Post-Game Quotes: Northern Illinois

Michigan State Head Coach Tom Izzo

Opening Statement
It was kind of a strange game. First of all, it's never any fun going against your former assistant and former player. I really like Mark Montgomery's team and I am not saying that to make things better. Games against, Northern Kentucky and what we watched… I mean what he did to Oakland was amazing. I didn't think they played as well early, they didn't make any shots and we didn't make any shots other than Cassius (Winston), he made a lot of shots. On a negative, I thought we looked slow, I thought we looked lethargic. On a positive I thought they did a great job of taking our break away and sending five guys back. We didn't punish them on the offensive glass as much as we should have because we just didn't go as much. I thought even our wings, guys that never look slow like Kyle (Ahrens) and Matt (McQuaid), Josh (Langford). I just thought we looked slow, we just looked like we had too much time off and had too much turkey. Sometimes you blame the coach because you work too hard and that didn't happen. We worked harder before Christmas. We have never taken five days off so I think I am just happy that we won the game. Hopefully it will benefit us later on especially next week. The next two days are going to be very important. Other positives… Cassius has 24 points and shoots like he did and has seven assists with no turnovers. Believe it or not, give (Eugene) German credit, he is a hell of a player, but he worked for every point he got. Something happened that hasn't happened here before. Cassius really took the challenge. I thought the second half when he made those two threes late...the maddest guy in the arena was Cassius and that is a big positive. I was really proud of what he did, how he played, how he made him work for his shots. I thought they did a great job on Nick Ward. Doubled him and tripled him sometimes. Nick had some great passes in the first half but nobody made any shots so he would have had more assists. It is a shame because he did turn it over too much although a couple of those were a three second call and a charge so they were weird calls. We did a good job of getting it into Nick and they did a good job of doubling and tripling him. The second half it worked to our advantage because we made some shots. As far as Josh goes. I guess he tweaked his ankle just a little bit a day or two ago. He doesn't even know when. It was a little sore before the game and he thought he was going to play and didn't think anything of it. He didn't want to push it so we got him out of there. I'm sure they will do an x-ray or something… they do an x-ray right now if you have got a tooth ache, but there is no worry about him from what I have been told. We decided not to push him… he made the decision, but that probably hurt us a little bit too. I thought our freshman when they came in moved the ball and did some decent things. Exciting part of the day was Cassius all around. His defense almost more than his offense and 25 assists on 29 baskets is what this team has stood for. It is part of our identity right now and it's a good identity.

On Michigan State's defense this season…
God I wouldn't have guessed so to be honest with you. If Cassius guards like he does and we can rotate guys in and Nick is pretty good in the post guarding. Kenny (Goins) who struggled today a lot with his conditioning is usually a lockdown guy. I think (Mark) Montgomery has given us some credit, but I also think they missed some shots. A combination of both. When you watch that team on film, I thought it was the best team. Remember, that team beat Oakland at Oakland by 20. I thought it was the best team of the non BCS teams that we played. They didn't play as well today and I hope we had something to do with it. There were times where we didn't play as well today and they had something to do with it.

On Cassius Winston...
What I talk to Cassius about… because he has been playing really well, he really has. What you do to your team you do to your player. You want to elevate them. If he is a good player you want to make him a great player and if he is a great player you want to make him an elite player. To elevate yourself you have got to do things you weren't as good at. I really honestly believe that he had three really good days of practice. It is not going to change over night but I think he sees the importance for himself in his future and for us in our future. He did a good job and he deserves the credit for it. There have been enough times where I have stood up here and said he didn't do a good enough job so I think it is him. When he comes out of the game he was talking like me and using UP language... when that kid hit the two threes at the end because he was mad. I went up to him and said God, I don't know if I am more proud that you are mad or that you learned to speak the right language, I didn't know which one. Both were good points and I was very pleased with the way that he played.

On heading into Big Ten play…
I told you what I didn't like about our team tonight was that we were lethargic. I thought we had some guys out of shape. I have nobody to blame but myself because I have got to figure out the scheduling. I think the Big Ten does in general. I think we have got to figure out what we are going to do, you can't play three games in 21 days, that is not healthy for anybody. The way that beginning is… I don't know… I have to do a better job first of all. Getting into a routine is going to help us. I don't think our conditioning is bad because it was good before, Cassius was great today. Cassius had a good point when I sat down and talked to him during the last couple of minutes… he said it is like we are out of rhythm coach. The wings were not running, the middle guy wasn't running. We were out of rhythm. I thought that was very well put and it is my job to fix that. It is very easy to fix because it is something we have done day after day.

On Cassius' improvements...
I have seen some improvement, but I definitely think he is playing some of his best basketball since he has been here. On the same page, I think he really understands that he has got to push the ball and that he has got to guard pretty good. That is the same page stuff. I think he is going to grow even more. Just the way he is starting to handle himself in the huddle, he is showing more leadership. Like I said for everybody you figure it out and he think he realizes that he is very important to this team and very important in what he does. It is fun to challenge a guy and then have him respond to a challenge. It would be a good question to ask him. I think this whole week of practice has been good but I think he has been growing here the last three or four games where he really has realized how valuable that pushing the ball is. To do those two things takes great conditioning and so far he has shown that he has it.

On shooting 29 three pointers…
I wasn't crazy about it. I thought we forced a couple early. I am glad you brought that up because I thought we had some good one's because of the way that they doubled Nick but I thought we forced a couple early. I thought we got a little impatient early and forced a couple up there. Kenny makes one and all of a sudden he is a 3-point shooter. He can make a shot but I thought we were living and dying with that early in the game. It just happened that Cassius was making them. Josh struggled a little bit and I didn't think McQuaid looked at the hoop enough. I wouldn't say that we want to be a 3-point shooting team but I would say that the circumstances today, the way that they clamped down inside leads to more threes.

On Kenny Goins...
It is funny you say that because you are right. Even Xavier wasn't running as hard. I didn't think anybody ran except for Cassius today. I think they got frustrated because Mark Montgomery did a good job of getting them back to be honest with you. We can't let that deter from what we are doing. I told Cassius in the second half that if he is pushing it and nobody is running, then you are just tiring yourself out for no reason because you are not going to score one on four. I thought X was our next best. I actually liked what Nick did because the way they doubled him. Last year he would have been so frustrated. He made some great passes and should have had six or seven assists if we made any shots in the first half. He too got a little frustrated later on and that is pretty normal. It got a little physical… that kid was strong from Northern Illinois and I thought it got a little physical. I voiced my opinion a few times. All in all, X was probably the next best. Kenny had some decent stats but didn't rebound really well which shows he is not where he probably has been. He had a few blocks and we just thought he was a step slow today compared to where he has been.

On reflecting on the non-conference season...
I think we are a little better defensively since the first three games. I said to myself this is going to be a disastrous defensive team and I would agree with Kyle that we have become better so far. I think the guys that I have the most problem with right now is me. I am trying so hard to get a couple of those freshman in there and yet I have not come up with a great substitution pattern. We were really working on it today, but then Josh went out and that created some problems. I think we have a good one with our bigs and not a great one with our guards yet. I think that is something that we still have got to improve on. I would say that if I graded us out I don't know what I would give us. If I give us an A then I get killed and if I give us a D I get killed. I think that we had a hell of a run if you look at who we played, where we played, and when we played them. I thought we did a good job. I still get frustrated over that Louisville loss and I was so frustrated that I watched it yesterday morning with my staff to figure out just what you said. Where were we back then and where are we now. If you remember, McQuaid didn't play in that game and Cassius got into foul trouble and we had some things that went wrong, so I think we are better prepared now. We have got a long way to go to compete in this league. I think there are going to be a lot of close games. I think the league is still really, really, really good. I really do. I think some of the worst teams are the hardest places to play and there are not any real bad, bad teams. I don't know the last time we had five, six, seven teams ranked in the top 25. I think all of them are deserving. You think of a team like Iowa who we beat pretty good here and I said then that they did not play good and we played very good. They are still ranked in the top 20 or 25 and they are good. A lot of things we have got to improve on and work on.

Northern Illinois Head Coach Mark Montgomery

Opening Statement…
Never in my wildest dreams did I think I was going to be a visiting coach coming up here talking about a Michigan State team, but you know typical Coach Izzo team: well-polished, going to compete for the Big Ten Championship, going to compete for the National Championship again. I thought we tried to battle; we came in shooting an unbelievable percentage. So credit Michigan State's defense. I don't think we were nervous, but we just missed some shots that we always make. But, they share the ball, they defend, they rebound and their ranking is very deserving.

On being a Spartan and getting a loud applause from the crowd…
You know like you said I'm a Spartan no matter where I'm at. Sometimes it harder when you leave because of course I follow my team, but I follow Michigan State in every sport. So, if you guys lose in football on Saturday, it's not a happy home for me in DeKalb and it felt great, I love the love. We've always taken care of ours, and you know I got my start because Izzo gave me the opportunity. He gave me two opportunities. I played for Jud (Heathcote), but everyone knew he was towards the end of his career, Izzo recruited me and he stuck behind me for a lot of years and it feels great.

On how good Michigan State's defense is and breaking it down…
No, their defense is that good, the shots that we usually get we didn't. We usually get a few more calls; the physical play is different. I always say that they're battle tested, you look at their schedule, you know they play UCLA, Florida, Texas, Louisville, you know Kansas and you look at our schedule you know the speed of the game, the prep and different things. You can't do it; we just don't have the players to do it, but they are very good. Their defense is very solid, their post play, you know when you have to double, when you have a player that you have to double on defense can make it awfully tough. They are sound, they get back in transition, they talk, they communicate, they do everything that his last 20 some years. I don't know I think it's 24 now years have done, and they're going to be awfully good this year, tough to beat.

On what his message to his team was at the end of the game…
You know after the game for our team now it's all about conference play. I told them thanks for competing hard and playing with great energy. I'm not disappointed when you leave it all out on the floor that's all you can ask. But, we put Ohio University on the board. You know you guys are already in Big Ten play, you're 2-0, we start conference next Saturday, so we have a week to get ready for we know we have to win our conference, win the conference tournament to get to the NCAA Tournament. So, I say that's what we got to, you know I want the effort in practice, like we had unbelievable focus and effort in practice leading up to this game. It has to be like that for Ohio and we stand a good chance.

On Cassius Winston's performance…
You know I'll say it again, when you're watching them on TV and then you see it first-hand, he does things effortlessly. Just the ball movement you know, like Ward's getting doubled, they're swinging the ball around and you know he's making shots and that's what he does. He's very efficient, very unselfish and he really got them rolling this afternoon.

Michigan State guard Cassius Winston

On his play so far this season and being on the same page with Coach Izzo…
Yeah definitely, just playing at the level I need to be at. He's been pushing me; consistently pushing me to be the player we both feel like I can be. To reach the highest level I can.

On the defensive matchup with Eugene German…
He's a really good player and he does a great job of finding shots; knocking down shots. I felt like I had to be solid and force him into tough situations. I had to rely on my help a little bit, rely on my guys to bail me out a little bit, but just be solid.

On making the early shots…
I knew he (German) was going to come out early, so I knew I had to make something happen too. I knew he was a good player so I came out ready, focused, and ready to play.

Michigan State forward Nick Ward

On his performance today…
I played okay, but there are more things I could have done differently. I did what I could. They doubled and triple-teamed me, so it made it hard to get a shot off. But, I was able to create for my teammates.

On Big Ten play starting…
We had a meeting as a team the other day and Coach talked to the freshmen about the meaning of it. It really showed that you have to bring it every day. We're trying to get another ring.

Michigan State forward Xavier Tillman

On the win today…
They beat Oakland pretty good, so we knew they were going to give us a huge challenge. This was a game we were expecting to be challenged a lot and we were challenged. We we ready for the battle.

On getting off to a good start in Big Ten play next week…
It's going to be important because our goal is to win the Big Ten outright. Every Big Ten game we have our goal is to win; and to win big.

On the passing down low with Nick Ward and beating double teams…
We work on it a lot in practice. It's important because teams think double-teams will limit us or limit our scoring, but we can still get out shooters involved. Then we can get ours off an offensive rebound or a repost. The double-teams really don't affect us like they used to.

Michigan State forward Kenny Goins

On beginning Big Ten play next week…
It's big time and going to be really important. We need to win all of our home games, so we need to come out strong against Northwestern. Ohio State always gives us fits down there. I think those first two games really give us a chance to make a statement around our league.

On the play of Xavier Tillman today…
He's been giving that to us all year. He kind of goes hidden sometimes coming off the bench, but always when he enters the game he effects it in a positive way. We call him the X factor, but that's truly what he is, rebounding, defensively and sometime points here and there. Always energy and positivity.

On the progression of Cassius Winston…
He's always had great vision and scoring potential, but it seems like now the game has slowed down tremendously for him. He doesn't make any bad plays and had zero turnovers today. Also on the defensive end, he stepped it up tenfold. It used to be try and hide Cassius and today he held his own better than anyone really could have. Those two areas are probably the best he's improved.

Players Mentioned

Kenny Goins

Xavier Tillman Sr.

Nick Ward

Cassius Winston