Michigan State vs. Ferris State Post Game Quotes
10/26/2017 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
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Michigan State Head Coach Tom Izzo
Opening Statement…
First off, I want to give Ferris a lot of credit. They came in and they're one of the top Division II teams in the country. They were picked to win the league by a landslide. They had some junkyard dogs that just played hard. They have a center that can play in a lot of places. They banked in one three. They had a hell of a defensive play. Miles (Bridges) can attest that one and the goal-tending three that I think was a foot short. Not that the call was bad, it's just that we didn't play good defense. The other one that he hit and went up to the ceiling and came back down through, so that's three of their seven. That's what happens when teams get going. What I was most disappointed in is our defensive effort. I felt a couple of our guys let their offensive woes get to their defense. We didn't get back very well. We looked tired. I don't know if it was emotional. If our two two-guards go two for 22, we probably won't win any games. But, I don't see that happening. We have two of the hardest working guys they've got. We spent a lot of time in there. They just missed some shots. I was disappointed in both of them, especially Josh. The head went down and for the first time he went through a little adversity. I think in a way it was good for us. We had to play without Miles for half of the first half. That was good for us. Nick (Ward) has an illness in his family. It was a little bit of a tough night for him going in the last two days. So, I'm giving him a hall pass on that. There were bright spots. Xavier Tillman had five rebounds in seven or eight minutes. I think he had no turnovers and three assists. I think Jaren (Jackson) really grew up tonight. I say that because he's been getting pushed a little bit more in practice and he responded and that's what the great players do. Miles responded coming back. Cassius (Winston) played so well on that one end; still working on the other end. He really played well, shot well, distributed pretty well. He had five assists. If one of those guys makes any shot, he probably gets 10 assists. We'll have to coach tomorrow. Free throw shooting was a positive. Offensive rebounding was a positive. Turnovers in a game like that was a positive. Getting 72 shots up was a positive. Transitioning defense was a negative. Our total defense was a negative. Our rebounding first half was a negative, and our shooting percentage was a joke. All that being said, I thought Ferris, like I said, did a lot of good things. They have some guards that can really drive the ball. I thought they gave us trouble because we've been playing big, sometimes they went real, real, real small. I thought that affected us so give their coach credit. He did a hell of a job.
On what he was thinking what Miles went down during the exhibition…
Nothing. Nothing. I saw him hit his head. When I went out there he said he was okay. I'm not sitting here worried about every injury. Absolutely zero went through my head. He's a tough kid. It says a lot about him that I told him at halftime, 'You know, you don't have to play the second half, it's an exhibition game.' He looked at me like I was crazy. I decided to play him. Good thing I did.
On Josh Langford missing his first shot and how it affected him…
I wouldn't say it's been that way the whole time. I would say it was that way tonight. He's worked so hard on his shooting, and has spent so much time in the gym. I think he was pressed a little bit. He took a couple of bad shots early, then had some great shots in the second half and just missed them. Out of character for him with some of the shots he took. He really affected the other end for him. A lot of times we didn't know who he had and he looked a little dysfunctional. But, at the same time, when you're subbing a million guys for the first time without a lot of rhythm to it and when Miles got hurt it changed some things. I thought that had a little bit to do with it. I thought those guys, they did a better job with rotating their guards than I did with mine. Some of it was when Miles was out and some of it with (Kyle) Ahrens coming back, we'll just get better rotation.
On what the team showed when Miles was out…
Disappointment. I didn't see anybody step up. Mostly on the defensive end. Like I said, in that period of time when they hit those two threes that were a little bit unconventional, but that's what's so cool about being a Division II school because I've been there and done that. This is the greatest opportunity in sometimes their year, and sometimes their careers. I played Michigan State once when I was fighting through the snow so I have a great appreciation for the energy that they played with. We have practiced so much harder than we played, that surprised me, but I'm not worried about it because that's who we are. Because I've seen who we are these last five months.
On pushing Jaren Jackson Jr. in practice…
I try to push everybody but sometimes those freshmen don't know how to handle it. There's a lot of firsts when you're a freshman. First big test, first this, first that. First time you get chewed out for all of those things. We were impressed, like we said yesterday after practice that he just flipped the switch and kind of got it. He had a hell of a practice. But, he had a better game than he had a practice. Like I told my team and I told him after, he did nothing that he normally does. He's usually shooting a bunch of threes and making them. He didn't take one. He didn't really post up. He got offensive rebounds, he drove to the basket, he put the ball on the floor, he had no turnovers and he had eight blocked shots. He just played with effort. He has some skill. When he plays with effort, the skill is already there. You saw the second half he got really, really tired. That was pretty cool too because that means he went and pushed himself as hard as he can push himself. I've always been impressed with Jaren, but I was more impressed with him because of the way he did things.
On what's next for Jaren Jackson Jr...
To continue to get tougher and stronger. Feel where he needs to be, when he needs to pick and pop, when he needs to post, but he showed some aggressiveness. Now he didn't play against the biggest team, Ferris, but that hurt him on one end and he did a decent job. On the other end he just took it at him a little bit. Takes a lot to impress me but I was impressed. I was impressed because of just the demeanor he played with. That was… I thought that was the one thing he had to really improve on here. So he gained 15, 18 pounds, he's gotten stronger. The last two or three days a light bulb went on; kind of funny because talking to his family through over the summer, his mother kept saying, 'oh he'll get it, he'll adjust, he'll get it.' A couple days ago we challenged him and he showed what he can do. That's always the greatest part of coaching to be honest with you.
On if he's had a player quite like Jaren (Jackson Jr.) so far…
We had one in Magic (Johnson). I'm just kidding. I have not. Adrien (Payne) and DV (Denzel Valentine) were similar lengths and things like that, but he has a very, very high basketball IQ as you said too and really has a feel. He's got a long ways to go. He was the first one to say it after. He still could really shoot the ball and he didn't even take a shot. I don't know if he took one shot outside of two feet. I don't know if in a month of practice, he's taken 10 shots inside of two feet. Really interesting how that worked. It was kind of a learning curve for him to see, wow if I can do this now and I can shoot it and I can do this and I can put it on the floor. That's being able to do all three. Had a few blocked shots. He did a hell of a job. He saved us, Cassius (Winston) saved us in the second half. Just hard to believe that we shot that way. It was another thing that was hard to believe is the way they ran it down on throw-ins. We didn't get back, we're celebrating like we're playing for the National Championship, that was a little immature in our part. At times we're very young out there still so we have a little growth to do.
On the offensive weapons…
Well I'm really excited about those offensive weapons, I'd like to see. I'd like to see those offensive weapons come through. We did not play very well offensively. We just did not do the things you need to do. We didn't move the ball, it's a little hard to say; We had 17 assists on 25 baskets because 17 assists on 25 baskets isn't awful. It's not very good for us but when those two guards, 2 and 22, if they make a couple, all of a sudden you're up there, a lot more assists. Cassius has more assists. It would've been a lot better. I'm excited because I still feel everything I felt about this team. Just disappointed that a couple guys really got down and let their offense dictate their defense, when really they had to improve their defense. They're going to be okay offensively; I'm not worried about that. Defensively, we got some work. This is exactly why you do this. You play a bunch of people, you get a chance to see what they're like, you play a team that can give you some problems. This team, four guys that can drive the ball, a post player that can play probably a lot of Division I schools. Very well coached. Very, very well coached team. It was perfect for us except for the way we responded. Not the way we shot, the way we responded. Tomorrow it'll be a little livelier practice. We'll spend a little more time on our defense and see if we can guard somebody.
On seeing the team out on the floor together for the first time…
It does a lot because we've played against each other for so long. The advantage and disadvantage to the two hours a week in the summer seems that we're just playing against each other forever. You hear it in football after three weeks, they're sick of playing against each other. Well our guys have been playing against each other since the middle of June. They're a little sick of it. They better figure out a way to not let a few offensive woes get to their defense. I guess then, semi was good about Miles (Bridges), I didn't think he was great for Miles. Missed some shots, but he played hard. He took the ball to the rim after those first three shots. I said Miles you... The next three times he got fouled and he got some free throws. He got as many free throws tonight as he maybe got most of the games last year. That's encouraging for us too because if he gets to the line, he's going to score a lot more points.
On if he thought there was a chance they'd lose when the game was tied 60-60…
Oh yeah. The good thing is back when that happened against Grand Valley, nine or ten years… But we had just gotten that new locker room and they didn't get to be in it for a week. They changed up in the hallways. This time we would've had to kick them out of the whole building since it's all new. I told them, I'm not going to say it again, there was a couple times that I didn't think Cassius (Winston) guarded anybody and I told him that I'm just going to put you back in there to see what you can do. I wanted to see if they would play themselves on it the last five minutes. They did a little bit of a job with it. It wasn't great but they did a little better job. Definitely thought about it. When you're coaching and you're up by a couple or tied late in the game, you obviously think you're going to lose. You always got that in your mind. We'll get better and I think we'll get better tomorrow. I think we got some things now to really work on and coach. I think we'll have a few people that will listen a little better, although can't say they haven't done that because they've been great. Georgia… Ferris is a damn good Division II team, but Georgia is going to be a better, I think all-around team so we're going to have our hands full. We're in Grand Rapids, what an exciting venue. Exciting that they sold it out.
Ferris State Head Coach Andy Bronkema
Opening statement...
Well, it was a lot of fun, and we really appreciate this opportunity. I think our guys played hard, and we learned a lot about our team. Just down the stretch, Cassius (Winston) made some big plays, and we got caught out of position. Certainly in the second half, the rebounding, part of the game changed and the second half of points were too much for us. We needed to pull a few more of those out of the crowd. I'm happy on one hand, you know, you always put a game plan together to win the game. If you can execute that, it results in a win if it's a good game plan. We didn't execute it well enough. We were right there and that's disappointing, but overall it was a special experience to play in this environment. Our guys love it, it's nothing but great for Ferris State so we're super thankful.
On what he learned about his team tonight...
I didn't learn a whole lot about our veterans, just because they've been around a long time. When we pass the ball, we are hard to guard and when we dribble too much we are not. You've probably heard that in plenty of press conferences, that's like a basketball 101. Go to the library and get that book, if there is still books in libraries, that I don't know. Look it up, it's basketball 101 and that's the same for us. We try to keep it simple, keep it obvious. Our guys were passing the ball around, and we got some open shots. We made some at first. It was a great start for us, we missed a few and we made a few. You know, we've kind of set the tone.
On thinking if it was his night during the game...
You know, I always think that. I always think it is our night, that's what we do. We do things to make it our night, and they thought it was there night and we thought it was our night and they prevailed. That's what true competition is, good teams going at it and one of them gets the win because they are better on that night. Heck yeah, I thought we were going to win.
On what a game like this does for Ferris State's program...
If you had half of an hour to an hour, I could explain it. It does a lot, it does a lot financially, it does a lot recruiting and just getting our name out there and it does a lot to prepare us. Obviously, that's a top team. Well, No. 2 team in the nation. I think there is 351 Division I's. One poll they got us ranked No. 9, so No. 2 vs. No. 360, that doesn't happen very often. We're just super thankful. It prepares us well and we're not going to see too many teams with that sort of length, athleticism, and certainly not a better coached.
Michigan State sophomore guard Cassius Winston
On Ferris State…
We knew that they were a good team coming in, but they played extremely hard. They did the things that they could do and the things that they were capable of. They made it a game, they made it a good game and they potentially could've won it.
On what MSU is taking away from this game…
There's a lot of things we can take from it. First of all, maybe a little reality check; you know that we're not where we need to be right now and it's a long season ahead of us. We've still got a lot of things that we need to get better at. A lot of people have been praising us and things like that, and this is a reality check that we weren't as good as we can be in this game. We have to go back to the drawing board, fix a couple of things - you know, a lot of things are fixable. The energy, the passion, picking our teammates up, and if we do those things we can be a very good team.
Michigan State sophomore guard/forward Miles Bridges
On what it'll take to succeed this year…
Just leadership, we have to learn how to be coachable. If Coach [Izzo] says something to us, we can't get down on us, can't get down on our teammates, we have to have great body language. Until we have that, we can't be a great team.
On overcoming the first step of the season…
It's a long season. I mean, we have great leaders, we have great players. We just have to let it come around, and we'll be good.
Michigan State freshman forward Jaren Jackson Jr.
On Ferris State's performance…
They played as hard as anybody, and they came in with a chip on their shoulder and they really showed it the whole game.
On what to take away from this game…
Just that we need to be better defensively and work on our focus, and we just need to replicate what we do every day in practice to the game.
On overcoming the first step of the season…
It's nothing we're going to hang our heads on. Obviously, an ugly win is better than a pretty loss, so we're going to bounce back. We're going to watch film, get back and practice, and learn from it. But, you know, we know this is a long season and in the big picture we have to bounce back.
