Post-Game Quotes: Coach Izzo

Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo

Opening Statement…
I'm kind of disappointed if you want the truth. I'm frustrated by how we played but I'm really frustrated and feel sympathy, if you want the truth and I swear to God to this, I felt bad for our fans, I felt bad for their team, I felt a little bad for our team and I felt really bad for the officials. I've been here 24 years as a head coach, I'm not sure I have ever felt bad for an official. The way they've got them calling this game right now to me is as ridiculous as me having to wear glasses to read the thing (box score) and I am upset about it. I mean we can't, you can't do anything right now I mean people can complain about the call, sad part is the guy's (Brady Ernst) complaining that Nick (Ward) hit him and then he gets nailed and thrown out and remember this now so don't, don't make a mistake on this, the poor officials are mandated. If they don't call it this way, they don't work the NCAA Tournament. The stoppage of action in that game made it the most boring game, we scored 106 points which wasn't good, we took 77 shots that might be a record, we did some good things at times but every time there was any flow to that game I felt bad for our fans, our players got to learn how to deal with it but I feel bad for the officials. I don't know maybe thunder and lightning will hit me tonight going home because it's not very often I do, but honest to God and they just sat there and tried to explain to both coaches and I just quit talking and it wasn't them. I watch games on TV, I see the same things so that's my commercial. I'm done with Twitter and now I'm a member of the official's union and I'm going to stick up for them, but they should have nothing to do with us turning the ball over the way we did and just every time we got going there something stopped, somebody complained, somebody did this and they have to, did you hear me, have to do that. They should put monitors up there as big as the scoreboard because it's hard to see those monitors. I sympathize with those poor guys and if somebody thinks I'm being sarcastic I'm not, I'm not. As far as my team goes we're having trouble guarding anybody okay. We gave up 98 and 82 and we had some guys on this team who think we can outscore people and we can when the teams aren't good enough, but as the teams get better we will not outscore people, evident the other night so 16 more turnovers yeah we had a couple at the end with some different players in there but we did a poor job in the second half with the turnovers. I thought Nick did a pretty good job of getting to the foul line, Josh (Langford) did an incredible job rebounding the ball. Other than that I thought we missed some wide-open shots, but you can't complain about the shots I just didn't like the way, they must have had five three-point play finishes the old-fashioned way, fouling them on the way in five steps behind them so tomorrow I'm going to go old school. Maybe, just maybe I'll call (Mark) Dantonio and borrow some things tomorrow, but I'll take questions. I'm not going to be satisfied with anything this year. We're going back to the way it's supposed to be, guys got to be accountable and people got to be accountable and I feel damn sorry for our people because we didn't play very good in the second half, people meaning our fans, and they had to sit through time after time and it's ridiculous so there hope it's worth $10,000.

On the progress Nick Ward has shown…
Well I think Nick, they only had him down, they had him down for four assists and that's a career, not a career high, it's a career okay. Add it up and I am proud of Nick, I'm proud of him that he got to the line. For some reason you know I'm going to explain everything this year because I'm in a better mood to explain things. If anybody watched Nick the start of the second half, he was in there a minute and a half and DJ (Stephens) said we've got to get him out, wasn't because he was screwing up he was just so tired, so he plays 22 and a half minutes and I wanted to play him 28-30 so we've got to figure out that. You're right Nick made some great passes out of there. I thought early he had a stretch where he was trying to put shots up against three guys, got a couple of them blocked, but if you look at the change from the Kansas game when he never threw it out to that game significant, significant improvement.

On Nick playing through the flagrant and on his own reaction…
Immaturity on my part seriously, but you're point is way better than my point. When I say Nick is a different guy this year now that kid has, I mean certain times you have kids each year whether it be an Antonio Smith long time ago or Morris (Peterson) or guys like that that you'd think you beat on them and beat on them, go through days and try to change them and you almost give up on them and I'm really proud of what he's done. His body is really good, I mean he's scoring down there, he's dunking with ease. He is working on his free throws more and more and more. I'm excited because he did not get frustrated. That was a game last year that would have been chippy the other way so that shows he's growing up more than I did on that play so give credit to Nick, blame to Izzo, and it was a swim move and his head went back. The problem is anytime you raise your elbow above, if you touch a guy right now that's the way it's called and that is just so ridiculous that those officials can't see all those things and go through it and go to those monitors. I mean I'm going to say it until I'm blue and then after tonight hopefully never say it because I can't stick up for those guys too much you know that's un-American, so I feel for them. I mean it's embarrassing people are booing; you guys are over there don't know what to write. I would have fallen asleep for God sakes I mean at least I'm a little younger so at least I hung in there with it. It is not their fault either and I just think we've over legislated. One thing goes wrong and you over legislate, we've over legislated this whole thing right now. Our best players are going to be on the bench. Our best players are going to be ejected, I don't get it I just don't get it. People don't pay to see people sitting on the bench that are your best players. People don't pay to not see a guy play. I mean it was really funny that the guy, he complained so they had to check the monitor and he got nailed but the one where he got undercut I mean from my standpoint I didn't see but they have to call those things. It is a contact sport to a certain extent I mean let's not make it, next question.

On the NCAA's expectations of the referees…
These poor guys in those zebra suits are… If anybody raises their arm, if anybody locks arms. I mean…. there's going to be cutouts, there's going to be guarding the post, there's going to be some physicality to this game. They want to eliminate it all. Freedom of movement, you know? What they want is a big side show here. Let's score 150 points, the other team scores 140. I've been told, teach your guys to move their feet, teach your guys to do… I'm done complaining after this; I don't know how they're going to call those. I just know they're doing what they're mandated to do. I can't see in there if somebody's… How are you going to tell who's grabbing who and if it's flagrant, that's easy. I feel sorry for them, I really do.

On the slow start defensively…
We're getting after it this year and if guys don't like it, it's the way it is. I'm not going to be a poor defensive team. I know what it does, I've watched enough good defensive teams, both in basketball and football. We did not guard anybody. How many – Matt you should know this, Mex you're the new guy on the block – How many conventional three-point plays, you know the old ones? Four or five. I mean, that's not guarding anybody. I'll extend fairness to my team. When that action stops, and you're standing over there, and the crowd who was getting up because we just had a 30 second violation, and everybody's getting into a game and then we're going over and watching a TV monitor. I mean, how emphatic they were on that and watching it, another guy watching it, watching it. I mean, I think I know why it is – because if they don't call it, they get X'd (not considered) for the tournament. I just think it's sad what we're doing to the game. Now, let's talk about the game. I'm done with my commercial.

On Florida Gulf Coast…
As far as Florida Gulf Coast, I like their team because I think they're tough. I think that number three cuts harder than any player I've ever seen. I thought he did a great job – Sorry. Boy, there's a lot of things I'd like to change. If I was Czar for a day, I'd come with 14-inch letters and here is what I'd do. I really thought (Troy) Baxter Jr. started out really good. I thought it was a great move of their coach to put him in there and he did some really good things, made some shots, drove the ball well. (Brady) Ernst, I thought, didn't get a lot done offensively, but tough kid. I love the toughness. (Haanif) Cheatham is a very good player and him being out of the game hurt them. The other guy… I like both the shooters. (Schadrac) Casimir and (Dinero) Mercurius, if I say that right. I like their team. I told him after, I think if they play with the toughness they play, and they drive the ball as good as anybody. They run their offense good, they cut hard. Yeah, don't let me take away from what they did because they did some good things and hell, they shot 51 percent the second half and 60 percent from the three I think. Those are good numbers so give them credit. I thought he played through it. I didn't understand the ejections but I know why they were. I didn't understand the flagrants totally, but those guys played through them.

On Joshua Langford's energy from the beginning…
His energy was off the charts. When you rebound like that, your energy is off the charts. I think if you look at him, you know, he had two turnovers, he had one foolish one. Cass (Winston) had a couple foolish ones, but he only had two. Those aren't bad. Everybody gets two at 16. One guy gets five, one guy gets five, one guy gets three and the other guy gets three – that's 16 and 16 turnovers is too many for us. So we're going to have to clean that up. But Joshua goes 7-for-15 and I thought he had some great three-point looks that he's been making and he missed. I thought (Matt) McQuaid had some unbelievable three-point looks that he missed. If we get kickouts like that for three's, that part of our game… I'm not worried about our offense. We'll be good offensively; I think we'll be really good offensively, believe it or not. Defensively, I'm concerned. Josh is one of our best defensive players, him and McQuaid but they had a lot of guys that I thought gave us some defensive problems.

On the amount of Foster Loyer's minutes…
Well we're trying to get a good look at whether he's going to be ready to go because we're about to embark on a five games in thirteen days against some pretty stiff competition. So, trying to look at a couple guys, give them some opportunities. It's not going to be a 10-11 man playing group right now, especially with those freshmen. I'm just trying to give them as much opportunity as I can and I'm trying to get some confidence in our upperclassmen and teaching them how hard they have to play. Foster's going to be a good player, but it's going to take some time to not make the mistakes. Our point guard has got to give it up and get it back more - A little too much dribbling. Some pretty high-profile guys at this university talked to me this weekend; Two really special ones. One that knew how to run a team and do the things. The only thing he had to say was the ball's got to be moving more and that's exactly what I say. We got to quit dribbling.

On the referees calling more fouls...
I don't. I don't, that's why I feel bad for them. That has happened, you're right. It has happened over the years but what happens is each year, and they keep… And it never goes back to the way they… I mean listen, I don't want to play smash mouth basketball where you're chugging cutters and all that anymore. Those days are over and I'm great with that, I don't want that for my… Hell, my guys aren't as tough as they used to be. But this thing about… There's got to be some physicality to the game. I mean something's got to happen inside when two guys who are 6-9, 250 are hitting each other. It's not going to be a belly bumping contest. I just think now that we're so paranoid. Do I think it'll get better? It'll get better maybe if more people… It's going to be a fight between coaches and people who are on the rules committee. I just think we've overreacted to making this where nobody wants to be able to guard anybody. I just vehemently don't agree with it. I'll lose that battle. But I think there are other coaches… The reason that this is different, it's not only become a free throw contest. You can't even adjust to some of this stuff like everyone thinks you can. It is not only making the games longer, now we are ejecting people. We are going to have people on the bench. I mean if you guys want to watch my freshmen play compared to my juniors play that's good. If somebody, one of you, or anybody else says well he is complaining. You watched that thing tonight, it wasn't my guys. I didn't agree with what happened to his guys. So don't think I am complaining about something that has anything to do with that. In football, you can get a 15-yard penalty for holding, or 10-yard penalty, whatever it is. You can get another penalty for going offside. But, you know what happens, the tackle does not get disqualified for the game. In basketball, guys are out of the game. I mean, why people want it… freedom of movement fine, but you can't move in the post. Nobody is moving in there, they are going to bang some people. Like I said, I felt sorry for those guys. People were upset, I felt bad for our fans, they didn't deserve that.

On the ball movement…
There were times tonight where that ball was moving. There were times tonight where we were pushing it up, there were times tonight where we were dribbling it up. I have got to get Cassius (Winston) some shots where he gets it up to the wing and they drive it down and they throw it back, he is one of the best shooters. Sometimes we just don't understand that it is the way it has to be. That ball has got to be moving. When it is moving, I mean look at the shots we got on some of those. We missed them all, those couple of series. I will take those shots every day of the week. We will do fine if we get those shots. The court gets more spread, it gets more opened up. If the ball is moved, the court opens up, if the court opens up you get better driving lanes, more shots. The positives tonight, we got 77 shots up with 16 turnovers. Weird stat… Nick Ward goes 25 points and 11 rebounds but his +/-, if you look at an NBA stat, is minus one. That means you are just trading baskets. I did think Nick (Ward)… if we want to look at some positives, didn't blow up. Handled things very well there. Covered ball screens ten times better than a year ago. Got up on a lot of them, did a really nice job on that. Kicked it out a lot better than he did the first game. But there is still a lot. The good news for me… I think I got three or four of those upperclassman that can improve a lot and will improve a lot. The bad news for me, I would never like somebody on tv or one of you guys to ask me, 'when you get up 20 is it hard to motivate them'. Hell, they got dreams and goals of what they want to accomplish. Only if you are thinking small, if you are dreaming small then I guess it is, if you are dreaming big it's not. I got to do a better job, I will do a better job, and yet I have to be cognizant that maybe it was hard… how many times did that thing stop for minutes.? Four? Five? Easily. One stop was four minutes, and like I say, do me a favor and don't blame those guys. They did exactly what they are supposed to do.

On the technical…
Definitely earned. Immature. I was upset over a lot of things. When we are talking about wrestling and this and that and you bring your arm over… to me the rule is you just can't touch anybody in the head. I was probably so frustrated, that too was probably my fault. I am going to get you guys before you get me. That was my fault.

On using +/- as a stat…
I don't. That is an NBA stat. I don't have NBA players right now so that is an NBA stat and my guys got to get better. It is funny because if I evaluated my key guys, I think we have to get a lot lot lot more out of Xavier (Tillman). Xavier has played so much better than he has in the last two games and I think he feels the same way. So that kind of goes to show two things. I am not a big analytics guy. The NBA is going to all analytics. Thank god for the old school guys that are saying you still have to see what a guy has got in his ticker. The other thing is that it tells you that X is more valuable in things that he does. He gets a rebound, he deflected… I don't know how many deflections he had but he had a lot of deflections tonight. I just want him to do that and still have some post moves and still score down there because he is capable. He should have had eight more points down there and would of had maybe a great night. Xavier is still one of my favorite players because I think he is the toughest guy I have got on my team and I just have to figure out a way to tie his arms down so he doesn't hook and put pads on his body so he doesn't bump somebody. I am just glad Antonio (Smith) played when he did. I don't know why we want it where… to me we should want the game to be free flowing. Freedom of movement. So now we have where you can't touch anybody. Is the game free flowing? Did you enjoy sitting there? What did you guys do? You guys all tweet so you must of had a field day today. Tuesday was pretty rough too. I agree that at the beginning of the year… we have never seen it where there has been this much stop of action. Either team now can almost ask for… I think he hit him can you go check the monitor. I went over there twice and asked is that on us or them. 'Well it is something they did'. Let it go, it is ridiculous. 'Would you feel that way if'... named a couple of schools, and I said you know I would. I would feel that way. I can't stand the way it is being called. Or the way it is being administered by the people up above. Freedom of movement. I would like to poll you guys… How many of you guys like the way it is called, raise your hand? How many don't like the way it is called, raise your hand? Two things happened tonight, it is a new year. I supported the officials and you guys supported me, that is a hell of a way to end the press conference right there.

Michigan State University Athletics

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Joshua Langford

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