Post-Game Quotes: Michigan

Michigan State Head Coach Tom Izzo

Opening Statement…
It was a weird game. Give Michigan credit, they came out and put it right to us. We looked out of sync. I don't know if we were nervous, I don't know what we were. We had a great couple days of practice. They played well, and I thought we played poorly (in the first half). I didn't think our energy was there, we made mistakes. They had a 12-5 turnover edge at halftime. I think what won the game for us is only being down six at halftime. That thing could've been 16. That was a big difference in the game. We talked about at halftime, I thought my four best players were all in the fog. Part of that was Michigan, part of that was us. The atmosphere in there, John (Beilein) was right, this should be the last game of the year, here or there. Maybe we'll work into that because it was a helluva basketball game with an electric crowd. Didn't get a lot of shots in the first half, they didn't make as many shots in the second half. We did a better job second half. It was a hard-fought win, the score is not indicative of the game. I'm proud of my guys, I really am. At halftime, I wasn't proud of them. Didn't think we did the things that you need to do in a big game like this. Gotta figure out why, but for tonight and tomorrow, I don't even care why. I'll enjoy this one like I've not enjoyed any. The only thing I'm bummed out about is that Jim Boylan and Shawn Respert were gonna come over because they play tomorrow with the Pistons so early. Jimmy couldn't make it and I thought Shawn couldn't make it. He was the original guy who kissed the Spartan head. Here he was, he celebrated with us after. I didn't know it in time to thank him to the crowd. So I just want to say it publically that Shawn started a tradition that now is like no other. For him and Smitty (Steve Smith) and those guys to come back was special.

On if the grit of this team making this Big Ten Championship any more special…
It really did. It has been something that they have had to reinvent. My staff did an unbelievable job because every week, it was just trying to find new ways. I though Michigan did a very good job today. They changed up their ball-screen defense. It took us awhile to adjust to it. Great move on their part. I think it'll go down as one of the more special ones just because of the fact that it was the last game for a championship against your rival on senior night. That kind of fills all the boxes.

On if he could tell that Cassius' knees were bothering him in the second half…
I don't think so. His knees were the other day, but I think Michigan was bothering him in the first half, along with a bunch of our other guys, I really do. At halftime, we had a character check. The character check was that 'are we going to play for a championship in front of our own house and not play with the same energy we practiced with?' Cash had that first turnover of the game, layup. But boy, like the reason he is, to me, the most valuable player in this league, is because when it was winning time, he made some winning plays. That's what great players do. He did it, and I'm really proud of him.

On this team's resiliency in this game and all season long…
It's kind of a microcosm of the year, wasn't it, the way the game went and the year went. As I said to my team, we had a meeting last night, we've lost six games and three of those games we led late, four of them actually. We didn't win many that we shouldn't have won. So this team has been pretty consistent. The reason I think they've been consistent is their defense. Michigan just torched it in the first half. Again, some of it was their great shooting and some of it was our poor defense. I think that's why we've hung in there. We've been about as solid of a defensive team, for one that I didn't think would be a great defensive team. I guess that credit goes to my staff and those players.

On importance of rebounding and Kenny Goins' rebounding…
Wow, I didn't even see the rebounding totals. I complain about it every day and I didn't even look at it. Kinda shows you where I am. That was a great deal there to outrebound them like we did. I think it is a big difference. Got our break going a little bit, but I still don't think we're playing our best. I say that only because we're still turning the ball over and just doing some things that aren't gonna serve well in the tournaments coming up. We'll try to correct that like we've tried to correct a lot of other things.

In decision making at the end of the first half to keep Foster Loyer in the game…
I just felt, the way they were driving the ball, that it was gonna be chaos for Cash. I really believed that, so we made the decision we made. Kinda forced us to. I didn't think anybody was playing great anyways. To his credit, in the huddles, Cassius was phenomenal. That's what I've really learned to appreciate about him. He's growing so much as a player in every way. That was the difference in the game, cause that thing could've gotten away to be 12, 14. Instead, going in six was big, big difference.

On making the most of second chances for the championship tonight…
I honestly felt, because we had played pretty good against Indiana both times. Both times we led. We played good enough that we deserved a chance to try to win it. I really did, and I'm not like that very often. I don't like when I need somebody else's help. But that's the way it was and maybe it's deserving that two teams that went through some different things this year, the job he (Matt Painter) did there, John (Beilein) did a helluva job there. There are three teams that have been above the rest all year, in a league that's awfully good. I think all three of these teams have a chance to move on in the tournament.

On Kyle Ahrens tonight…
You could see the pain, couldn't you? They were so fired up for him in the next huddle. You talk about a guy with some grit, now. I mean that guy, we couldn't even practice him. It was almost decided that we wouldn't play him. I just felt like I needed a guy who's a threat to shoot and could do some things. The admiration I have for him. We put Nick's (Ward) name in the book at halftime just in case a couple guys went down. If I did play him, I would've taped it shut so nothing could happen to his hand. But just in case I needed somebody defensively. He says 'Coach, let me play, I'll suit up.' Those kind of things mean a lot to a coach. I had to tell him 'no, I'm not letting you.' I almost gave in, but I didn't. I'm just proud, proud of Josh (Langford) for the way he has handled things. I've got a special group. It's not the most talented group I've had, but it is a group that really gets along and plays well together. I'm damn proud of them.

On how he's enjoyed this championship season…
I'd have to say unlike any other. The only reason I say that is because of the uniqueness of the situation. I always tell my guys, 'you've gotta try to leave some mark here.' Yeah, it's easy to leave a mark of winning the Big Ten or going to a Final Four or win the Big Ten Tournament. But this group did something that no other group has done. They won a Big Ten Championship on senior night against their rival. It's just another one I check the box on. Someday, they'll be remembered for that. It's always cool when guys leave doing something that no one else has done. At least it's cool to me. The atmosphere in there, the way Michigan played so good defensively in the first half, that was a helluva game. I'm sure their disappointed, because it just kinda seemed like, when things started to go wrong, they snowballed. A lot of respect for both programs, but a lot of respect for mine, from the standpoint that we've been grinding all year. That's what we are. We're a blue-collar team that's gonna stay blue-collar till the day I walk out of this building. I'm proud of them for that.

On Kenny Goins' journey from walk-on to now…
He's done so many things. Zero points and 17 rebounds against like Louisville, no one in hell does that. That's a memory-maker. I bet you that no one in the history of this school will do that. So Kenny's got his own stamp, but the way he's improved his shooting, my staff and he all deserve credit for that. Not a real confident kid, started getting more confidence, became one of our best defensive players. I think Kenny Goins has been good in so many areas. His rebounding has been solid all year, but it's the shooting now, the way he can switch and do things. He can guard a point guard to a center. Those guys are versatile guys, and boy, those guys are valuable.

On Cassius Winston's star power and overlooking other players…
They love Cash. The one thing about Cash is if you're open, he's getting you the ball. He's not taking 20 shots a game. He probably took more than he's taken in a long time getting 17 in. I think he averages 12 and a half shots a game, which isn't much for a star. I don't think at all they look at it like that. They don't say, "Oh, he's dribbling around and he's doing this and he's doing that." They appreciate him. We could go practices and he won't even take a shot. I chewed him out the first half. I thought he passed up two or three shots and then he took a bad one. I said if you're open, then you're shooting. I don't think so, Bob, at all. In fact, I think that it's just the opposite. I think that they have such an appreciation for his ability to find people and get the ball to people, along with being a great scorer. It's hard to do that taking as few of shots as he does and averaging 20 points. He's got to be one of the more efficient players I've had. Even Shawn Respert, who's now in the pros said, "wow, he's very efficient".

On winning a championship without two stars…
It means that we had some guys step up because the guys that stepped up weren't as good as the two we lost. I'm not going to lie about it. They just rallied like a team, like you're supposed to rally. I don't want to get sappy, but every Michigan State alum should be proud of this team. To me, they stood for everything our university stands for: blue collared place, land grant institution for everybody. Everybody helped in this win. I promised myself I'm going to do a George Perles and I'm going to enjoy this for awhile, 24 hours. They bet me that I'd watch the film tonight at two and my team is losing that bad. I'm not going to do it. I'm going to enjoy it for 24 hours.

On Aaron Henry's defense…
I thought he really came on and did some good things. Early on he hits the three, then he kind of struggles through some stretches and Michigan did some things how they played him. We were making some adjustments on the run, too. I really have a better feel for all my NBA buddies that tell me that the most exciting thing about pro ball is the playoffs and how you have to have these chess matches when there's best of sevens. We don't get to do that in college. Today, for John and I, was a miniature chess match. We had to figure out what we could do different. I thought he made better moves than I did. It really hurt us the first half, but it worked out in our advantage in the end.

On Xavier Tillman's defensive effort and scheme…
I'm trying to figure out how to politely answer this. X is my most cerebral, toughest, hardest working guy and in the first half I asked him what planet he was on. Pluto, Mars, Venus, U.P…. where in the hell are you. Some of the things we wanted to do, he struggles with. Even in the second half some. It was uncharacteristic to him. He started going to work then and we started saying we were going to get the ball inside a little more and there were free throws he made. The rebounds. He started playing a little better defensively. We had some problems the way they were screening us. They were using some guards to screen down the bigs and we were getting clipped and caught. Again, good job by them and we made some adjustments and X played better. The first half, I guess he was in the dog house. It's a big dog house for X… a really big one. It wasn't I thought his best half and yet what does he end up with… 17 points, eight rebounds, 9-for-12 from the line and 4-for-5 from the field. It just goes to prove why maybe I'm on a different planet. Maybe I'm the one that's wrong.

On the 7 a.m. meeting after Nick Ward went out…
I think honestly that was an important meeting. I told my staff I'm having a meeting early. They weren't happy. We had won the game, but we lost Nick. I just said that I had to set the narrative because I was feeling sorry for myself, so maybe the speech was more to me than to them. It was so well received. I left there and I felt like we can get this done. Once in awhile you have these meetings or talks and once in awhile they really mean something. I think that meeting had a lot to do with tonight. I really do.

On overcoming injuries…
I told them to play better defense in the first half and they told me to go to hell, so I'm not sure what that means. I would say that was all due to dealing with that meeting because I did tell him. I said we can win this thing. We have a good enough team. We're as good defensively. Our defensive numbers have been phenomenal all year. That was my first point today on my speech to my guys during pregame, I always tell you defense wins championships. Well, most college guys don't want to hear that anymore. They want to shoot the ball. I said finally I can prove to you that defense wins championships and I don't know what Michigan ended up shooting… 40 percent, but they were shooting like 65 most of the first half. When we beared down, we probably held them to 30 something the second half and that was a big difference in the game. That morning we talked about it. We said we were probably going to have to shore up. I also did a little thing where I put the numbers down of each player and what we're missing with Nick and what we're missing with Josh and what we're missing with Arnie. I just said we're not going to make up all of them. I gave them a way we could. You have to get three more. You have to get two more. We have to hold teams to maybe five less. I just kind of went with a whim. Like I said, maybe it was a pep talk for me. If you look back at the way they received it, it's pretty cool.

On his best listening team…
I have pretty good listening teams because we argue. I looked at so many guys that were out there that were former players. KT, Mateen, Steve Smith and I think back. I would have to say that this is one of my best listening teams. What I have on this team is a lot of guys that want to please you. Sometimes that means a little softer maybe. Sometimes you need some guy that's going to come back at you. These guys were pleasers, plus they were guys that I think trusted and believed. I think back to all the guys. Just last week Johnny Green talked to them. Magic and Kelser talked to them. Steve has talked to them. Mateen has talked to them. I brought in a lot of guys this year, and I think there was a program trust. That's pretty cool. In fact, that's really cool. Maybe that's the reason. I'd say I'd have to admit it is one of our best listening teams.

On Michigan's success pushing the program…
About 20 years ago, it was such an obsession. That's all I thought about. It wasn't healthy. Now, sure my rival is important… but I've got a lot of goals that are nothing to do with my rival either. This program means the world to me. I always tell players, I don't want you to like it, I don't want you to love it, I want you to live it. I told my team today that I live for this day. This is what I live for. Because of that, anybody who wins and I respect the job John has done there. I don't get motivated because they had success. I get motivated because we didn't have enough success. That's what motivates me. I think sometimes you can get so obsessed with certain things like I'd done in the past and it's not good. Everyone knows that this is an important rivalry to me. I think it is to him, too. I just want to keep this program at a level that is respected by all.

On slowing down Michigan offensively and the rivalry…
I think they were hotter than hot the first half. I hadn't seen them make those kind of shots. There's always a happy in between. We did one important thing the second half. We tried to guard them a little bit. We didn't do a very good job of that the first half. I think they cooled off a little bit too. I think they had some shots that didn't fall. We had some shots that didn't fall. That place might have had something to do with it the second half. Those people got behind us. That place was like old times. Not that it hasn't been good, but it was phenomenal. That was fun. That part of it was fun. I appreciate what our fans and the students who came back and gave up a day or two of their spring break. Special things are why I love this place. Thank you. Like I said, hell of a game. Maybe this will be a Duke/Carolina thing some day.

Michigan State Players

Senior guard Matt McQuaid

On tonight's win...
We got punched in the mouth in the first half. Michigan is a good team and they threw their punches. In the second half we defended a lot better and coach made some adjustments and challenged us. We executed a lot more on the offensive end too.

On what changed in the second half...
I think just having more of a sense of urgency. We knew it was win or go home for the Big Ten Championship so we had to do the things we needed to do to get it done and got the win.

On putting tonight into words...
There are so many good feelings tonight. Senior night, beating your rival, and a Big Ten Championship. It doesn't get any better than this… well, it probably does, but this is all I have experienced.

Senior forward Kenny Goins

On tonight's victory...
It is kind of picture perfect. We have been through hell and back and we pulled out the trifecta with Michigan, the championship and senior night. It doesn't get any better than this.

On what was different in the second half...
They just capitalized on our mistakes and we made a lot of them in the first half. We came into the locker room and said that this team is better than this. We played the worst half of basketball ever and are down six. If we get back to playing our game there is no way that they can stay in it with us and that is all we did in the second half. We played the game that we have been playing all year.

Junior guard Cassius Winston

On what changed in the second half...
We did a better job of getting stops and getting rebounds and that is our offense. We got some good looks and made some good plays

On winning the championship...
It is amazing getting that done. Sticking together throughout this whole year and getting that victory is amazing.

On what worked tonight...
I was able to use the ball screens really well and make reads that way. The first half I didn't come off tight enough and plays like that.

Michigan Head Coach John Beilein

Opening Statement…
So a similar story to before, a great basketball game for 30 minutes or so and then we weren't able to do much in the second half. We just weren't very good and Michigan State, congratulate them on winning a piece of that championship. It's really hard to do to finish your year 16-4. I mean that's really hard to do. You have to win on the road. You got to win at home almost all your games, and they really did a great job. I thought the blocked shots were a huge part of this game. We did some things differently this time; we got to the rim. I think eight or seven of those were lay ups at the rim that they came from behind and made a really good play. I thought that was a big part of it and then the second half we didn't, with them having 27 or 25 or whatever they had at halftime, 28, I mean that was great. That was a defense I knew we could play. The second half they were just better than us at that. They're down people too. Charles Matthews, one of the best defenders in the country, but seeing him again does not help us in either one of these games. It really wasn't right and now you're in foul trouble. We just weren't very good, and they got us in foul trouble. So, tough loss, got to move on to the Big Ten Championship. If we learn as much as we did last time from when we played them I don't know if we win it at Maryland. Let's just talk about that…Maryland…if we didn't lose to Michigan State at home. We learned so much from that game about what it takes to win games and we win at Maryland. This game would have been a mood point while there was a championship, so there's good a bad to it. We'll take the good, we'll take the lessons we learned from this game apply them to the Big Ten Tournament and see if we can win that again. If we can't, then we'll apply it to the NCAA Tournament and just keep getting better. We've got a good group here of young men that are really hurting right now and we're with them all the way.

On defending Cassius Winston...
I'll have to watch film more because we had some different coverage we were going to do. They're so good in their ball-screen offense and he's so good at it. Tillman had some explosiveness at the rim that is really good to throw it up to him. He's just good at seeing the floor really well and did a great job. In the first half, we really had him covered well with all that. That banked three was a big part of the game too. It was a huge part after we got the ball inside to Jon (Teske), and then we didn't get that one that was before or after and then that banked three. Those are big plays.

On what MSU did to make a run …
I think we imploded a little bit on a couple occasions where they just blocked a couple shots during that time and that was huge and then we missed some shots, we even had a couple air balls and that's real tough for us. Now they're out, and they didn't miss at their end. We lost some coverages in transition. We got put in some great rotations and we tried to stay out of that more than we were last time, but they got them. They only made six threes and that's a goal for us to keep people to five or six threes and they only made six right, but they got to the foul line like crazy. We don't foul and somehow; we got in big foul trouble today so blame me for that.

On expecting Charles Matthews back for the tournament…
I was hoping he'd be back today. I mean I really felt there was a realistic chance at it, but he just couldn't go yesterday. He was trying, and he just doesn't feel right. We're not going to make that young man go out there unless it feels right but we'll see what it does. I thought he'd be able to play by today, but there's no way he could play and he's working so hard to come back. But as everyone knows I am proud of how our freshmen played in the first half but to have really three guys, our three top forwards sitting on the bench at one time in the first half and playing like that. Ignas (Brazdeikis) playing with three and four fouls. Maybe I second guess myself maybe just taking Ignas out and getting him back in, but I didn't feel we could do that that late in the game.

On what went right in the first half…
I think it was about our defense. Our defense was better, so it gets us in the running game, gets us going up and down the court but I can't tell you. The eight blocked shots were really hug. When you get to the rim and you're open and you don't get the ball in and we had some other ones they didn't block but they effected shots and that was a big difference in the game.

On bad 1-on-1 habits he saw from his team…
Yeah there were some but with them they're really good at switching. Now they switched again, I thought we had really good plant he first half. In the second half, there's just kids just aren't used to that you know and then did get it the one time and it was a walk. I'll have to look at that one I mean you can see it but only for a second because they're going to bring a guy in quickly. As soon you make two or three baskets, they're going to replace that guy and get a guy with size back in there and I did see us look at it but there's some other times. I mean Ignas took a ball right to the basket on (Thomas) Kithier and we had him set-up again, but we did something else. These are just things we need to learn.

On trying to get the ball inside more...
Yeah, absolutely that is just not like this. You had a 6-8 guy with his hands up. There's help side all around, it is tougher than you think to just throw it up and so it's got to be quick and you've got to have guys who can pass. We had Isaiah in as our other guys are still learning. Muhammad-Ali Rhakman had 25 assists in his freshman year, 135 in his senior year. It takes time to really appreciate the quickness you've got to think when you see any miss match.

On any hesitation to call a timeout during MSU's run…
He and I will talk about that. I wanted to call a timeout. We had one coming up, and we did double timeouts, so he and I will talk about that.

On resting guys by design versus by necessity due to fouls…
We wanted to give guys rest, but we got a little messed up from what we wanted, and JP (Jordan Poole) didn't get a rest in the first half and he needed that. He was doing a great job out there on McQuaid. He's doing a great job on him, but he needed a rest and we couldn't give it to him. As soon as we took him out, Ignas or Isaiah got another foul but the first half it didn't bother us. The second half we came out and then we have a tendency as a team that we want to play, and when we play, we play without fouling and sometimes it was just only defense. It's too bad right that we weren't able to stay out of foul trouble and answer the second half. They're good, there's a reason I mean how many wins we got? 26. How many do they got? 25. That is two really good teams. When team is going to win and one team is going to play better and they played better.

On if the team didn't let blocked shots deter them…
I think we had some misses later on because of that. I think we got to the rim, they got a few things. We had some challenges in some certain things that we can do and we have to find ways to get better at getting through the weaknesses that we have.

On Michigan State's offensive rebounding…
That wasn't good. I think we just… Some of those rebounds… If (Jon) Teske and (Xavier) Tillman are going for the ball and it's up there, Tillman's going to get it. There were some of those that were way, way out there, but there was a couple of really… (Matt) McQuaid comes in and gets the rebound; I think there was what we call a strong man rebound, they didn't get it, there were two guys on the block. We got to do better on that and put that on me. We got to box out better. We're one of the best in the country at not allowing second shots, not tonight.

On his use of the word implosion...
Implosion is a really bad word to use. We weren't as poised as we needed to be; We need to be poised at that time and we weren't. We didn't show… We won at Villanova, we won at Maryland, not Wisconsin we didn't win that, we went to Illinois… We played between 90 percent and 100 percent like packed houses and we did not lose our poise in all seven of our road wins. Today we lost some poise.

On Cassius struggling in the first half...
Well first of all Cassius (Winston) was in foul trouble and had to sit most of the half so that really helped us in the first half as well… No, coverage on the ball, not just Xavier, it's Jon staying in front of that guy, right, is he able to do that? They were able to switch that a little bit, we tried later on. Is the backside coming in while Jon and Xavier, our two men are around? Is the backside coming in to help? We didn't do that in a few cases, particularly when our young guys were the backside help, they were nowhere to be found. You know why? Because they're young.

On if he thinks his team is where it needs to be…
We won seven road games, we're pretty good at winning, right? We just lost to a really good team. It's not about us. We lost to a really good team. But, this will make us better.

On if this helps the maturation process for the younger guys…
I mean, we return everybody from this team. This is a young, young team. I'm glad we don't have a senior night like that… They got guys out there, a five-year player, a four-year player, that they've been through a lot and they know how to win. Four years and five years, that was like Duncan Robinson and Muhammad Ali out there. That really helps you win. We go through this thing, we're going to be so much better next year because of all the lessons we learned in all these darn games.

On if Charles Matthews could've gone in…
No. Because of foul trouble he probably would've been there. I'm all for it. He's going to tell us what his body feels and he actually ran, he did some fast break drills, made a beautiful three in traffic. He did everything, but he couldn't cut the way he wanted to cut. We're not going to put him out there, he's going to be a liability defensively, offensively; He's such a good defensive player. When they got some of those layups, Charles would've been standing in there. Not an excuse, right? They could've had ( Nick) Ward in there, but they're a little deeper than we are at a couple of positions and that's the way it goes.

On if the magnitude of this game lived up to the expectations…
Both games really were like great atmospheres. If they listen to probably Tom and I say, 'Make this the last game of every year for years,' we will be in this thing. Now will we always be playing for a championship, you don't know, but I think it's a great concept for us to look at. Who won the Duke-North Carolina game? Isn't that a great thing for us to have. I was just thinking about last year. They won the regular season last year too, right? We won the Big Ten Championship. You guys should be writing about that stuff - In our own state. There are 14 teams in the league, and you got the two champions last year and maybe we'll do it again. It's great. It's a great time for big-time basketball in this state and it's wonderful. I know you appreciate that, I'm not going to say you don't appreciate that, but this is a very unique situation. We're all in, we have two great programs and let's just hope we both keep it going for as long as we can because it's great entertainment; It's great Saturday night basketball. Thank you everybody. Great regular season. We'll see you at the Big Ten Tournament.

Players Mentioned

Kyle Ahrens

Kenny Goins

Aaron Henry

Foster Loyer

Matt McQuaid

Xavier Tillman Sr.

Nick Ward

Cassius Winston