Michigan State University Athletics
Photo by: Matthew Mitchell Photography
Post-Game Quotes: Florida Gulf Coast
11/11/2018 9:51:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Michigan State junior forward Nick Ward
On his own performance tonight…
I feel like I bounced back, the Kansas game I didn't play the best, first game jitters. I felt like I handled the double team better today and I felt pretty good.
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On the first technical foul against him…
Just realizing that I could've gotten kicked out too if I retaliated, so I'm no help to my team if I'm kicked out too. So, I just kept my cool and walked it off. [Haanif Cheatham] got kicked out of the game so there's no need to be angry at everybody. It's one of those things where it's a freak thing, I didn't really see how it happened, I just felt it, but I'm okay.
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On if he thinks other teams will be physical against him all year…
Probably. I Just got to keep my cool and keep playing.
Michigan State junior guard Joshua Langford
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On his rebounding today…
I just try to be active in every way possible. Last year I felt like I kind of did myself a disservice with the way I rebounded. Being a part of Michigan State, one of our staples is to rebound. I just tried to go out there and get extra plays, go out there and do something else, be more effective in the game outside of just scoring. I am the type of player who can affect the game in different ways outside of just scoring.
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On the team turning offensive rebounds into points…
That's a good stat, but I still think we could've just done more. As this team goes, we got to realize that we got more than we can give, there's just so much more out of this team that can come to fruition if we just stick to our principles and stay locked-in on a consistent basis. It's a great stat, I'm not taking anything away from that stat, but I still think we could've opened it up even a little bit more than what it was.
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On the team's successful ball movement…
It speaks volumes of how unselfish everyone is, and we're always moving the ball. Once again, even that [the assists are] such a good stat, we still have plays where we were stagnant, and we didn't move the ball in, we could've got better shots. I feel like as this team – the make-up of this team, the dynamic of this team –with everybody moving the ball like that, it's definitely going to open shots and knock down shots, so that's great.
Michigan State junior guard Cassius Winston
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On what went right today…
I think our transition game went really well today, got a lot of easy looks. We were able to get the ball inside to Nick [Ward] a lot, so that was good, that was big. Our ball movement, I think we got any shot we really wanted, so that's a good sign.
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On keeping composure when the other team rallies…
You got to stay focused, I think we had them up 20 at one point and we didn't step on their necks, we kind of just stayed mellow through the whole thing, and that's what we got to work on being better as a team.
Florida Gulf Coast head coach Michael Fly
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On assessment of Spartan team…
Yeah, I think it's a typical Coach Izzo coached team and we talked about this obviously coming in that they're always going to try to out rebound you. They are, and I think Coach Self said this the other night, they're about the best in the country at pitching ahead and playing in transition and if you can take them out of their system, which they do a tremendous job of running, then you can have a chance to be in the game and I think, you know like every year with his teams they're going to do very well in the Big Ten, obviously did very well nationally, but it's what we expected when you watch them on film. They're going to defend, they're going to rebound, they're going to continue to come at you and you've got to try to withstand that and do a little better job than we did tonight.
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On losing Cheatham and physical MSU team…
We always try to make that a point. Unfortunately, I didn't think we did that tonight to be honest with you from a competitive standpoint on the defensive end. We didn't play well tonight, and to me it has nothing to do with the fouls or anything like that. We just didn't compete from a defensive standpoint. Obviously, it doesn't help to lose one of our better players in Cheatham early in the game, but had we defended and rebounded then we would have had a chance to be in the game.
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On halftime adjustments…
I don't think we made much of an adjustment to be totally honest with you. I thought we just kind of traded baskets in the second half and that's what we just told our guys. I said, 'I know you can score, this is probably a new stat for me… we had 22 assists and 14 turnovers and to get beat 20, that means you're not guarding and you're not rebounding the ball.' So that was a huge emphasis coming in, and that was a huge emphasis at halftime. We're going to do some things creatively in practice the next couple days to get that corrected.
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On early three pointers and Michigan State's defense…
Well, we thought we could drive and kick them a little bit and try to hopefully get off some really good threes and as you guys started to see we started to slip them more in the second half and were slipping to the rim. Again, I didn't really think honestly it had much to do with our offense. I mean, it's not like we were rolling offensively, but I just think it was a defend and rebound situation all around.
Â
On his own performance tonight…
I feel like I bounced back, the Kansas game I didn't play the best, first game jitters. I felt like I handled the double team better today and I felt pretty good.
Â
On the first technical foul against him…
Just realizing that I could've gotten kicked out too if I retaliated, so I'm no help to my team if I'm kicked out too. So, I just kept my cool and walked it off. [Haanif Cheatham] got kicked out of the game so there's no need to be angry at everybody. It's one of those things where it's a freak thing, I didn't really see how it happened, I just felt it, but I'm okay.
Â
On if he thinks other teams will be physical against him all year…
Probably. I Just got to keep my cool and keep playing.
Michigan State junior guard Joshua Langford
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On his rebounding today…
I just try to be active in every way possible. Last year I felt like I kind of did myself a disservice with the way I rebounded. Being a part of Michigan State, one of our staples is to rebound. I just tried to go out there and get extra plays, go out there and do something else, be more effective in the game outside of just scoring. I am the type of player who can affect the game in different ways outside of just scoring.
Â
On the team turning offensive rebounds into points…
That's a good stat, but I still think we could've just done more. As this team goes, we got to realize that we got more than we can give, there's just so much more out of this team that can come to fruition if we just stick to our principles and stay locked-in on a consistent basis. It's a great stat, I'm not taking anything away from that stat, but I still think we could've opened it up even a little bit more than what it was.
Â
On the team's successful ball movement…
It speaks volumes of how unselfish everyone is, and we're always moving the ball. Once again, even that [the assists are] such a good stat, we still have plays where we were stagnant, and we didn't move the ball in, we could've got better shots. I feel like as this team – the make-up of this team, the dynamic of this team –with everybody moving the ball like that, it's definitely going to open shots and knock down shots, so that's great.
Michigan State junior guard Cassius Winston
Â
On what went right today…
I think our transition game went really well today, got a lot of easy looks. We were able to get the ball inside to Nick [Ward] a lot, so that was good, that was big. Our ball movement, I think we got any shot we really wanted, so that's a good sign.
Â
On keeping composure when the other team rallies…
You got to stay focused, I think we had them up 20 at one point and we didn't step on their necks, we kind of just stayed mellow through the whole thing, and that's what we got to work on being better as a team.
Florida Gulf Coast head coach Michael Fly
Â
On assessment of Spartan team…
Yeah, I think it's a typical Coach Izzo coached team and we talked about this obviously coming in that they're always going to try to out rebound you. They are, and I think Coach Self said this the other night, they're about the best in the country at pitching ahead and playing in transition and if you can take them out of their system, which they do a tremendous job of running, then you can have a chance to be in the game and I think, you know like every year with his teams they're going to do very well in the Big Ten, obviously did very well nationally, but it's what we expected when you watch them on film. They're going to defend, they're going to rebound, they're going to continue to come at you and you've got to try to withstand that and do a little better job than we did tonight.
Â
On losing Cheatham and physical MSU team…
We always try to make that a point. Unfortunately, I didn't think we did that tonight to be honest with you from a competitive standpoint on the defensive end. We didn't play well tonight, and to me it has nothing to do with the fouls or anything like that. We just didn't compete from a defensive standpoint. Obviously, it doesn't help to lose one of our better players in Cheatham early in the game, but had we defended and rebounded then we would have had a chance to be in the game.
Â
On halftime adjustments…
I don't think we made much of an adjustment to be totally honest with you. I thought we just kind of traded baskets in the second half and that's what we just told our guys. I said, 'I know you can score, this is probably a new stat for me… we had 22 assists and 14 turnovers and to get beat 20, that means you're not guarding and you're not rebounding the ball.' So that was a huge emphasis coming in, and that was a huge emphasis at halftime. We're going to do some things creatively in practice the next couple days to get that corrected.
Â
On early three pointers and Michigan State's defense…
Well, we thought we could drive and kick them a little bit and try to hopefully get off some really good threes and as you guys started to see we started to slip them more in the second half and were slipping to the rim. Again, I didn't really think honestly it had much to do with our offense. I mean, it's not like we were rolling offensively, but I just think it was a defend and rebound situation all around.
Â
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