Post-Game Quotes: Northwestern

Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo

Opening Statement…
Well there was a couple of things we wanted to accomplish. One was to get off to a better start, did a decent job of that. One of them was to rebound well and defend without fouling, we did a very good job of that. One of them was to get some consistency and we were very poor on that. After a great start we had a very, very mediocre middle and then I guess we had a good stretch in there in the second half, but the foolish turnovers are continuing. Cassius (Winston) just has to play better. There is nothing wrong with missing shots in that but some of those turnovers are just not like him. I thought encouraging things was Marcus Bingham Jr. He was sat down for reasons and some of them were to see if we could get him going whether you believe that or not it's the truth, but he really responded and played really well within himself, rebounded, blocked some shots. Just kind of really played well and under control. Rocket (Watts) missed some shots, but I thought defensively he did a pretty good job. Foster Loyer, I thought played awfully well, made shots and played decent. It was great to get Kyle Ahrens in there, just to get him a basket and do some things. I'd still say other than Marcus (Bingham) we're still struggling at that four and Gabe Brown to be honest with you, I didn't know if he was going to play. This morning he was, the flu is going around in our place pretty good and we had a couple guys sick. He was one that we had to pick him up in the morning and revive him for the day so I kind of hold that back. Aaron (Henry), I thought had good shots, he just missed a lot of shots so hard to be real excited about how we played because I don't think Chris (Collins) felt they played great, but god I love their parts, I love the pieces they have. Like us, Rocket (Watts) is in the same boat as (Boo) Bouie you know he's a guy that, except they need him even more, but when you miss a month. I was talking to Chris (Collins) after, it's hard for freshmen to come back from that in the middle of the season. He didn't play as well, and (Miller)Kopp didn't play as well as he's been playing and that really hurt him but jeez when they came back they run some nice stuff, they do a great job. I thought we hurt them on the boards, I thought we hurt them because we defended the three pretty well and then we had that one seven-minute stretch, I don't know how long.

On Malik Hall's start and injury…
Yeah, he sprained his ankle a little bit, but you know, he did okay. He scored a few points, made his free throws. He defended okay, didn't rebound very good, you know I can't seem to get very many rebounds out of that position. Other than, Marcus (Bingham) tonight did a very good job. Like I said, I was pleased with the job he did and that was great.

On Aaron Henry being back in the starting lineup…
You know, 2-for-9 and I thought he had eight pretty good shots. He has been shooting pretty good in practice, but its frustrating because he rebounded a little bit better, as you said he had four assists and only one turnover, a couple of steals. I mean, good stats, other than the shooting but I wasn't happy with our consistency. I guess that is the biggest thing if you guys ever had the ability, because I think they are two separate entities, but my headline would be "consistency" with a question mark and you know what, you can get away with that against certain teams. You probably aren't going to get away with it anywhere in this league, and if you look at the teams we got coming in here now, not going to be many nights off here in the next ten games. If we don't get that consistency, it's going to rear its ugly head and get us, but you know it's hard to say about Gabe (Brown) because his stats are decent too and he didn't rebound very well either. I got two jumping jacks that rebound like my kid. We have got to rebound the ball better from that wing position.

On Julius Marble's technical foul…
You know, we live in a society where everybody's paranoid about everybody. So, things have to be the letter of the law. Technically, you can't chin yourself. Obviously, the kid was running right under him, so he did chin a little bit, so he should've just hung and let the kid hit his feet, maybe got an injury. I didn't like it, but I understood it because if those guys don't call it, then someone in some room will. I've got a problem with the way we overreact about every little thing there is. I guess by the letter of the law, the official called it right because you can't chin at all. But, if he would've just hung like he's allowed to do and the guy hits him, I don't know if that's so good either. I don't know, we're in a KYA stage in society where everyone has a KYA except me, I don't have to KYA anything.

On when Kyle Ahrens came in and how it affected the game…
His problem isn't right after the game, his problem is the morning after the game. So, tomorrow will be important, he's been practicing more than he played tonight. I think you can see that he just gives us something, he gives us experience, a guy that can knock down shots and toughness. We had a little bit of a problem playing the two small guards because they played the two big guards and he can cover those kinds of guys. Everyone's got injuries and issues, maybe not as many as we've had. Getting him back to even 15 minutes a game would be huge for us and then we could hold some of our guys a little bit more accountable in things that they should do.

On being halfway through the season and team consistency…
I'm going to get killed for this, for being negative. How about I be honest. Wait a second… that doesn't work in this society either. Well, I'll try to be as honest as I can and say, no, I don't. I don't think we are at all. The good news is, I think we have a higher ceiling… a much higher ceiling. The bad news is, you get into the second half of the Big Ten now, and we know that's going to be the biggest grind we're going to have. That's got to change quickly. So, no I'm not tickled to death with where we are. I'm getting sick of hearing the word consistency. I think you can understand that. I think you can agree with that. I'm going to just keep plugging around. The guys practiced better this week. We're in that tough period now where you got a game every two days. Two practices. That makes it more difficult to get any time to practice. Where we are now will not get us anywhere close to where we need to be in my opinion. Now, when I say something like that, other teams could be having the same problems. Nobody has been just killing it right now. So, everybody's been inconsistent, or maybe everybody's pretty good. I know this… I have to have consistency out of three guys on a regular basis, and I have to have those other guys playing their role. Rocket's starting to play his role. Foster (Loyer) is starting to play his role. I don't want to give him credit because it always backfires. Marcus (Bingham Jr.) got my three star or whatever the hell they do in hockey. Maybe I'll go borrow a puck tomorrow and give it to him or something. He really did a good job today in just a lot of days. He ran better. He posted better. I really enjoyed the way he played tonight.

On after Julius got that foul…
I guess the officials probably thought the team needed a wakeup call for one of the few times. The building was a little dead. The fans needed a wakeup call. And it was all at my expense. I guess that's good. I guess finally I get to do something. Get mad at somebody and get a technical and… shazam, the place goes crazy. It was good. I don't plan on doing that very often, though.

Sophomore Forward Aaron Henry

On playing well in the second half…
Everything was clicking at both ends of the floor. I think defense was clicking all night and when we make shots, we are a tough team to contend with. It was just one of those things where everything was rolling for us.

On starting good but struggling a little…
It was just we got on to a good start, that's rare for us, but we have to be consistent with that and when we get up on a team like that we have to keep pushing on the pedal. They did a good job of competing all night, so kudos to them for having that competitive fire.

Senior Guard Kyle Ahrens

On hitting his first basket in a while…
It means the world to me. I put a lot in being here and the five years, you know, didn't go as you always want to as a player, you know, with all the injuries and everything. These guys have been here and always helped me through it. They always push me each and every day. I give all the credit to these guys; these guys are special to me.

On where this team is at…
We are getting there. We still got a lot of things to work on. We are still really young. Young guys this time of year are considered sophomores because they have enough experience at that point. The older guys have to help the younger guys still and continue to get better every day and that's what the older guys are there for.

On being a boost of energy kind of role…
Yeah, absolutely. When you are on a team everyone has a role, so I feel like that is my role. I come in and bring energy and get all the guys going, especially when someone is having a bad game. Even Henny (Aaron Henry) wasn't hitting his shots and I told him you are going to make the next one. Then I passed it to him in the corner and he hit it. He had a frown on his face, and I told him turn that thing upside down. Just go out and smile.

On teaching some guys some lessons…
Yeah, that's the benefit of being injured honestly. You see things that you don't see as a player on the court. For me I've been out there for a while, so being on the bench I try to get guys to calm down. It's hard to come into this type of program like this, where you got coach who is just so critiquing everything, and you are not used to that. I don't care where you go in high school, you are not used to that, so that's where you have the older guys calm you down and take deep breaths and just move on. You can't worry about the past, you have to focus on what you are about to do. It's kind of my job when I am on the bench.

Senior Guard Cassius Winston

On playing well in the second half…
I think it was our defense. We got stop after stop after stop. We were getting good looks the whole game, so eventually we were able to get those good looks on top of the stops and we were able to create some momentum.

On starting out the game…
We were hitting our shots tonight. We let that carry over into our defense. I think we did a better job in the second half focusing on keep checking, even if the ball wasn't dropping our way, if we keep checking things will work out.

On taking the way you play at home on the road…
Just that mentality. We are going to focus on the defense end and continue to make stops and continue to play team basketball. We have to move the ball around and things should work out.

Northwestern Head Coach Chris Collins

Opening statement…
Well I thought Michigan State out-everything'd us tonight, you know right from the jump. They jumped out to that 16-2 lead. I thought their physicality and will kind of came at us early. Most of my team, this is the first time they have ever played in this building, so I think sometimes you forget where they are at in their careers, and you want them to be ahead of schedule and some nights you run into teams like this who are really good and old and tough and they let you know where you need to go. I thought that was, tonight… just Michigan State, give them credit. I thought we tried to fight back. We got down 16-2; we made that run, I think to get it to 18-15. They closed the half strong with a couple of three's and the second half they just, they out played us in every way so we have to learn from this and get better. We are playing a lot of freshmen and these are the kind of games, when you play against a Michigan State team, where it can be a real learning experience, if you handle it the right way. That's what we have to do and go home and get ready for our next game.

On how to prepare future teams to come and play a Michigan State with the physicality and style of play…
I think like anything, the only way to do it is go through it. You can try to replicate it in practice all you want, but for guys like (Boo) Buie, guys like (Miller) Kopp, guys like (Pete) Nance, guys like (Ryan) Young, (Robbie) Beran, you know they are all freshman and sophomores, (Jared) Jones. We are playing seven to eight guys and six of them are freshmen and sophomores, so sometimes you get exposed in this league; hopefully you don't, more often than not. We have been very competitive recently. I have been very pleased with how we have played. Our results haven't showed, but I felt like we were kind of making progress. Tonight, we got handled and give Michigan State credit for that, and hopefully our guys remember, next year as we get ready to play these guys, you remember your experiences and you understand what it is going to take to be competitive with a team like this.

Players Mentioned

Kyle Ahrens

Marcus Bingham Jr.

Gabe Brown

Malik Hall

Aaron Henry

Foster Loyer

Julius Marble II

Cassius Winston