Post-Game Quotes: Maryland
1/21/2019 8:42:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo
Opening Statement…
Big game. I didn't think it was the prettiest game. Really impressed with our defense in general. Thought we had a couple guys who slacked for a while and bounced back. To win a game like that without Nick (Ward) playing (well) was... he might as well have been with Ahrens, who played a little bit, and Josh (Langford). He didn't even get a chance to get into that game. Thought some impressive stats were points in the paint. We still had 36 to their 20. Points off turnovers 14 to 3. Big one is fast break points, 29 to 9. I didn't think we ran as good; I thought we got tired. Cassius got hurt there in the first half, went down and banged his knee. (Cassius) Had a little lapse there defensively for a while. Give him credit, he sucked it up. Tried to do a better job of giving him some rest. We got him a few minutes, but still not very smooth offensively. I don't think you're gonna be with Nick outta there. Come back and out-rebound them. I thought the first half Kenny Goins was our star. Thought Xavier (Tillman) had some nice blocks. I thought we were tentative to shoot the ball and we shot it terribly from three. I thought a lot of times our guards were passing them up and our centers were taking them. We gotta get that straightened out a little bit. Not shooting it as well and not getting Nick even into the game, I think that was a heckuva win. I think Maryland is a very good basketball team. I thought we did a heckuva job on Cowan and did a decent job on Jalen Smith. A couple of those guards started hitting some of those threes late. In general, that's a very good basketball team that I'm sure Mark (Turgeon) doesn't feel they played great. I didn't feel we played great, but we found a way to win. That's what you've gotta do this time of year. A lot of teams getting upset. Our defense saved us.
On Aaron Henry preparing for the moment tonight and look as ready as he did tonight…
Especially the second half, he looked a lot more ready offensively and played a lot better defensively in the first half. He struggled a little bit, Gabe (Brown) struggled a little bit defensively, but those are good players we're playing against too. Aaron's a good athlete. As Gary Harris says, as he learns to play harder and harder, he's gonna get better and better. It's coming. Gabe, it's coming. Foster, it's coming. We're just gonna keep working with those guys. We're gonna go play a team next where they're gonna get it up and down. They scored 95 the other night, so our defensive is gonna have to be good. We're gonna have to get our running game going. To do that, you've gotta change bodies a little bit. We're just short some bodies right now.
On versatility in lineups tonight…
I thought that was impressive. We got something out of Xavier (Tillman), even though he struggled from the three. Something out of (Matt) McQuaid, even though he struggled from the three. I thought Kenny (Goins) was the most solid of our group, and Aaron (Henry). Cassius (Winston) missed a couple shots, but he doesn't miss many. I thought that driving layup he had was impressive. He did it after his defensive performance. We had a lot of guys that did something, but we're not shooting the ball within rhythm at all. It seems like early I was really disappointed. Matt passed up some shots, and I knew Kyle (Ahrens) would. Kyle only practiced a day and hopefully a day and a half. We'll have to figure out how we'll handle these next couple of days. It's gonna be hard for him and for Cassius. We got a lot out of a lot of guys.
On Cassius Winston developing his defensive game, holding Cowan to only seven points…
He hasn't always been this way. I think he is developing. I think there's a lot of things that are developing. His body changes. He's learning how to do a lot of things, but he's put in the work. I give him a lot of credit. It's easy for me to jump on him about his defensive. In this game, he had to guard their best player, he had to run our team and get very little rest. I know what he's going through, but I did challenge him at about the ten minute mark. I was really impressed, really really impressed, and it takes a lot to impress me. I thought he beared down then. We were a little slow in chasing down those pindown picks. I thought that one call on him, that's frustrating on a coach because you're trying to get a guy to play harder. Did a helluva job on that play.
On Cassius hug at the end of the game…
Let's face it, a lot of people give me crap about how you handle Cassius, that I'm too hard on Cassius. I'm not too hard on Cassius. He's got a lot to give. Every week right now, this year, I've seen him get better and better and better. I'm gonna keep pushing; he's gonna keep working. When I see a guy that I know is tired and I know is a little hurt do a couple things. We said we've gotta push the ball a little more, he had three great defensive stands and two good pushes. Damn right he deserves a hug. Maybe a kiss next time. It was good.
On how Nick Ward responded to his foul trouble and how Thomas Kithier's minutes game the team a spark at the end of the first half…
What he did, he ran the court. Nick was frustrated, but he handled it well. A maturity of him is, I was frustrated. I was more frustrated than he was. I thought he did a helluva job, but he didn't even get into the game. He only took two or three shots but did get five rebounds in that short period of time. That was good. Had four turnovers, didn't think he even had that. That was one of the areas too that we cleaned up, the turnovers. That made a difference. But we've gotta do a better job with Nick. He can't get in that foul trouble. He wasn't in that game at all.
On Miles Bridges kissing the Spartan before the game…
It was awesome. That is the tradition. We got Gary (Harris) back and we want to make sure we get the guys that leave early. That is one thing that Denzel (Valentine) and Draymond (Green) said... that is as emotional as anything that they did so it was pretty cool. Miles came back and I said do you want a chance to kiss the Spartan head and he said 'Hell yea I do.' He played in Indy and drove up, and he flies down to play Jaren tomorrow and that means more to me than half of the game. I love when those guys come back. It was great to spend time with him this afternoon. He was awesome.
On 20 consecutive Big Ten regular season wins…
It is one of the things that I don't really keep track of. The only thing I keep track of that I like is every team that leaves here has something that they can put their footprint on in this place. No matter what it is... it is nice that somebody wins a national championship, somebody might win four Big Ten championships, somebody else might do something else. To win 20 games in this league in a row is a hell of a feat. I don't think they give a trophy for it, and I don't think we can hang a banner for it, so it doesn't mean as much other than those players will be in the record book and hopefully when they bring their kids back or their grandkids… if it lasts that long... look what dad did, look what gramps did, look what somebody did.
On surprises this season...
We are a little better defensively than I thought we would be. We don't have Jaren (Jackson Jr. ) here, but Nick and X picked up the shot blocking. I think we are leading the league in shot blocking and that is pretty impressive. I think our break has become more lethal. We just need a couple more bodies to play man to man like we do, and to run you need bodies. I think that has dropped down a bit, but I still think that has been high in general, and we still rebound the ball pretty well. The area that I thought we would be a lot better at was three point shooting and we have struggled with that recently. Part of that is we have got to get X and Kenny to be Jaren in that respect. With Josh (Langford) and Kyle out they are two of our better three point shooters.
On an injury update for Joshua Langford…
He is in the boot now, but had the boot off for three fourths of a day and actually shot some yesterday and that was encouraging. A time table is not going to be Thursday. Now that the boot has been taken off periodically, and now that he can workout a little bit, I think we are starting to see a little progress here which is music to my ears.
On Kenny Goins improvement…
I thought Kenny was our best player early, I really did. He just did some great things, kept a lot of loose balls alive, and made a couple shots. His defense is phenomenal. I can play him on bigs and I can play him on guards. His passing is improved. Nick's passing has improved; Xavier's passing has improved. If there is an area that I think we have improved in, it would be that. I love to see guys that didn't put in the time all of the time and then the light bulb goes on. When the light bulb goes on you see Cassius defending or Kenny making some plays that he hasn't. Nick not getting frustrated. You see the growth, and for a coach and a parent, that is an awesome feeling.
On the slow stretches...
It wouldn't be difficult if I had the full set of guys, especially on the perimeter. It is difficult right now and I have to figure out what I am going to do with Cassius and how we are going to hold it up. I think we are so lethal on that break, so I don't want to hold it up. Cassius and McQuaid are wearing down a little bit on it, so we will look at that. If we can get Kyle and he can start playing that helps. One more body is 20 minutes that we can divide up. If we keep getting Gabe Brown a little better, and if we keep getting Foster a little better, we can get maybe eight or nine minutes out of those guys it would make a big difference for Cassius and McQuaid. McQuaid has got to guard everybody and his uncle, and today we had him as the help guy. He is going to end up maybe the best defensive player in this league, if you look at all the things that he does. We went 4-of-7 from the three to 0-of-8 the rest of the half. I will tell you a funny story… I told Xavier, you try to be kind about it, but when you don't hit the rim on that one I say 'you think that was a good shot' and he said 'well I work on it'. I said yeah, I work on being taller and it just doesn't happen sometimes. We are going to continue to work on it because he did work on it. He has worked his butt off on it, and Kenny has worked hard on it, but those are some shots that we are getting because Nick is getting a lot of attention. We are just going to step in a little bit, they don't always have to be threes. We have got to coach it a little better and we will do that. If I thought defensively we would be as good as we have been, we can lock people down right now, and if we start shooting the ball better then we take a step up. We have got a lot of work to do, and this is going to be a brutal weekend with the Thursday-Sunday, and both on the road. One of the longer trips in Iowa, but at the same time what an exciting time for us. This is a different Iowa team which we will talk about maybe tomorrow or the next day. I think they have won nine of 10. The league is still very tough and everybody is getting knocked off, and what I am most proud of for this team… The teams recently that have been knocked off like Kansas… we have not fallen to that yet. We are kind of mad that an 11 point lead grew to 22 then went back to 11. It is kind of a neat thing to be mad about when you think about it because we still played a very quality team. Mark has done a great job. He has got some young guys too, but we did a decent job on the two veterans and that was the difference in the game. Michigan State Players
Senior forward Kenny Goins
On what winning tonight means…
You know we are going to celebrate this win a little bit tonight, but tomorrow we are right back at it, on to the next. This is the part of the season where they just keep coming, so we have to focus on Iowa now and watch the film, and get ready for them, because it is always hard to go on the road at Iowa.
On what sticks out about his individual game…
Probably assists. I don't think I got as many tonight. I know it is kind of really negative sounding, but I am happy with the way I played. I am used to getting more assists. It kind of hurt not having Nick in there with the foul trouble and what not, but I still have to make some better passes. I know I had a couple turnovers, and it is hard to not be critical on yourself, but I am really happy with how I played.
On the team rallying despite Nick being in foul trouble…
We have been saying all season that we have a whole team effort every single night, everyone can go off. I think tonight we had five guys in double figures. It is another step in us showing everyone how balanced we really are, and I do not think you will find another game where Nick has zero points. The fact that we can do this tonight, and as soon as we can get a game where he is not really in foul trouble, we are a monster team."
Freshman forward Aaron Henry
On picking up the slack when the team is shorthanded…
I was just letting the game come to me. Tonight, the ball was in favor of me putting the ball in the basket. I wasn't trying to force anything, but that is just how it went.
On how the team accelerated in the second half…
I mean it was just how the game went. We made runs and those timeouts were critical at the time to make sure we got the right play, so they did not make a bigger push than we did.
On playing Cowan defensively…
It was huge. He came in averaging 18 points, and we had to make sure he was locked down, and I feel we did that.
On how the team came together…
They are a great basketball team, and the fact that we are so deep and so talented, and we are deep on the bench. Some guys really stepped up and it is self-explanatory.
Junior guard Cassius Winston
On having the whole team play a part in this win…
It is huge. It is going to help a lot toward the end of the year. Everybody isn't going to play their best every game, so we need guys to pick each other up.
On getting better each week…
Yeah, definitely. Things are getting easier out there. The pace is getting better. I'm doing a lot better on the defensive end. Every night I step up to the challenge.
On getting better as the season goes on…
I'm needing more consistency. We put together stretches where we are really good, and then have moments where we seem average or a decent team. We are relying on us being really good to bring it back or make a run. If we can just stay consistent and play at that high level, there won't be a lot of teams that can play with us.
On what Miles being here meant…
It was huge. Especially our class, what he meant to our class, and what he meant to our program. Things he did for this program and having him back and supporting shows what kind of family this is.
Maryland Head Coach Mark Turgeon
Opening Statement…
Michigan State I thought was really good tonight. We let them do what they do well which is run, 29 fast-break points. I thought after the first four minutes we competed on the boards a little bit more but it's a really good team, and they've been really dominate in this building. They can really guard; they can really guard you. They can play straight up on the post which is saying a lot trying to guard Bruno (Fernando), and they did a lot of things well. Tonight's the first night my team's looked young. We are young, but it's the first night we've looked young. I think Michigan State had a lot to do with that, and they had some young guys out there too but they're a terrific team. Starting the second half, I didn't think we competed the way we needed to, but I thought the last 14 minutes we tried as hard as we could try and that's all I can ask so we'll learn and try to get better.
On his plan to defend Nick Ward…
If we could have got our defense set, I thought our game plan was good, but Nick (Ward) didn't play a lot which really helped us. Kept us out of foul trouble I think because he puts such foul pressure on you. Now we wanted their four man to beat us and they subbed 15 in, we don't know his name I apologize (Kither). He made two buckets right before half and really changed the game and then Goins made a few in the second half, made him hard to guard but your whole concentration is Ward and Cassius Winston and close after that is McQuaid because the way he's playing, he's really playing well. You've just got to pick your poison and do the best you can, but I think our half-court defense was good enough it's just the other parts of the game wasn't.
On the change in his defense…
Well we went zone, I waited too long. I just wanted to compete a little bit, so I said I didn't think we competed the start of the second half. We got caught on the screen you know Cassius Winston first play of the second half we're not even within 10 feet of him. We've got to compete a little harder than that, so we couldn't guard him. We did go a few possessions of zone but that's not who we are, and I think we let our offense affect our defense a little bit. They were prepared; we had to change some things and do somethings a little differently I thought helped us open it up a little bit but just weren't very good defensively to start the second half.
On the versatility of Michigan State…
I can't see these things but the Henry kid, he's really good. You watch him on film he's really good, great defender, length, you know he's hard to box out, he made shots. That was a piece that I think really helped them I thought tonight. I expect Goins; he always makes shots against us, so I expect him to. Cassius is who he is, Ward and McQuaid. It's a pretty good team, pretty good players.
On the difficulty of stopping the fast break…
The hard ones are on when we score, those are the hard ones and trust me we worked at it. We worked on a lot of things that are supposed to help in transition defense and we didn't do a great job with it so it is what it is. The start of the second half was really frustrating. It's like we weren't even out there. I mean they'd just get all the way to the rim, so give them credit they're good in transition. We'll learn from it and hopefully get better.
On the difference of the environment and how they handled it…
I think it's who we played to be quite honest with you. It wasn't like Michigan State was going to overlook us. The building's always great when you come, and they were ready and they're older and physical and it showed tonight, but we've been pretty good on the road. We lost at Purdue by two. We competed early in December, and we've been really good since. We've got a really, everybody does, we got a really hard, good schedule ahead of us so hopefully we'll play better.
On Kenny Goins…
He's a good player you know he's a great rebounder, he can make shots, he's physical, he's a really good defender, physical defender. He did make some nice passes but no we knew what we were getting into. You just have to pick your poison a little bit when you guard these guys and it worked a little bit. First half they had 22 points with three minutes to go so we were doing some good things. Just transition defense and second-chance points were hurting us.
On Aaron Wiggins performance…
I'm glad Aaron made some shots. He took some tough ones and made them and kind of opened things up a little bit for us which was good. Sticks just didn't have a great night. Sticks is a really good player and it's an eye opener for him just how big an physical the elite teams are, so he'll learn from it. It just really wasn't his night, never really could get into a flow.
Opening Statement…
Big game. I didn't think it was the prettiest game. Really impressed with our defense in general. Thought we had a couple guys who slacked for a while and bounced back. To win a game like that without Nick (Ward) playing (well) was... he might as well have been with Ahrens, who played a little bit, and Josh (Langford). He didn't even get a chance to get into that game. Thought some impressive stats were points in the paint. We still had 36 to their 20. Points off turnovers 14 to 3. Big one is fast break points, 29 to 9. I didn't think we ran as good; I thought we got tired. Cassius got hurt there in the first half, went down and banged his knee. (Cassius) Had a little lapse there defensively for a while. Give him credit, he sucked it up. Tried to do a better job of giving him some rest. We got him a few minutes, but still not very smooth offensively. I don't think you're gonna be with Nick outta there. Come back and out-rebound them. I thought the first half Kenny Goins was our star. Thought Xavier (Tillman) had some nice blocks. I thought we were tentative to shoot the ball and we shot it terribly from three. I thought a lot of times our guards were passing them up and our centers were taking them. We gotta get that straightened out a little bit. Not shooting it as well and not getting Nick even into the game, I think that was a heckuva win. I think Maryland is a very good basketball team. I thought we did a heckuva job on Cowan and did a decent job on Jalen Smith. A couple of those guards started hitting some of those threes late. In general, that's a very good basketball team that I'm sure Mark (Turgeon) doesn't feel they played great. I didn't feel we played great, but we found a way to win. That's what you've gotta do this time of year. A lot of teams getting upset. Our defense saved us.
On Aaron Henry preparing for the moment tonight and look as ready as he did tonight…
Especially the second half, he looked a lot more ready offensively and played a lot better defensively in the first half. He struggled a little bit, Gabe (Brown) struggled a little bit defensively, but those are good players we're playing against too. Aaron's a good athlete. As Gary Harris says, as he learns to play harder and harder, he's gonna get better and better. It's coming. Gabe, it's coming. Foster, it's coming. We're just gonna keep working with those guys. We're gonna go play a team next where they're gonna get it up and down. They scored 95 the other night, so our defensive is gonna have to be good. We're gonna have to get our running game going. To do that, you've gotta change bodies a little bit. We're just short some bodies right now.
On versatility in lineups tonight…
I thought that was impressive. We got something out of Xavier (Tillman), even though he struggled from the three. Something out of (Matt) McQuaid, even though he struggled from the three. I thought Kenny (Goins) was the most solid of our group, and Aaron (Henry). Cassius (Winston) missed a couple shots, but he doesn't miss many. I thought that driving layup he had was impressive. He did it after his defensive performance. We had a lot of guys that did something, but we're not shooting the ball within rhythm at all. It seems like early I was really disappointed. Matt passed up some shots, and I knew Kyle (Ahrens) would. Kyle only practiced a day and hopefully a day and a half. We'll have to figure out how we'll handle these next couple of days. It's gonna be hard for him and for Cassius. We got a lot out of a lot of guys.
On Cassius Winston developing his defensive game, holding Cowan to only seven points…
He hasn't always been this way. I think he is developing. I think there's a lot of things that are developing. His body changes. He's learning how to do a lot of things, but he's put in the work. I give him a lot of credit. It's easy for me to jump on him about his defensive. In this game, he had to guard their best player, he had to run our team and get very little rest. I know what he's going through, but I did challenge him at about the ten minute mark. I was really impressed, really really impressed, and it takes a lot to impress me. I thought he beared down then. We were a little slow in chasing down those pindown picks. I thought that one call on him, that's frustrating on a coach because you're trying to get a guy to play harder. Did a helluva job on that play.
On Cassius hug at the end of the game…
Let's face it, a lot of people give me crap about how you handle Cassius, that I'm too hard on Cassius. I'm not too hard on Cassius. He's got a lot to give. Every week right now, this year, I've seen him get better and better and better. I'm gonna keep pushing; he's gonna keep working. When I see a guy that I know is tired and I know is a little hurt do a couple things. We said we've gotta push the ball a little more, he had three great defensive stands and two good pushes. Damn right he deserves a hug. Maybe a kiss next time. It was good.
On how Nick Ward responded to his foul trouble and how Thomas Kithier's minutes game the team a spark at the end of the first half…
What he did, he ran the court. Nick was frustrated, but he handled it well. A maturity of him is, I was frustrated. I was more frustrated than he was. I thought he did a helluva job, but he didn't even get into the game. He only took two or three shots but did get five rebounds in that short period of time. That was good. Had four turnovers, didn't think he even had that. That was one of the areas too that we cleaned up, the turnovers. That made a difference. But we've gotta do a better job with Nick. He can't get in that foul trouble. He wasn't in that game at all.
On Miles Bridges kissing the Spartan before the game…
It was awesome. That is the tradition. We got Gary (Harris) back and we want to make sure we get the guys that leave early. That is one thing that Denzel (Valentine) and Draymond (Green) said... that is as emotional as anything that they did so it was pretty cool. Miles came back and I said do you want a chance to kiss the Spartan head and he said 'Hell yea I do.' He played in Indy and drove up, and he flies down to play Jaren tomorrow and that means more to me than half of the game. I love when those guys come back. It was great to spend time with him this afternoon. He was awesome.
On 20 consecutive Big Ten regular season wins…
It is one of the things that I don't really keep track of. The only thing I keep track of that I like is every team that leaves here has something that they can put their footprint on in this place. No matter what it is... it is nice that somebody wins a national championship, somebody might win four Big Ten championships, somebody else might do something else. To win 20 games in this league in a row is a hell of a feat. I don't think they give a trophy for it, and I don't think we can hang a banner for it, so it doesn't mean as much other than those players will be in the record book and hopefully when they bring their kids back or their grandkids… if it lasts that long... look what dad did, look what gramps did, look what somebody did.
On surprises this season...
We are a little better defensively than I thought we would be. We don't have Jaren (Jackson Jr. ) here, but Nick and X picked up the shot blocking. I think we are leading the league in shot blocking and that is pretty impressive. I think our break has become more lethal. We just need a couple more bodies to play man to man like we do, and to run you need bodies. I think that has dropped down a bit, but I still think that has been high in general, and we still rebound the ball pretty well. The area that I thought we would be a lot better at was three point shooting and we have struggled with that recently. Part of that is we have got to get X and Kenny to be Jaren in that respect. With Josh (Langford) and Kyle out they are two of our better three point shooters.
On an injury update for Joshua Langford…
He is in the boot now, but had the boot off for three fourths of a day and actually shot some yesterday and that was encouraging. A time table is not going to be Thursday. Now that the boot has been taken off periodically, and now that he can workout a little bit, I think we are starting to see a little progress here which is music to my ears.
On Kenny Goins improvement…
I thought Kenny was our best player early, I really did. He just did some great things, kept a lot of loose balls alive, and made a couple shots. His defense is phenomenal. I can play him on bigs and I can play him on guards. His passing is improved. Nick's passing has improved; Xavier's passing has improved. If there is an area that I think we have improved in, it would be that. I love to see guys that didn't put in the time all of the time and then the light bulb goes on. When the light bulb goes on you see Cassius defending or Kenny making some plays that he hasn't. Nick not getting frustrated. You see the growth, and for a coach and a parent, that is an awesome feeling.
On the slow stretches...
It wouldn't be difficult if I had the full set of guys, especially on the perimeter. It is difficult right now and I have to figure out what I am going to do with Cassius and how we are going to hold it up. I think we are so lethal on that break, so I don't want to hold it up. Cassius and McQuaid are wearing down a little bit on it, so we will look at that. If we can get Kyle and he can start playing that helps. One more body is 20 minutes that we can divide up. If we keep getting Gabe Brown a little better, and if we keep getting Foster a little better, we can get maybe eight or nine minutes out of those guys it would make a big difference for Cassius and McQuaid. McQuaid has got to guard everybody and his uncle, and today we had him as the help guy. He is going to end up maybe the best defensive player in this league, if you look at all the things that he does. We went 4-of-7 from the three to 0-of-8 the rest of the half. I will tell you a funny story… I told Xavier, you try to be kind about it, but when you don't hit the rim on that one I say 'you think that was a good shot' and he said 'well I work on it'. I said yeah, I work on being taller and it just doesn't happen sometimes. We are going to continue to work on it because he did work on it. He has worked his butt off on it, and Kenny has worked hard on it, but those are some shots that we are getting because Nick is getting a lot of attention. We are just going to step in a little bit, they don't always have to be threes. We have got to coach it a little better and we will do that. If I thought defensively we would be as good as we have been, we can lock people down right now, and if we start shooting the ball better then we take a step up. We have got a lot of work to do, and this is going to be a brutal weekend with the Thursday-Sunday, and both on the road. One of the longer trips in Iowa, but at the same time what an exciting time for us. This is a different Iowa team which we will talk about maybe tomorrow or the next day. I think they have won nine of 10. The league is still very tough and everybody is getting knocked off, and what I am most proud of for this team… The teams recently that have been knocked off like Kansas… we have not fallen to that yet. We are kind of mad that an 11 point lead grew to 22 then went back to 11. It is kind of a neat thing to be mad about when you think about it because we still played a very quality team. Mark has done a great job. He has got some young guys too, but we did a decent job on the two veterans and that was the difference in the game. Michigan State Players
Senior forward Kenny Goins
On what winning tonight means…
You know we are going to celebrate this win a little bit tonight, but tomorrow we are right back at it, on to the next. This is the part of the season where they just keep coming, so we have to focus on Iowa now and watch the film, and get ready for them, because it is always hard to go on the road at Iowa.
On what sticks out about his individual game…
Probably assists. I don't think I got as many tonight. I know it is kind of really negative sounding, but I am happy with the way I played. I am used to getting more assists. It kind of hurt not having Nick in there with the foul trouble and what not, but I still have to make some better passes. I know I had a couple turnovers, and it is hard to not be critical on yourself, but I am really happy with how I played.
On the team rallying despite Nick being in foul trouble…
We have been saying all season that we have a whole team effort every single night, everyone can go off. I think tonight we had five guys in double figures. It is another step in us showing everyone how balanced we really are, and I do not think you will find another game where Nick has zero points. The fact that we can do this tonight, and as soon as we can get a game where he is not really in foul trouble, we are a monster team."
Freshman forward Aaron Henry
On picking up the slack when the team is shorthanded…
I was just letting the game come to me. Tonight, the ball was in favor of me putting the ball in the basket. I wasn't trying to force anything, but that is just how it went.
On how the team accelerated in the second half…
I mean it was just how the game went. We made runs and those timeouts were critical at the time to make sure we got the right play, so they did not make a bigger push than we did.
On playing Cowan defensively…
It was huge. He came in averaging 18 points, and we had to make sure he was locked down, and I feel we did that.
On how the team came together…
They are a great basketball team, and the fact that we are so deep and so talented, and we are deep on the bench. Some guys really stepped up and it is self-explanatory.
Junior guard Cassius Winston
On having the whole team play a part in this win…
It is huge. It is going to help a lot toward the end of the year. Everybody isn't going to play their best every game, so we need guys to pick each other up.
On getting better each week…
Yeah, definitely. Things are getting easier out there. The pace is getting better. I'm doing a lot better on the defensive end. Every night I step up to the challenge.
On getting better as the season goes on…
I'm needing more consistency. We put together stretches where we are really good, and then have moments where we seem average or a decent team. We are relying on us being really good to bring it back or make a run. If we can just stay consistent and play at that high level, there won't be a lot of teams that can play with us.
On what Miles being here meant…
It was huge. Especially our class, what he meant to our class, and what he meant to our program. Things he did for this program and having him back and supporting shows what kind of family this is.
Maryland Head Coach Mark Turgeon
Opening Statement…
Michigan State I thought was really good tonight. We let them do what they do well which is run, 29 fast-break points. I thought after the first four minutes we competed on the boards a little bit more but it's a really good team, and they've been really dominate in this building. They can really guard; they can really guard you. They can play straight up on the post which is saying a lot trying to guard Bruno (Fernando), and they did a lot of things well. Tonight's the first night my team's looked young. We are young, but it's the first night we've looked young. I think Michigan State had a lot to do with that, and they had some young guys out there too but they're a terrific team. Starting the second half, I didn't think we competed the way we needed to, but I thought the last 14 minutes we tried as hard as we could try and that's all I can ask so we'll learn and try to get better.
On his plan to defend Nick Ward…
If we could have got our defense set, I thought our game plan was good, but Nick (Ward) didn't play a lot which really helped us. Kept us out of foul trouble I think because he puts such foul pressure on you. Now we wanted their four man to beat us and they subbed 15 in, we don't know his name I apologize (Kither). He made two buckets right before half and really changed the game and then Goins made a few in the second half, made him hard to guard but your whole concentration is Ward and Cassius Winston and close after that is McQuaid because the way he's playing, he's really playing well. You've just got to pick your poison and do the best you can, but I think our half-court defense was good enough it's just the other parts of the game wasn't.
On the change in his defense…
Well we went zone, I waited too long. I just wanted to compete a little bit, so I said I didn't think we competed the start of the second half. We got caught on the screen you know Cassius Winston first play of the second half we're not even within 10 feet of him. We've got to compete a little harder than that, so we couldn't guard him. We did go a few possessions of zone but that's not who we are, and I think we let our offense affect our defense a little bit. They were prepared; we had to change some things and do somethings a little differently I thought helped us open it up a little bit but just weren't very good defensively to start the second half.
On the versatility of Michigan State…
I can't see these things but the Henry kid, he's really good. You watch him on film he's really good, great defender, length, you know he's hard to box out, he made shots. That was a piece that I think really helped them I thought tonight. I expect Goins; he always makes shots against us, so I expect him to. Cassius is who he is, Ward and McQuaid. It's a pretty good team, pretty good players.
On the difficulty of stopping the fast break…
The hard ones are on when we score, those are the hard ones and trust me we worked at it. We worked on a lot of things that are supposed to help in transition defense and we didn't do a great job with it so it is what it is. The start of the second half was really frustrating. It's like we weren't even out there. I mean they'd just get all the way to the rim, so give them credit they're good in transition. We'll learn from it and hopefully get better.
On the difference of the environment and how they handled it…
I think it's who we played to be quite honest with you. It wasn't like Michigan State was going to overlook us. The building's always great when you come, and they were ready and they're older and physical and it showed tonight, but we've been pretty good on the road. We lost at Purdue by two. We competed early in December, and we've been really good since. We've got a really, everybody does, we got a really hard, good schedule ahead of us so hopefully we'll play better.
On Kenny Goins…
He's a good player you know he's a great rebounder, he can make shots, he's physical, he's a really good defender, physical defender. He did make some nice passes but no we knew what we were getting into. You just have to pick your poison a little bit when you guard these guys and it worked a little bit. First half they had 22 points with three minutes to go so we were doing some good things. Just transition defense and second-chance points were hurting us.
On Aaron Wiggins performance…
I'm glad Aaron made some shots. He took some tough ones and made them and kind of opened things up a little bit for us which was good. Sticks just didn't have a great night. Sticks is a really good player and it's an eye opener for him just how big an physical the elite teams are, so he'll learn from it. It just really wasn't his night, never really could get into a flow.
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