Post-Game Quotes vs. Ferris State

10/27/2021 10:27:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo

Opening Statement...
Well, in order … Izzone and the fans were great, it was so good to have them back, and for an exhibition game I thought it was awesome, that was a positive. Steven Izzo, this is his third year on the Izzo Scholarship and he might get pulled cuz I told him to shoot and he told me 'to hell with you,' so uh, disrespect from the player, I'm disappointed in that. But you know, in general, first of all, [Ferris State Head Coach] Andy [Bronkema] does a hell of a job with his team, and where are we… I don't think any of us know. What I do know is I was impressed that we held a team to 58 points, and it was really in the 40s until we had seven turnovers in the last three minutes. I was disappointed in our turnovers, I was disappointed in our free throw shooting, I was disappointed in our three-point shooting. We've been doing a really good job of that, but when you play a lot of people and go through those things, some of that stuff's gonna happen. We put a lot into Walter Kelser, Greg's nephew, and a very good player, really shoots the ball, and I thought their big guy hurt us a little bit, there was a weakness for us, our centers still need to do a better job. I thought there were times Marcus [Bingham Jr.] played pretty well and Julius [Marble II] played pretty well, Maddy [Sissoko] is a lot stronger and he's been coming on, but there are some bright spots. Joey Hauser is a bright spot, he did a little bit of everything, shot well, rebounded pretty well made some assists, played pretty good defense. I thought Gabe Brown really played within himself. And that was good to see… shooting the high percentage, not taking any bad shots. And defensively after a slow start, I thought he did a very good job at the beginning. We were a little bit off on that. Max Christie was every bit as good as the billing. I guess what really impresses me is that two of those freshman, [Jaden] Akins and [Max] Christie, defensively were really good. And Max went through the hole, rebounded well, Jaden rebounded pretty well. But Max, you know, there was a knock-on coming out it was that he was not strong enough, and defense was a question mark. And, boy, I thought he answered those two things. He didn't even get many shots and that's definitely his strength, but getting to the line and getting fouled like that was great. And I thought both their point guards had their moments, I was a little disappointed that as good as Tyson played in some stretches that he got sloppy with the ball in a couple, but I thought they were a good one-two punch and play pretty well in general and, and my jack of all trades guy, Malik Hall. I still always look for more from him because I think he can but he does a lot of dirty work that people don't see, he guards different people. He rebounds, he posts up. He's on the perimeter. He's gonna play some three, gonna play some four. And I thought you know, for first game he did some good things. I think we're showing that we're a lot different team than last year. But yet we have a long, long way to go.

On Tyson Walker and the overall fast-break performance…
Yeah, you know, we had our fast breaks points, we had 38 points off the fast break. That's almost half our points. And I thought we did get out and run at times really well. We're big on diagonal dribbling and not straight-lining, and when we started straight line dribbling we start turning the ball over a little bit and didn't make as good of decisions. And a couple guys went crazy on me there for a little while. But other than that, I thought he introduced some great passes- the ones that were turnovers he made were just ridiculous. I mean, it was 'here, take the ball,' you know, maybe he had a cousin on that team for a while or something [sarcasm]. But I do believe that he played pretty well and we didn't even get to see him take a shot and he's a very good shooter. On the other hand, you know, I thought AJ [Hoggard] did some good things too, he rebounded a little better. I don't know how many he ended up with… four rebounds and five points and four assists and one turnover. So, between them, nine assists is great, but the turnovers weren't good enough, five, and most of that was Tyson so yeah, I thought Tyson did some good things defensively. He's gonna be a good player.

On AJ Hoggard's breakaway layup moment…
Well, I was pretty ticked about it because I want to run this year. Last year, we walked the ball up the court. But I did show great restraint. It's my new personality now. So I'm just gonna… I just told him that's okay, Jay, if you want to walk the ball up, I got a couple of schools you can transfer to and if you want to push the ball up, I embrace you and love to have you here. But you're right, there were times and in that go hard, go fast, but yet be under control, we had a couple guys that got out of control a little bit. But most of that was over a straight line correctly. So we'll work on that we'll clean some of that up this week. But in practice, AJ has been the best at pushing it. In practice, probably Tyson has been the best at finding people. So between the two of them, I think we got to a good one-two punch. And they both can check really good. Both are pretty good on the ball, AJ sometimes off the ball. He's got to work on that. But I thought for the first game, the number of different lineups they played with, and some of that was scripted. I thought we did a pretty good job.

On Max Christie's athleticism being slept on…
"If anybody slept on it, it would have to be his coach because you guys, unfortunately, didn't get to see him much. I got to admit he was a lot more aggressive, but he's been more aggressive in practice. I think it's one of the good things that has happened. He had a hell of a summer in the weight room, it sounds ridiculous, but I think confidence comes with strength. He's driving the ball better. He's handling the ball better, but I was impressed. They had him down for how many rebounds, four or five. I swear he had three tips in the first half where he tipped the ball and kept it alive and someone else got two of them. I like the fact that he was in there getting his nose bloody and that was probably one of the things that people didn't see in Max Christie and even I was impressed with that, which means here's a kid who looked at his weaknesses and said that's not going to be a weakness. All summer he was great, he's been really solid so far this year. For a first game, he impressed his coach and I think he is coachable. He has no ego and he has great understanding and Jaden Akins was right there with him on some things. I mean Jaden guards even more athletically and yet not as big, but he's going to get a feel. Both of those kids are really coachable kids and are going to help us a lot."

On Marcus Bingham Jr. communicating more and growing as a player…
"If he's got those open threes, I'm going with him on those but I'm not going with him off the dribble and all that BS we've had for a couple years, but Marcus has grown a lot. You are right, you read that right. He pays attention, there is dialogue and in the first half we thought we were letting them get the ball in too easy, second half he did a better job of that. We actually had some cramping up with some guys, that's why I didn't play some of them. A.J. and actually Max and Marcus got a little bit too, and I don't know why, that was a little surprising because cramps not fatigue. But Marcus, we still want to go to him more in the block and we are going to pound it into him and we are going to get it in to him. I think he understands that now and I even think he wants it so that will be the next step. His immaturity has been a lot better."

On Joey playing a different role this year…
"Well, I expect it to be a lot different. Everybody has been hit with different things, as we all know, and I thought out of all the kids on my team the two things that I thought hurt Hauser hurt Malik a little bit and hurt Gabe, you know our point guard play where you are getting a pass where you need it, where you can shoot it as a last resort makes those guys better players. I think Covid really effected Joey as much as anybody and I talked to college people and pro people, everybody's gone through different things. He has had a wonderful summer and so far a very good fall. He likes to make plays, I like him to make plays but he is one of our best shooters, I still thought he passed up a couple shots, so we'll discuss that and see if we can come to a happy medium because I appreciate a guy who is that unselfish and good passer but I also really believe that if he's open I want to see him shoot the ball."

On Gabe growing with the new point guard play…
"Well I think you saw that. I think you saw him on break, he runs the lane as good as anybody. He's improving defensively. It will be fun if him and probably Max prove that shooters can guard somebody, usually that's illegal for a shooter, and Gabe is improving on that. The tip dunk was a big deal to us because he hasn't been a guy who has gone to the offensive boards and I think he can be as good as anybody we've had and we've had some good ones. His maturation and maturity, this kid lives the game I'll tell you that and I thought sometimes last year he took bad shots and I didn't he took a bad shot I mean there was one when he fake-fake but that wasn't an awful shot especially for him. It was a good start for Gabe, he played better defensively, he got four rebounds so a couple offensive rebounds. I thought in a lot of ways Gabe did a lot good things and I was really happy and our wings are better because I think they are getting the ball at a better time."

Freshman Guard Max Christie
On work in weight room showing up in on-court performance…
Yeah, I've definitely worked hard on that sort of thing, being more physical and being more explosive, and I think that really showed a couple times on the court today. So that's the workout plan for sure.

On settling in and being more aggressive in second half…
Yeah, so I just wanted the game to come to me. It was my first game, it was a new experience for all of us. I just wanted to make sure that I was just making the right plays, making the right reads, and eventually the game did come to me and I was able to get more comfortable. Take the shots I wanted to take and get to the rim and get to the free throw line.

On evaluating his defensive performance…
That was one of my biggest goals tonight, just be great on the defensive end and that the offensive game would come to me from my defense, and I thought I did a really good job actually just being in the gaps, rebounding and contesting good shots. So, I thought my defense tonight was really good.

On previous reputation of not being as good defensively…
Yeah. I'm definitely playing with a chip on my shoulder in terms of that, for sure. I know a lot of people think that defense may be my weakness. That's something I really worked on. I want to make sure that's something that people can't attack me that. So, I thought I did a good job showcasing that tonight, but at the end of the day, it's the first game, it's a long season. So, I have a lot more things to do.

On being a natural scorer and getting a bucket late when needed…
I think I do have the ability, if we really need a bucket, I can get it if I need it. But at this point, and just in general for me, I like to let the game come to me. I'm not going to force any bad shots at first to get myself into the game. I'm just going to let the game come to me and whatever shots come will come and if we really need a bucket and I'm tasked with getting a bucket, I'll be able to do that.

On if his performance is what he thought he would/could do tonight…
Honestly, I just came in wanting to play as hard as I could, and if that meant scoring a lot of points, not a lot of points, rebounds, I mean, I just wanted to play hard as hard as I can defensively, go to class offensively, and I happened to play pretty, pretty good - scoring a couple points and getting couple rebounds. So, I wouldn't say I expected this of me, but I know this is what I'm capable of. And I just came in wanting to play as hard as I could.

On who caught his eye in terms of play…
I thought for our first game everybody played well to be honest. I thought Gabe did a really good job, he got his points. I thought Tyson actually did a good job facilitating the team even though the turnovers are a little bit high, but that's something we can improve for sure. But I think we did a good job overall for the first game. I thought we all played pretty good.

Ferris State Men's Basketball head coach Andy Bronkema

Opening statement…
Alright, that was a fun game. It is a great opportunity when Division IIs get to go into high-major programs and compete on the floor. Certainly, from our standpoint, we have some things that we need to work on, but it is just an impressive level of physicality at the Big Ten level, at the high-major level. Just speed and size is just a little bit different. I would have liked to have seen us battle a little bit more in those situations, but I am not going to let that take away from the experience today was for us and our program and our guys. We have a lot of young guys that I think can build on this and kind of store it in their memory and try to get to that point. In Division II we do have a lot of athletes that throughout the course of their time with us become big time level players and I think this a good experience for everybody on our team and we are certainly thankful we get to play here. This is the third time we have got to do that since I have been the coach, there were some times when we were together as assistant staff, so I have been in the Breslin a few times and each and every time is special, so, thank you to Coach Izzo, to Sparty for having us play. We have some great connections within our teams right now. We have the Bingham brothers and the Peterson brothers, Mitch [Peterson] is on our staff and Mike [Peterson] used to play for us and we got the Kelser's, Greg [Kelser] is in the stands and Walt [Kelser] is on our team, leading us in scoring last year and the year before so, pretty cool Sparty connections with the Bulldogs and made for a real special day, looking into the stands. I even had my girls, they are 12, 10 and 5 and had them right behind the bench and they are kind of soaking it up. I look at my 5-year-old and she asked "Dad, when you were mad at them, do you still love them?" and yeah, yeah I do. I love my guys, I like this team, I love this team and we are becoming a family and this is a good starting point for us.

On getting into the chants with the Izzone…
Yeah, it was cool. I like that, and you have a flare for the big-time and you like to be in these big stages and I kind of noticed when I was flapping my wings that I was choreographing things so it hit me, man I think I could get this thing going, and we did. Just looking to springboard, really, take some of those memories, moments but springboard our team into something better, to our full potential from what we learned today.

On the bittersweet of seeing Michael Peterson playing for Michigan State…
Not really, honestly we are so happy for him. It was bittersweet when we were grinding out conversations in the office about if he was going to go or stay, those were personal, those were tough, and those were bittersweet. Once we did what we thought was best for Michael and his family, then it just became sweet. He is having a good time. He is adding a dynamic to that team. He is giving all of himself, I know he is, to the Spartans in practice, in relationships, in the classroom, so very proud of him.

On what his teams have taken from playing at the Breslin…
Really, the last time we came in here, we had a veteran team, pretty physical team, and we were coming off a 28-win season with everybody back and some transfers that added some power so, we kind of had a different vibe for that team, but yet so did the Spartys, they had some lottery picks and what not, so it was just a little different. Honestly, for this team, we needed this. We needed to be in front of fans. Be in front of bright lights. Feel how it felt like to just get shoved again. You know, we are just beating each other up in practice but, it was good for us so, I don't know what we'll take from it. You know, I have to dive in to the film and I have to see where this team can go. I know we have a lot of potential and I am excited to try to realize that.

Michigan State senior forward Gabe Brown

On fast break points…
I think it was very good. That is one thing we harp on in practice is the fast break, transition, getting out and running. Max [Christie] did a very good job of running tonight. Jaden [Akins], Pierre [Brooks], they all did a good job. That is one thing we try to get back in the culture. That is one thing coach harps on so, it was really good tonight.

On how refreshing it was to have fans back and to be able to play…
It was very good. I mean, having fans… it's been 19 months since we had them so, it was very good to just have fans back and have that energy because last year we didn't get that type of boost and just going off of what you said, having somebody else to play against is very good. I mean, we have been playing against each other since May, so, we really just wanted to get some new competition to see where we are at.

On how long it will take to see what lineups mesh the best…
That is one thing Coach [Izzo] is doing, he's switching up the lineups, putting guys on the green team, and the white team just to see how they act with each other and to just see how the body language and things like that. But I feel like right now, we do got two great point guards. They did a lot of good things tonight. Sometimes we just have to switch it up A.J. [Hoggard] does some things good and Tyson [Walker] does some things good, so we are just going to balance the two out.

On Max Christie's play…
That boy gets baskets, that's one thing I can say. He knows how to play basketball. He did a very good job at just doing what he normally does, hit shots, getting to the line, getting to the basket, things like that. I mean, he is a very good player so, it worked out well for him tonight.

On the mindset of being an offensive player this year…
I am just trying to stay consistent. That is one thing that Coach (Izzo) harps on me about and all the coaching staff. They harp on me about just being consistent and being around the guys and being a good leader. That is one thing I am just trying to do each and every night.