), especially Kenny, get foolish fouls like that, all of a sudden we are putting guards in after four and we just haven't done that, we couldn't run anything. Every time we take a couple steps forward, we take a couple steps back. We were shooting over 60 percent until the end of that game. We were 2-for-14 in the last 14 shots we took, so then you end up shooting 47 percent. Free throw shooting, we brought them in in the morning; we brought them in at night. Believe it or not, if I showed you all how they were shooting, Eron Harris makes 90 out of 100, 95 out of 100 and he goes up there and misses two. It's sure not his fault, just the way things were going. That is a pretty good basketball team that is hard to cover, but more importantly they play 11 guys, 10 guys, and they just take you out of things defensively. They're a very athletic team. When we had those strange line-ups in there, we did not run stuff very efficiently. I'm going to have to do a lot more work with that. I thought the number of minutes, I don't know what Nick and Kenny played between them, couldn't have been 20 minutes, and that is not very healthy for a team that is short on bigs. I laughed before the game, I was looking at the bench and I'm sitting with (Matt) McQuaid, Miles (Bridges), Ben (Carter), and Gavin (Schilling) and I said to the assistant, Dwayne Stephens, 'All four of those guys would have probably started.' So we are having trouble maybe staying consistent. We are having trouble with our depth, but there were moments in that game when I thought we played. We challenged them at half time. I thought (Kyle) Ahrens played a lot better. Tum was unbelievable with the defensive job he did. Eron made some really good plays. We went to him early and made some other plays that aren't quite as good. But it's hard when you are playing with a bunch of guys that you've never played with, so it's been a little difficult. I don't think we beat just a bad team. They're a good basketball team that plays hard and is very well-coached and we have to get better.
On Kyle Ahrens…
If this was hockey, I would give him the three stars or whatever the hell they give. I think I would have given one to him. I don't know if that's a big compliment because there aren't any big stars right now, but I thought he improved a lot and I thought he played harder and more aggressive. He went after rebounds, was thrown on the floor, and did the little things you have to do. Part of it is sustaining. We were up I think 16 and in three minutes we had four turnovers. Just foolish, knocks it out of Cassius's hands, throws it to somebody, just foolish turnovers. It was not great defensive plays, but poor offensive plays. We missed a couple of wide open shots; we missed a couple of free throws. If we hit some of those free throws at that point down the stretch, we hit more but what were we at halftime, I think 3-for-8. One time we were 3-for-13 or something. I don't know how many of those were front ends, but that's got to change the game. If you get up 17, 18, 19 and the crowd gets in the game. I appreciated the crowd because they tried to be in it. We almost didn't let them.
On the point guards…
Well we have two different kinds of point guards. We have one that can score and is a great passer, and we have one that can defend anybody and push it from one end to the other. I've been really happy with Cassius's progress. Even though his stats are better, I wouldn't say today. He's got to get a little more focused, and I'm sure there are coaches all over the country feeling the same way about their freshmen. This gets to be a tough time, too. It's finals week, there's all this stuff going on. It's been solid, he's been really good the last two games. His defense first half, I thought was phenomenal. It's making me think. What I'm trying to figure out is do they know it's a choice to do this? It's a choice to do this. Playing hard is a choice, it's not a skill. Although I've heard some NFL and NBA guys say it is a skill and we should be recruiting to playing hard, but it's a decision you make. You need to look inside yourself. I just thought that sometimes we were down. But our point guard play is not the problem; it's inside. It's getting Nick on goofy fouls, it's getting Kenny on, and well maybe Kenny needs to get off of the bench. We are going to see that, but we can't afford to get Nick in foul trouble either. Trust me when I say this, if I looked frustrated I probably was. I was juggling some things, this is new territory for me, and we beat a decent team. We are going to try to move forward from it. There were some line-ups in there tonight that in my dreams I didn't have and in my nightmares I didn't have. It's not the players' fault. It's just what we had to do. I have no idea how you felt it was officiated or anything, I mean we made some dumb fouls so I had no problem with that. I didn't realize there were 50 of them. But more teams are doing this drive the ball, drive the ball, drive the ball. I guess we think that that's good basketball, but I don't. I've struggled with that for the last two years. This hands-off policy is just teaching people to come up with something to do. So they both were pretty good. In the first half, we did a phenomenal job.
On getting to the free throw line…
We didn't get there much first half, 3-of-8, 2-of-8 I think we were. We didn't get there enough, but we didn't have Nick or Kenny in the game half of the time. So that's one place we get it and in the end of the game they really pressed up on us. They did a good job; I'm giving them credit. They pressed up because we had no thread inside. It's nobody's fault, it's just the cards that were there right now. We are just going to have to keep trying to get those guys better. But I thought the pressure bothered us and I was surprised by that. McQuaid going out kind of hurt, some guys were going in for a few more minutes.
On sustaining momentum for the next game eight days away…
I hope Northeastern is not for another 28 days. We need practice. But we can't practice all the time because we've got finals. Tomorrow, we've got tutors all day. We are going to try to sneak some early mornings and late nights, but we miss so much school that we are on finals mode. So we have a lot of guys honing in on their finals, and so I think we are going to try to do more individual work. To be honest with you, there won't be as much team work because you just can't get everyone together at the right time. You've got too many guys that have finals on this day, finals on that day, and they have a change from their normal classes. We are trying to work around that, we will work around that and it'll be good to get some practice time in whether it is individual or team. We will try to get in what we can get in, but it's just been one of those strange years where you come back and it's one-day prep, one-day prep, and we are going through Christmas. Sad part is, that I have to bring my guys back Christmas Eve so there won't be a lot of time this year because we start on the 27th. It's just been a different year. One that I will put in the back of that beacon here and see if there will be new experiences that I'm going to have to go through again.
On having Eron Harris take more outside shots…
We went to him. We ran some things for him. It was great. It's not what Eron wants to do on the floor, but that's okay. Some of those shots got blocked and we have to come off of those picks. Eron played okay. Stat-wise he was pretty good. Defensively he was pretty good. He didn't turn the ball over too much. It wasn't like he took a ton of shots. 6-14 and 5-11 from the three. I thought early, I mean I told Gregory Kelser on the phone this morning that we are going to go to Eron the first three or four plays and he answered the bell. That was encouraging. We took some steps. Again, if I looked at Duke and I looked at Arizona and I looked at Kentucky. If I looked at the teams in the tournament down in the Bahamas, we played a lot of good minutes, but when we go south, we go really south. That's what we have to correct. You can have a drought, but it can't be eight minutes. You can have a turnover, but it can't be five of them in a short period of time. You can miss a layup or a free throw, but it can't be a bunch of them. There are periods, which is part of the youth, partly inexperienced guys and partly bad coaching. I'm going to try to improve the part that's mine and I'm going to hope that we can improve the parts that are theirs.
On Matt McQuaid's head injury…
You know concussion protocol. Back in my day I probably would have been out for my high school and college career if they did it like they do now. There are just so many different things now. If you're asking me where he's at, go right to the medical people. Ask them. I'll demand that they tell you because I have no idea. I know this, they thought his eye socket might have been cracked or a little break, but there was none of that. He was pretty good today, he shot around a little bit. They have these tests, somebody at Harvard puts together these tests, so they have those and then they have the eye test and then they have the "how I feel" test. A lot of concussions, when guys do activities, I think that's the only test if they don't feel good when they're doing them. I can promise you one thing, of all of the injuries that take place, the one I touch the least is that one. That is totally in the hands of our medical people. I would be shocked if he was wasn't ready to go early next week. I don't think it was a concussion, I don't think in any way, but I don't know that. It's definitely the one time I'm glad I'm not a doctor. I just do that they tell me.
On Miles Bridges' ankle…
Miles, you saw him, he is still in the boot and is getting a little more pain free now, so that's a great sign, but I just have to make sure those guys don't sit next to me on the bench anymore. When it gets to be four of them it looks like we have more guys on the bench. At least if I put them in suits maybe people would think they are assistant coaches. Maybe I'll do that.
On the officiating today…
I'll be honest with you, money doesn't really matter to me anymore so if I thought they were bad I would say something. I didn't think they were bad. Nick [Ward] and Kenny [Goins] put themselves in positions that my wife could have called out some of those fouls. An offense that you drive to get fouled, I don't like that. Everybody is smarter than I am because everyone is adhering to the new way we are calling it, but I can't complain about any of those calls inside today. I think I complained less today than any day I've been here and we have the most fouls we've ever had.
I think it is frustrating for you, those that are Michigan State writers, but don't underestimate that team or anyone from [Tennessee Tech]. It is a very well-coached team and they did a nice job. They battled back. A couple times we have a KO punch. You get to 18 twice and you get up to 20 and usually it can end up 30 and they didn't let that happen. I have a lot of respect for them. I told the coach that and I told the players that. We did have minutes and we did have some guys step up. We need to get everyone together on the same page. The free throw thing will get straightened out or I am going to get fined. The 20-hour rule will be 20 hours just on free throws and then there will be practice. Write the NCAA and tell them that I am getting fined because we are going to be shooting some free throws now one way or another. I don't know what to say about it. Some of those guys are good free throw shooters. We know Nick isn't. He was 2-5, a little below his norm. We had some other guys miss some. Eron missed some that he normally doesn't and we had a lot of guys just miss one of two. 17-30 isn't good. It's when they happen, I think you have to realize. When you're on a run and they happen and 18-point leads can be 20 and it's a difference in the game. So we'll get better. We're getting better and we're getting consistently better and that's what I am looking for - better consistency.
Tennessee Tech Head Coach Steve Payne
Opening Statement...
I feel like we did the things to put us in a position to at least be competitive and when you play competitively you give yourself opportunities to make plays to win the game. When it's close, you have to do those things. Credit to them. They're always under control. They always get the shot they want, and they always are able to make a push, like Eron Harris did. I have to give credit to our guys. I felt like this was a step forward for us.
On fouls…
It obviously took (Mason) Ramsey off the floor for us. He's our only low post scorer even though he is a little undersized. He gets to the line, and he's got good hands. That hurts us offensively because we need to finish at the rim and he's our best offensive power. He gets rebounds. He's a good big, a really good low post scorer. It hurt us that he got into foul trouble, but we have 12 dudes who all think they should be playing 40 minutes a game. So, it's creates an opportunity for guys to play. We're still figuring out our rotation. We have a lot of new guys and the guys that are back are in new roles. We had a guy ineligible for this game who transferred to us last year. Did it mess us up? Not really. We're still figuring out who we are. Hopefully, we're not playing 12 guys when conference play starts, but I don't mind it now. There are some guys who practice hard, and I expect them to be able to play when the time comes. Fouls happen. We told our guys at halftime, 'I don't care how many lane screens they call. If you screen the way we teach you and you're physical, you're fine. How many box-out fouls did they call? If you take a guy out and you block him the way we teach you, and you're being physical, you're fine. Don't worry about that, those are things we'll take.' We're trying to be more physical, but if you don't stand up for yourself a little in that game, they'll run over you.
On trying to play inside…
That's who we are. They don't have as much size, but they're still some big, strong dudes in there and some good players. But, that's just who we are. We try to play inside-out. We have four ways that we try to win and one of those is inside-out on both ends of the floor. We try to develop low post scoring and try to get to the free throw line. We need to get to the free throw line more. That wasn't them, that's just who we are.
It's always a great place to come play. It's a great atmosphere. Everybody treats you so wonderful up here. This is my third time playing here now. I'd like to win one of them eventually, but it's a great place to come and play some college basketball.
Michigan State redshirt senior guard Eron Harris
On the good start …
We just came in really focused. We knew we needed to get these wins. We came in and said that we needed to put our foot on their throat. We do have to do a better job sustaining that throughout the full 40 minutes, but we came out executing and playing well.
On their defensive effort …
Defense is the most important thing on the floor. We prepared all week for them and I think coach did a great job of preparing us. Once we get on the floor, we just have to do a better job of executing that plan throughout the whole game.
On the team's free throw struggles …
It's just another focus thing. I don't think it's an issue of anyone getting in their head or anything. Make it simple, make our free throws.
On finals week …
It's very important, we're here for school, first. School first, then basketball. School enables us to play. Finals week is always very important. Take a break and study - get that work done.
Michigan State sophomore guard/forward Kyle Ahrens
On getting the win …
All wins are important. We should have come out and completely blown this game out, but a win is a win. We just a have to keep building one game at a time.
On what allowed for the quick start …
The energy. Everybody was jumping, reach-stepping on defense, and taking charges. Everyone was passing the ball, having a great time, smacking the floor - it just eventually went a little downhill and things started to crumble.
On what needs to happen to sustain these good starts through the whole game …
We need to keep that energy up, that's the main thing. Diving all over the floor, having your teammates back when they make a mistake, it's a group effort.
On shutting down their star …
Eron (Harris) was guarding him for a bit, JL (Josh Langford), too. They all did a great job holding him to not being able to shoot the ball like he can. He made a few here and there, but they didn't give him any ready-set-shoot shots, so, they did a great job.
On his new role with this team …
Bring the energy. I'm not really used to that, because in high school I did bring some energy, but not like I can here. I just love bringing energy to the guys, and getting them all pumped up when they make a big play, or someone like Nick (Ward) gets an and-one. Go up and pound his chest or something. That's why I play, I love getting them all hyped up like that.
On finals week …
It's hard. We were gone all over November, pretty much. We missed like nine class days, so we had make-up exams that we made up just last week, and now we have finals, so we have to study for almost the whole semester. It's hard, but you just have to do it.
Michigan State freshman guard Cassius Winston
On the quick start …
We came out with a lot of energy and focus. We were making big time plays. Then we got that lead, and at some point we lost that focus and consistency that we had, and after that, we went into a battle. We never got to the point where we were concerned about losing the game, but we weren't playing as well as we should have been.
On working to reach their potential …
We have spurts where we will go up 18 on a team that's actually pretty decent. So you can see that we have the potential to get those leads and make those types of plays, we just need to work on holding them, and holding each other accountable.
On the biggest lesson that he has learned so far this year …
Play at a high level. Play with a high level of energy, a high level of intensity, and a high level of passion. You have to play with that at all times. You can't take any plays off or take any days off, because everyone can play. If you take a play off, somebody is going to beat you off the dribble, or something like that. You have to bring it every play.
On the upcoming Big Ten season …
The Big Ten is probably one of the hardest conferences to play in. They play hard night-in and night-out. If we're not consistently playing at maximum effort, we're going to end up not doing too well in the Big Ten. We have to do everything we can to play our hardest and come out with big victories.
On finals week …
Lots of tutoring sessions, a lot of study guides, and just getting ready. Finals are hard and it's a lot of information, but they take care of us, and we're going to make it happen.
