Michigan State University Athletics
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Tom Izzo Weekly Press Conference: Sweet 16
3/26/2019 1:00:00 PM | Men's Basketball
East Lansing, Mich. – Michigan State's men's basketball Head Coach Tom Izzo met with the media on Monday afternoon, addressing the team's first weekend of the NCAA Tournament and looking forward to the Sweet 16 against No. 3 seed LSU.
Michigan State is the No. 2 seed in the East Region and has won seven-straight games and 12 of its last 13 overall heading into the second week of the NCAA Tournament.
Transcript below.
Opening statement…
Well it was a good weekend for us as far as winning, you know, we had mixed feelings on how we played and then you watch the rest of the tournament and see that so many teams played, had struggles in games; There were a lot of them. The good thing is in the last game we got contributions from a lot of players. Six players had nine points or more and that was good. I think we saw some progress in Nick (Ward) and that would be really good, working back into the rotation. There's still stumbling blocks but even he said he felt so much better after that game, just with the feel, not necessarily physically. For now, our focus is all on LSU. They are among the best rebounding teams in the country, they turn people over a lot; One's one of our strengths, one's one of our weaknesses. Field goal percentage-wise, they're giving up 44-45 percent. Maybe that's their weakness, maybe that's our strength as we've been one of the leaders in that. They have a tremendous point guard in Tremont Waters, he can both score and pass with tremendous quickness. They've got two very big players in Kavell Bigby-Williams at 6'11 and the freshman Naz Reid, who at sometime during the year was a top ten pick; Who knows where he is now but he's a player that - very physical team. Maybe the strength of this whole team is, I think they lead the nation in offensive rebounding percentage. They just go like mad men, they've got three forwards, some that they bring in and some that start, that are probably as close to teams I had in the 2000, '99 season as I've ever seen. They're athletes. They're 6'5 to 6'7. They're strong. That's going to be a big concern of ours, especially with our lack of depth on the perimeter because a couple of those guys are wing guys that really go. Excited, opportunity to play another weekend. There's only 16 teams left. Weather's getting nice, days are getting long and we're practicing at the right time of year.
On LSU playing with emotion right now…
They also lost a player at the beginning of the year, I guess there's a lot of reasons to play. Sometimes those emotions become negative, sometimes they become positive. I'm not there everyday, I don't know what it brings. I just know this, they have one of those 'junkyard dog' teams that I've always appreciated here myself. They just have a bunch of athletes that are just about all 6'4 to 6'8 with a couple of 6'10, 6'11 guys and a small point guard who's quick. Those emotions always matter but once the game starts then you have to play the game. I don't know. I only say I don't care because I can't control that; Getting better at what I can control and what I can't control.
On where the past two to three weeks rank in terms of toughness…
I'd say Saturday to Saturday, that was two weeks where you're playing for a Big Ten Championship, you're playing for a Big Ten Tournament Championship; You play four of the top Big Ten teams; Then you play a tough Bradley team, then you play Minnesota again. We played 24 Big Ten games. I don't know how you rate that but I do know this, it was one-and-done time from that week before when you're playing for a Big Ten Championship, and then you got to win the Big Ten Tournament every time; If you lose, you're out. Then you get to the NCAA Tournament, if you lose, you're out. I'm not sure there's been more pressure, we've had where we played for the Big Ten Tournament, we won the last game of the year back in the day but if we would've lost, we still won the league. If we would've lost the Big Ten Tournament, we were still going to be a one-seed back then. There were a lot of different pressures on this year's team. We never had the injuries that we have this year, the lack of people so I'd say that's where these guys mentally and physically have maybe stepped up to a level that no Michigan State team has stepped up to, at least in a long, long time.
On the limits LSU's rebounding has on running the ball…
You know I look at that as a plus. I mean they're sending everybody including the coach to the boards and if we do get the ball, I think that helps our running game because they're heading south and we want to head north. But we have to get it first. I don't think it limits us, I think at the beginning of the Minnesota game, we were worried about their rebounding, we ran the ball really well. We haven't consistently run well. A lot of that has been Cassius (Winston) and his injuries and the things he's gone through because Aaron Henry is really starting to run the court now. (Matt) McQuaid is getting back pretty healthy. The depth of not having (Kyle) Ahrens, because he was one of our best runners, has hurt. We think we have to run and get it in the open court against these guys too. We're going to continue to try to do what we do and at a little better level, including, it was nice to come on at the end of the year, we had days when we rebounded better; A little laxed the first half of the Bradley game in that, but I thought our rebounding was upgraded in the last month. It's going to have to go to another level if you watch these guys on film.
On the ability of the players to focus on the next game in front of them...
I think there's some truth to that and some of it goes by what you did. In other words, Denzel Valentine had one goal in 2016, to win a National Championship, because we thought we had a good enough team in '15 to get there and we did; We had a lot of people back. I don't blame them for that. I don't think it was such an obsession that it was a negative, but maybe it put more undue pressure on us. I don't know. Then we got to Miles (Bridges) first year when we were just surviving. Then last year we were picked one-two in the country, although we were picked in the top ten all year this year. I think this team has been a little more connected because they've been through more adversity. Anytime you go through adversity it strengthens you. The adversity we went through last year was maybe outside adversity where the adversity we went through this year has been our own players getting hurt, inside adversity. When you look at it that way, they had to make adjustments that they could make this year. I think this connected part of it has really been good. I think Nick has really seen that this last game. We talked to Nick a lot the night before the last game, how everybody's a little more connected; He's got to get into that. That started maybe right before he got hurt, we started making some adjustments and then after he got hurt we just had to make more adjustments. Everybody had to buy in more. There wasn't a lot of time for… If we made mistakes we knew we were not going to win games; Maybe that's been a positive because I could argue whether the 30 games we won last year to the 30 games we won this year. I am proud that... I looked at the standings last night when I got home and I didn't realize, and there were tiebreakers, but the last four teams on the computer that there were; It started Northwestern last then I think it was Nebraska, maybe Illinois, somebody else, were the four teams we only played once. I think playing Michigan twice and Purdue twice and Iowa twice and only one of those top six we didn't play twice, I believe was Maryland. I don't think we skated in anyway. We've just kind of had to earn our way and you bring up a good point, maybe that had something to do with it. I don't know. I think we're all looking for reasons but as I've said many times it's hard to compare the two years.
On if the team is playing some of its basketball at the right time…
I think there's times during the games where we're playing our best basketball and that's why you win. I think we've figured out how to win at the end and that's why. You have a point guard like I have who when in time makes winning plays. I don't think we've been as consistent as I'd like us to be and yet, like I said, when we're making substitutions the other night and I said put so and so in and he says, 'We can't do that, we'd have four freshmen that haven't played much, in the game at the same time,' because we tried to look at it as DJ and I do before the game and what do we want to stay away from? Well, if this guy's in there we'd like to have at least one or two of these guys in there; A couple of times we were stuck. I think that leads to inconsistent play but I think there's times, at the start of the game, the stretch that Cassius went… There's some decent stretches where we've played our best basketball and that's what you've got to do to win. Consistency overall, I think you've got to add those injuries and those substitutions in there that create some problem; It's not the players fault, it's just a fact of life.
On where Nick is at as he tries to work his way back in…
I thought Friday-Thursday, his head wasn't where it needed to be. I thought, we spent a lot of time with Nick on Friday and I thought he's in the best place he's been since he got injured. He was in here working out on his own yesterday because we had the day off and I just think he just felt better. It's easy to tell a guy is not in as good of shape or he's … but he said to me on Friday he just didn't feel he was dribbling the ball comfortable - 'I just didn't feel comfortable' and I said 'well, that's normal.' But he's never really been out in his career, he's never had an injury where he was out any time. I tried to show him, Michael Jordan didn't just come back, LeBron James didn't just come back, Zion Williamson took a longer period to come back to make sure. The day he was free to go, we played him. I think his whole… I think he's in a good spot now but I still think he's got a ways to go but I think those three guys are really figuring out that we need to get that rotation back and that's what we're working on a daily basis.
On if he's seen the benefits of having a veteran core down the stretch…
Well I think with Kenny (Goins), McQuaid and Cassius have really seen it. Nick gets hurt, poor Josh (Langford) has been hurt the whole time. Kyle Ahrens, one of my more experienced guys that I can't tell you how much we're missing him right now because he was my best lane runner; Toughest kid. Yeah I'm seeing the benefits of it because we've really been able to rely on those three guys, but three guys aren't enough to win big, big, big, too. We need to get some other guys; Aaron Henry is definitely coming on, if we get Nick back in that fold and Xavier (Tillman) has been pretty… Now all of a sudden you've got five or six guys and I think that can get it done.
Michigan State is the No. 2 seed in the East Region and has won seven-straight games and 12 of its last 13 overall heading into the second week of the NCAA Tournament.
Transcript below.
Opening statement…
Well it was a good weekend for us as far as winning, you know, we had mixed feelings on how we played and then you watch the rest of the tournament and see that so many teams played, had struggles in games; There were a lot of them. The good thing is in the last game we got contributions from a lot of players. Six players had nine points or more and that was good. I think we saw some progress in Nick (Ward) and that would be really good, working back into the rotation. There's still stumbling blocks but even he said he felt so much better after that game, just with the feel, not necessarily physically. For now, our focus is all on LSU. They are among the best rebounding teams in the country, they turn people over a lot; One's one of our strengths, one's one of our weaknesses. Field goal percentage-wise, they're giving up 44-45 percent. Maybe that's their weakness, maybe that's our strength as we've been one of the leaders in that. They have a tremendous point guard in Tremont Waters, he can both score and pass with tremendous quickness. They've got two very big players in Kavell Bigby-Williams at 6'11 and the freshman Naz Reid, who at sometime during the year was a top ten pick; Who knows where he is now but he's a player that - very physical team. Maybe the strength of this whole team is, I think they lead the nation in offensive rebounding percentage. They just go like mad men, they've got three forwards, some that they bring in and some that start, that are probably as close to teams I had in the 2000, '99 season as I've ever seen. They're athletes. They're 6'5 to 6'7. They're strong. That's going to be a big concern of ours, especially with our lack of depth on the perimeter because a couple of those guys are wing guys that really go. Excited, opportunity to play another weekend. There's only 16 teams left. Weather's getting nice, days are getting long and we're practicing at the right time of year.
On LSU playing with emotion right now…
They also lost a player at the beginning of the year, I guess there's a lot of reasons to play. Sometimes those emotions become negative, sometimes they become positive. I'm not there everyday, I don't know what it brings. I just know this, they have one of those 'junkyard dog' teams that I've always appreciated here myself. They just have a bunch of athletes that are just about all 6'4 to 6'8 with a couple of 6'10, 6'11 guys and a small point guard who's quick. Those emotions always matter but once the game starts then you have to play the game. I don't know. I only say I don't care because I can't control that; Getting better at what I can control and what I can't control.
On where the past two to three weeks rank in terms of toughness…
I'd say Saturday to Saturday, that was two weeks where you're playing for a Big Ten Championship, you're playing for a Big Ten Tournament Championship; You play four of the top Big Ten teams; Then you play a tough Bradley team, then you play Minnesota again. We played 24 Big Ten games. I don't know how you rate that but I do know this, it was one-and-done time from that week before when you're playing for a Big Ten Championship, and then you got to win the Big Ten Tournament every time; If you lose, you're out. Then you get to the NCAA Tournament, if you lose, you're out. I'm not sure there's been more pressure, we've had where we played for the Big Ten Tournament, we won the last game of the year back in the day but if we would've lost, we still won the league. If we would've lost the Big Ten Tournament, we were still going to be a one-seed back then. There were a lot of different pressures on this year's team. We never had the injuries that we have this year, the lack of people so I'd say that's where these guys mentally and physically have maybe stepped up to a level that no Michigan State team has stepped up to, at least in a long, long time.
On the limits LSU's rebounding has on running the ball…
You know I look at that as a plus. I mean they're sending everybody including the coach to the boards and if we do get the ball, I think that helps our running game because they're heading south and we want to head north. But we have to get it first. I don't think it limits us, I think at the beginning of the Minnesota game, we were worried about their rebounding, we ran the ball really well. We haven't consistently run well. A lot of that has been Cassius (Winston) and his injuries and the things he's gone through because Aaron Henry is really starting to run the court now. (Matt) McQuaid is getting back pretty healthy. The depth of not having (Kyle) Ahrens, because he was one of our best runners, has hurt. We think we have to run and get it in the open court against these guys too. We're going to continue to try to do what we do and at a little better level, including, it was nice to come on at the end of the year, we had days when we rebounded better; A little laxed the first half of the Bradley game in that, but I thought our rebounding was upgraded in the last month. It's going to have to go to another level if you watch these guys on film.
On the ability of the players to focus on the next game in front of them...
I think there's some truth to that and some of it goes by what you did. In other words, Denzel Valentine had one goal in 2016, to win a National Championship, because we thought we had a good enough team in '15 to get there and we did; We had a lot of people back. I don't blame them for that. I don't think it was such an obsession that it was a negative, but maybe it put more undue pressure on us. I don't know. Then we got to Miles (Bridges) first year when we were just surviving. Then last year we were picked one-two in the country, although we were picked in the top ten all year this year. I think this team has been a little more connected because they've been through more adversity. Anytime you go through adversity it strengthens you. The adversity we went through last year was maybe outside adversity where the adversity we went through this year has been our own players getting hurt, inside adversity. When you look at it that way, they had to make adjustments that they could make this year. I think this connected part of it has really been good. I think Nick has really seen that this last game. We talked to Nick a lot the night before the last game, how everybody's a little more connected; He's got to get into that. That started maybe right before he got hurt, we started making some adjustments and then after he got hurt we just had to make more adjustments. Everybody had to buy in more. There wasn't a lot of time for… If we made mistakes we knew we were not going to win games; Maybe that's been a positive because I could argue whether the 30 games we won last year to the 30 games we won this year. I am proud that... I looked at the standings last night when I got home and I didn't realize, and there were tiebreakers, but the last four teams on the computer that there were; It started Northwestern last then I think it was Nebraska, maybe Illinois, somebody else, were the four teams we only played once. I think playing Michigan twice and Purdue twice and Iowa twice and only one of those top six we didn't play twice, I believe was Maryland. I don't think we skated in anyway. We've just kind of had to earn our way and you bring up a good point, maybe that had something to do with it. I don't know. I think we're all looking for reasons but as I've said many times it's hard to compare the two years.
On if the team is playing some of its basketball at the right time…
I think there's times during the games where we're playing our best basketball and that's why you win. I think we've figured out how to win at the end and that's why. You have a point guard like I have who when in time makes winning plays. I don't think we've been as consistent as I'd like us to be and yet, like I said, when we're making substitutions the other night and I said put so and so in and he says, 'We can't do that, we'd have four freshmen that haven't played much, in the game at the same time,' because we tried to look at it as DJ and I do before the game and what do we want to stay away from? Well, if this guy's in there we'd like to have at least one or two of these guys in there; A couple of times we were stuck. I think that leads to inconsistent play but I think there's times, at the start of the game, the stretch that Cassius went… There's some decent stretches where we've played our best basketball and that's what you've got to do to win. Consistency overall, I think you've got to add those injuries and those substitutions in there that create some problem; It's not the players fault, it's just a fact of life.
On where Nick is at as he tries to work his way back in…
I thought Friday-Thursday, his head wasn't where it needed to be. I thought, we spent a lot of time with Nick on Friday and I thought he's in the best place he's been since he got injured. He was in here working out on his own yesterday because we had the day off and I just think he just felt better. It's easy to tell a guy is not in as good of shape or he's … but he said to me on Friday he just didn't feel he was dribbling the ball comfortable - 'I just didn't feel comfortable' and I said 'well, that's normal.' But he's never really been out in his career, he's never had an injury where he was out any time. I tried to show him, Michael Jordan didn't just come back, LeBron James didn't just come back, Zion Williamson took a longer period to come back to make sure. The day he was free to go, we played him. I think his whole… I think he's in a good spot now but I still think he's got a ways to go but I think those three guys are really figuring out that we need to get that rotation back and that's what we're working on a daily basis.
On if he's seen the benefits of having a veteran core down the stretch…
Well I think with Kenny (Goins), McQuaid and Cassius have really seen it. Nick gets hurt, poor Josh (Langford) has been hurt the whole time. Kyle Ahrens, one of my more experienced guys that I can't tell you how much we're missing him right now because he was my best lane runner; Toughest kid. Yeah I'm seeing the benefits of it because we've really been able to rely on those three guys, but three guys aren't enough to win big, big, big, too. We need to get some other guys; Aaron Henry is definitely coming on, if we get Nick back in that fold and Xavier (Tillman) has been pretty… Now all of a sudden you've got five or six guys and I think that can get it done.
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