Post Game Quotes: Northwestern
12/30/2016 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
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Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo
Opening statement…
Wow. We have been in two wars. Strange games. I thought we battled and I am proud of my team. I thought defensively we were pretty good most of the night and offensively we played so good the first half and so poor the second half. I think Northwestern deserves some credit for that. I love his team. I think they have two of the best wing combinations in the Big Ten and on. Our players thought that [Matt] McQuaid would have been our hockey three-star guy, and he shot awful and wasn't very good, but he was good defensively and when he was in the game. [Scottie] Lindsey didn't do much and that kid is a good player. You know, we are getting some on and yet, we make some goofy turnovers and not understanding time and possession and a couple turnovers that I don't know why we are doing it. It's part of the youth. I thought Nick [Ward] got awfully frustrated because they beat the hell out of him and he did a good job. I mean that in a positive way. They doubled him and he got frustrated and to his credit he settled down in the second half, even though he didn't score as much and we didn't get him as many shots, but he still did a pretty good job. He did a pretty good job defensively, a pretty good job rebounding the ball, but we have a lot of growing up to do yet. That's the way it is going to be right now. They said we are playing a lot of good minutes of basketball, but it seems like when we don't play good minutes, it drops off to poor. It is not good or great minutes, there were some great minutes and then it maybe goes to average. Ours kind of go from great to awful and that's where those leads change so fast. I have to do a better job maybe getting some things offensively set. Again, we had some bizarre lineups in there and that's the way it's going to be, but trust me when I say this, this was a big win for us against a very good team that is very disciplined and experienced and very well coached. I'm taking the win and will enjoy it for a couple hours.
On Nick Ward's minutes…
You know, I wanted him to play a little more but he got frustrated and we got frustrated with him a little bit. It is going to happen with freshmen. Like I said, I like when guys more respond. DJ [Dwayne Stephens] let him know what he thought of what he was doing and he responded and that is a big positive. Cassius [Winston], time of possession under four minutes, taking a chance and we put him right back in, so we are trying to get to know them and they need to continue to trust us. Alvin [Ellis III] is playing good. We still have to get more out of McQuaid, we still need to get more out of [Eron] Harris and maybe we will start working in our other guy now in practice and see if we can get him going a little bit and that would help too.
On seeing more toughness…
We are getting a little tougher. We battled in there and out-rebounded them bad. It is mostly because our defense was so good. We didn't give up a lot of penetration until late. We are trying to figure out when to switch and when not to switch certain lineups in there. I told my staff with about three minutes left that it is hard to be comfortable at any time with this group right now, but it is not all their fault. There are times where we have lineups in there that probably shouldn't be in there. Yet, we talked about that in the timeouts - we have to get stops because our offense isn't going as good so we have to get stops. We'll do a better job getting the ball to Nick. We need Nick and we have to find a way to get McQuaid and Harris involved and that will be my job more so than theirs.
On the defense this game…
Yeah I think it was and it was interesting to hear my players, when I got into the locker room, that's what they were talking about. For players, when the coaches aren't around to talk about defense is un-American. That's what they were doing and that's when they said something about McQuaid and it made me feel good. We still make some bone-headed plays now. I mean, there are some head-scratchers once in a while, but for the most part we are playing over it, we are getting through it and we're growing up a little bit. I can't tell you and I'm not trying to make this look like we beat the Celtics, but that's a good team we beat and they are experienced and came in very confident. Maybe, maybe, I said these last two games, Thomas Kelly said to me, 'Coach, these are old Big Ten games.' They are physical, grinding and our fast break was electric I thought at times. I thought what was best of all was our crowd. Those guys that came back, however many hundreds and hundreds of them that came back from all over the country was impressive. Our community rallied around these guys without any students here and that was impressive. That place was live and I've always said, you know, we are not that good of a team to win without. You have to have the home court. You have to have guys doing their job. Today we had a lot of things come together except our offense in the second half. In the first half, it was dynamite. We just have to get better.
On Alvin Ellis' toughness…
Well I am very pleased. You know, a senior should do that, but that is what you look for. At the same time, I saw Nick have a big game and then get frustrated and that took some away and that's what a freshman should do. Alvin, we made him earn his way back, and to his credit, he has. It is helping us and I think it is helping him. That's the beauty of college. That's the neat thing about the process of growing up. You always want to speed it up and sometimes it goes a little slower in life and sometimes it goes fast. I am happy for Alvin and I am happy for us that he's been a big part of our resurgence here.
On bringing Miles Bridges back…
Are you crazy? I'm going to bring Miles along as slow as he medically can be and as fast as he medically can be. We need Miles. We really do. He is working out. We did let him go through warm-ups. I don't know what that means. The work outs will intensify over the next couple of days, but everything is going great so far. Now, the problem will be when he comes back, he isn't going to be the same Miles Bridges. Even he is going to go through a growing period and a learning period and that is going to take weeks, but I am never going to put him in any position of taking a chance. We do have to get him back because the longer he is out, the longer it takes him to get back. So, there will be nothing done. Him and I and his mom are going to sit down with the doctors and just make sure everything is alright. I told you last week and that is where we are right now. A lot of this is up to Miles and I am going to trust him 75% and 25%. I know him and that he is tough enough and how bad he wants to play, so I am not giving him 100% trust. I will make some decisions. I think you can tell from me I mean, this kid, we need him back because he was so good on the bench again and he was so good at half time. I have a special player there and I just want to make sure we give him enough time that he is around for the rest of the season and yet we do what medically we are capable of doing. That's what we are doing. He has been running, he's been shooting now, the next thing will be cutting and jumping, but he has had no problems at all with that. If he was a normal guy I could probably play him. I mean that with him because with him I have to worry about a little more than just the norm with him. Him and I are going to have some great talks in the next couple of days and figure it out.
On taking the two wins…
That's exactly like you were in our locker room. That's exactly what I said to our team and, in all honesty, my assistant coaches said to me. It wasn't pretty, it wasn't always great, but we gutted some things out. I've questioned their toughness. I did it publicly because I'm honest. I also questioned how hard we're playing all the time because it's not their fault. They don't know. I had one of them say today, 'Well, I think I'm playing harder. You guys don't think I am?' I said, 'Trust us, film doesn't lie. Trust us.' That's not all of their fault either. It's been interesting as I call around the country, which I always do during Christmas to talk to different coaches. Everybody's got the same problems and everybody - but, you know, ours are with a lot of young guys. It's not only those three freshmen; it's a lot of other guys that don't have as much experience. Today, we took another major step. The key will be - I'm not satisfied, but, if they are, we're in trouble, because we're just not one of those teams that's going to overpower anybody. But, we can create some problems and we're going to get those shooters shooting. We get Nick in there - and he's been a load for people. When they doubled up today, we didn't take advantage of it. I think that's my fault. I got to do a better job of making sure we hurt people when they put two on one guy. We'll do a better job of that by Wednesday. He was getting beat up pretty good, you know. I think they went at him pretty good and, you know, he doesn't mind, but he didn't handle it very well. He was holding onto the ball - we had talked about a couple things we were going to do against it, and he didn't do that. So, you know, a little bit of everything. He bounced back. That's right now what I love. You bounce back. Some players jumped him at halftime and he liked that. He bounced back. That's what I love about this team right now. It's still a very close-knit team. Not coaching each other yet, but taking some steps towards it. Miles [Bridges] has helped that, too.
On differences between the first two Big Ten games and the game against Duke...
It's funny because we played awfully good against Duke for a lot of minutes in that game, too. I think we're learning, figuring out how to win. I think we're learning how to figure out when things don't go right, we got to knuckle down defensively so we can give ourselves a chance. That Duke game was boom, boom, boom. Two threes, two turnovers. Game was over, you know. We're doing a better job of that. We made some free throws today - that's helped. So, you know, I think there's a lot of things. Most of them are just maturing and getting to know each other a little more. We're going to get better. I said we're going to get better. We still got some time at Christmas here to get a little better. And then we'll be ready for a hell of a run, I hope.
On balance between minutes…
You know what - I mean, that's why if you guard - that's why McQuaid played 20 minutes you know. He was shooting well enough to play two. But, he did other things that helped us. I thought Langford, we got to get him more shots, too, but he's starting to rebound a little better. He's starting to look like the guard we thought he would be. We got to get him some shots. He made a great pass to Nick, but we got to get him a few more shots. He played 27 minutes, no turnovers. There's no question that everyone is questioning what Harris is doing, including me. He's struggling a little bit right now. Sometimes when you're a senior, you put pressure on yourself. Sometimes, you got to figure out what you got to do to stay on the floor. And, if you're not shooting well, you got to do other things. So, I'm not ready to pull the plug on anyone yet as far as - I think those four wing guys are all going to play. We get Miles back, we add another guy in there. There will be some other guys that aren't going to be playing as much as they've been playing just because of the situation. But, it won't be Harris, Ellis and McQuaid and Langford right now. I'm pleased with them. I'm even pleased when we put Cassius and Tum in there together. Tum played twenty-some minutes and did his thing. He's getting to be a 3-point shooter, but Tum had five rebounds. That's damn good.
On Miles' recovery time taking up to four weeks before he's back to playing like he was before…
I don't think it will be quite that long for great players. The problem is I think it will be close to - it's going to take awhile because he's a freshman. If it was Denzel [Valentine] and you come back - if it was Mateen [Cleaves] and he misses two and a half months, but he's a four-year guy, you know. This poor kid is a freshman now. As hard as he's worked, I'm really anxious to see where his conditioning is at. Because I've watched him every day. And, I mean, he's the closest thing to Mateen Cleaves as far as pushing it in the things he could do. The biking, the arms stuff, the pool work, all the things he could do. I mean he's beat it up. But, it's never the same as running, you know. One thing about Miles, he's a confident kid. And he's got some toughness to him. I'm going to be excited to get him back, but I am going to be patient because, you're right, it's not going to be come back and - he might have a big game right off the bat, but the next two, three weeks aren't going to be easy for him, either. You're right. We're all going to have to live with that and have to find a way to work him in. But, that's a better problem to have than looking at him sitting on the bench in street clothes, I'll tell you that.
Northwestern head coach Chris Collins
Opening statement...
It seemed like a good old fashion Big Ten game tonight. That was two teams playing really hard. It kind of turned into a bit of a slug fest in terms of scoring and the pace and all that, but Michigan State was just a little bit tougher than we were tonight. We got off to a really tough start. Their energy was very apparent to start the game. 11-2 run or whatever it was off the bat. We allowed them to get out in transition which is what they do best. Dug ourselves a 19-point hole and then to our guys' credit, I thought we really battled and got back to four, 48-44. We had about three or four possessions maybe when it was a four-point game, and I just didn't think we executed real well. We give Michigan State's defense credit for that. I thought they defended us well the whole night. They had great energy, they were very physical, on the boards certainly, there was a 16 rebound differential. I just thought Michigan State played well. They're a good team, especially at home. It felt like our effort was there, we didn't quite shoot the ball that well, and we still kind of kept it within distance and you have to learn from the game. It's a long season, a long journey in the Big Ten. I don't think anyone is going to go 18-0 so you got to try your best every night, see what you can do, then re-group and get ready for the next one, that's what we intend to do.
On the possessions during the four-point game and how Michigan State answered in those situations...
I just thought, I was really impressed with their second half the other night at Minnesota, I thought that was kind of a defining moment for them. You saw them really have to dig down and get tough to win that game on the road. Sometimes you have those defining moments in the season where you just kind of get it and you see what you have to do. For them having a lot of young guys, and certainly not having (Miles) Bridges out there has been a tough role, but they're tough, they're good. They have good athleticism, they have good shooters, (Nick) Ward is a problem down low. He commands double teams. He fouled our big guys out. We were a big man short not having (Dererk) Pardon so him getting (Barret) Benson and (Gavin) Skelly in major foul trouble forced us to play real small for a big stretch of the game. Coach Izzo knows what he's doing. He's a Hall of Famer, he's one of the bests to have ever done it for a reason, and I have no doubts that this team is going to get better and better, they did a good job tonight.
On how Northwestern did against Ward...
I think you have to try to do your best to not give him deep post catches. If he catches it two feet in the lane, it's going to be really hard. It's hard to send help, he's so powerful, and he draws fouls so well. You try to push him off the block the best you did, and we were sending posts. If he got it in the post, we were sending guys down there to try to make him give it up. We had great respect for what he can do one-on-one down there. We wanted to try to take our chances on him kicking it out, trying our best to get to the shooters. I really thought the guy who made a big difference tonight was (Cassius) Winston. I thought he played great on their team, 15 points six assists. I thought he had a real good command out there and showed a lot of poise for a young kid in one of his first Big Ten games.
On the two offensive scoring droughts and what needs to be done to fix it in the future...
Well I'll have to look at it. I think part of it was they were playing pretty good defense. I think they were doing a good job of taking us out of what we needed to do, making guys take tough shots, taking us out of our comfort zone. It was hard for us because we were playing so small, so it's hard to get anything down low or in the paint. So we're shooting a lot of jump shots, we're trying to get the ball to the basket and drivers. It was physical, so they were letting both teams play on the drive a lot. Our main guys just had a tough night shooting. We are reliant, we need Gavin, he's been a big key to what we're doing, he's a double figure scorer for us. So him only being able to play 12 minutes, I thought was a big factor tonight because he's a big function of what we've been doing offensively, his ability to space the floor. If Bryant (McIntosh) and Scottie (Lindsey) are going to have a tough night shooting, it's going to be hard for us to manufacture a lot of points. I just felt it was Michigan State's defense really, I'd have to look at the film. Can we execute better, absolutely, but I thought a big factor in that is what they were doing defensively. I thought they did a great job.
On the smaller lineup and with Sanjay Lumpkin at the five position...
They were just fighting; they were just scrapping. That's all you can do if you're a little bit under man, a little bit undersized, you got to just fight. That's never going to be an issue with (Sanjay) Lumpkin, that's who he is, that's what he has done his whole career. I thought that group played really hard. The problem when you're fighting up hill all night you get tired. You have to expend a lot of energy. So part of it at the end of the game is we're spent. When you dig yourselves a 20-point hole here in Breslin, it's not easy to fight back and we did, we fought back to four. A lot of times you see teams expend a lot of energy to get back in the game and then they have nothing left to finish the game, and I thought that was part of it a little bit.
On what this says about this years team in comparison to teams in the past...
To keep comparing to the past, I think is silly to do. We are a better team, we are better, we're more talented. We have veteran guys that have played in a lot of games. We have fighters. We wouldn't have the record we have now if we weren't a good team, if we didn't fight, didn't compete, didn't battle. Sometimes you win them and sometimes you don't. We just can't hang our heads. This is a tough venue to win in. For us to put ourselves in position after being down 20 to have it at four there, I was really proud of that. Now we have to find a way to then take the next step and get over the hump but we're in a good spot, we're in a good spot, we aren't going to go nuts. Are we disappointed we lost, absolutely. We came here to win and our guys are very disappointed we didn't win but in Big Ten you have to regroup. You have to get ready for the next game, you try to get back out there in the winning column and that's what we are going to do. We have about six days now. I think there are some teams in the league that haven't even played a game and us and Michigan State already have two games. It's been a taxing week for the two of us as teams. So to not have a game till Thursday we get a chance to get home, get our legs back, hopefully Pardon will be back here pretty soon, potentially on Thursday. Get our full team intact and hopefully get back to playing good basketball.
Senior guard Alvin Ellis IIIOn getting a win against Northwestern…
We just tried to come out with that same toughness that we finished with at Minnesota. We knew it would be another tough game, but we had to get the win.
On the fast start tonight, getting ahead by as many as 19 points…
Everyone focused in on the scouting report. We knew what they were going to try and do, and we locked in and read the scouting report great. The coach did a great job of telling us, and we did a great job of listening.
On starting Big Ten play 2-0…
It feels great. We are still young and have a lot of games ahead but are going to try and get better every day.
On the expected return of freshman forward Mile Bridges…
We are just taking it slow. We will not rush anything and will keep taking it one game at a time.
Sophomore guard Matt McQuaidOn the alumni crowd tonight against Northwestern…
That crowd was amazing tonight. It was a lot of fun to play in front of. I will remember that experience for a long time. They gave us a lot of energy on defense and really pushed us. They were loud and crazy. It was a lot of fun. They were loud and had their own cheers. It was a fun experience. Coach even said before the game, it would be a blue-collared crowd, and they will bring toughness to help bring us that victory.
On his defensive effort…
The crowd really helped me out on the defensive end. It gave me energy. I would lift my hands up and it would get so loud and so crazy. Everyone was just so encouraging from the sides. It is a lot of fun to play in front of.
On his improvement on the defensive end of the floor…
I put a lot more into my defense. Coach (Dane) Fife and Coach (Tom) Izzo have been on me to spend more time on film, and I am doing those little things. My teammates are helping me with those gaps and helping me shut that guy down. I am just finding other things I can do to make myself a better defender.
Freshman guard Cassius WinstonOn the crowd playing a factor tonight…
That was great. You would think that with no students here that it would be a dead game or not as loud, but they came out and were loud and showed a lot of love. It was huge. The energy was there. Our energy, the crowd's energy, everyone was looking forward to having a big game and playing our hardest that game, so we came out with a fire that we needed.
On the fast start against the Wildcats…
That is the basketball we are looking for. Fast, solid, making big stops, making big plays, making shots - that is our type of basketball. That is Michigan State basketball.
On shutting Northwestern down and playing tough defense in Big Ten play…
We pride ourselves on buckling down and playing defense. We have to make those stops. They have a lot of good players and strong wings, so we had to continue to play hard and get stops. That is huge. That is a good team. We are coming off two good wins against good teams. We have to fight our way all the way through them. This is teaching us how to win games. Not everything is going to going to go perfect or how we planned, so we just have to fight through and play harder.
