Post-Game Quotes vs. Grand Valley State

Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo
Opening statement…
Some really goods and I thought a couple, very average. First of all I do like … I didn't think Ferris… I thought that they had an injury or two and I thought, Grand Valley, they're gonna win a lot of games and they got a lot of Division I transfers, Van Tubbergen, I thought we did a pretty good job on him and I mean, he was an old American two years ago. I liked Negron, number 11. We did not know as much about Toliver. And he tore us up as far from the three point line. So I was a little disappointed in that, but our defense at one time, late in the first half, they had scored six field goals and maybe at halftime and four of them were threes. So we did a good job defensively. We pushed the ball well offensively, and I was disappointed our half-court offense I didn't think that AJ had energy the first half and second half he played pretty well. The two point guards had two more assists than last game and two less turnovers and that was good. Joey and Malik did come out with between two, six and nine rebounds, 13 and four points, five and three assists, they are very solid there. And believe it or not Marcus Bingham might have played his good defensively as he did offensively and not just with the six blocks but his ball screen defense that was missing in action a little more last year was pretty good tonight and that helped us a lot. I think Tyson [Walker] and AJ [Hoggard] both can guard really well. I think we got to get a few more shots for Joey [Hauser] and for Gabe [Brown] and even [Max] Christie. Turning the ball over less helps that. The disappointment at the free throw line, I have no idea. We shot so well from the free-throw line in either game and we shot well. So we have to work on that. I thought we were poor from the three-point line for the kind of threes we got but all in all, to get 11 blocks to get only 12 turnovers so we cut that in half. Still 22 assists on 32 baskets is not quite the norm for us but it's up there, the rebounds, we out-rebounded by ten. Considering we missed almost ten free throws but there's ten rebounds they got there. The three-point shooting was a disappointment. Free-throw shooting was a disappointment. But there were a lot of positives and now we don't have to worry about anymore exhibition games because I watched Kansas last night… things get a little more real now coming up.

Thoughts on AJ Hoggard's performance…
Well, AJ has definitely made some progress. I mean, I say I almost have seven starters. I could start him or I could start Tyson [Walker] I could start Malik [Hall], Joey [Hauser] you know, so I almost have seven starters. But he wasn't very good the first half and you know, I don't know why, so we'll have a meeting on that tomorrow, we'll just figure it out because he was a lot more energetic the second half. I still don't like the fact that our point guards aren't running our team and aren't communicating as well. That's gonna take a little time. As far as Mady [Sissoko] goes, he's still gonna do some really good things and yet he you know, he still struggles to do some things but between him and Julius [Marble II] I think we're going to have two guys that we're going to be able to sub in there for Marky [Bingham] that bring different things to the table, one's a shot-blocker, one's stronger although Mady's pretty strong too. But I'm not disappointed in Mady. I just need to continue to get him more time and more time but he will get more time.

On trusting the progress of Marcus Bingham…
Well, it's growing. It's growing. You know, I honestly I've been pretty proud of Marcus. His mental approach and everything this summer was off the charts. He's done a better job in everything- school. Basketball. His strength is, he's still looking to gian 30 more pounds but I mean, he's not there weight wise, but he is there strength wise. And I thought his conditioning was a lot better tonight. Considering he never looked, drained, drained, get some energy. So I am feeling better about Marcus because he's done it now for five, six months where he's been more consistent. Things do change in a game, there's no question about that. We'll see what happens when you get in front of 20,000 people and everything. But I think he's making some big strides. I think we can go to him in the post a little bit more. But where he improved tonight was defensively not only on ball screens, but not letting it in there and then blocking shots. And I think offensively, we'll be able to get into the ball a little bit more than we did.
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Looking toward Max Christie elevating his game in the future…
I think Max is a little down on himself because he gave up some shots there late and his defensive has been really good. But he had two or three in a row and he just kind of, it's difficult I think, to try to hope that you're going to play every play in every game. And you start playing the score, you start playing the opponent, but as I told him, the great players don't. My first year Scott Skiles was wanting to get 40 and 20 assists against the worst teams, you know. But I've been very pleased with Max, he's a treat to coach. You know, he still rebounded the ball a little but not as good as he did last time. I thought they did a pretty good job, but I didn't think our point [guards] did a good enough job in the break getting to him early. So some of what I expect more out of Max- a little better defense. But he's been playing great defensively. We gotta do a little better job and get him the ball in places because he can shoot it. He can handle it. He can do a lot of things.

On Tyson Walker's performance and how it affects the rest of the defense…
Well, the only thing I was mad at Tyson about is he's passing up some shots. You know, but where you don't see what he does- six assists, no turnovers, four steals. I mean, he gets his hands on more balls, he drives guys nuts, you know, and he's not that big. He doesn't have long arms. He just, I don't know. He's got great anticipation skills. And he's very, very good defensively. I thought he slapped up a little bit there too. And second half guys drove around him, but I really like the Jordan Harris kid from Grand Valley a lot. I think he's gonna be a very good point [guard] there. We actually did a pretty good job on him. But you're right, Tyson. He makes a lot of plays, he's a very, very good shooter. And he hasn't taken a shot yet outside of 15 feet, and he really does shoot it well. So probably one of the things we'll talk about tomorrow, and yet I thought we settled a little bit when they went zone. They played a lot of zone in the second half. I thought we settled a little bit for with threes and didn't shoot him as well. They weren't bad shots, though. So I can't complain about that.

On the current ten-man rotation…
I'm trying to shrink it a little bit. I think we have seven right now that are that are etched in stone. Jaden Akins maybe didn't play quite as good as he did the last game. It's unlike him, you know, energy things is what he does. The second half at the end, he went in and got some rebounds in that. But there was some loose balls in that that I think he saw, and he's getting better with shooting and figuring out what's a good shot, a bad shot, but really like Jaden, I know he's gonna be in the playing group. And it's Pierre and Mady too, you know what those guys do. And yet, you're talking right now with figuring out no injuries, no foul trouble. What you hope to have is an eight man playing group and then two guys that can come in on situations like that, and I think we're close to that right now.

On experimenting with the rotation…
There are options. We played the two points together. We played Joey and Malik (together), we wanted to see how that worked at times. Joey's smart enough to cover a lot of different people and he rebounds pretty well. Malik is a very good offensive rebounder. Malik has been playing better, I'd say he had an average game tonight, 6 rebounds is an average and 3 assists. I thought he passed up shots and (he) said he wasn't quite feeling it. I said that's when you feel it is in the exhibition games, not in the real ones. But I do think we have some options to go big - Malik at the three - and options to go small with Joey at center. So, we do have some options.

Marcus Bingham's three-point shots – do you expect them to go and does he?
Oh, he expects every shot to go in, which is a good thing for a shooter. So, you know, that's what we laughed about together. Marky (Bingham) has worked hard on his three and he's going to be able to shoot threes. It's the 'and one' things that I don't want. Dribble between your legs, catch and launch. He's gotta be ready to shoot threes. He can shoot anytime he wants. That was a perfect shot. He did follow through perfectly. Instead of shooting it like this (no form). If he gets eight of those a game, I'm cool with him taking all eight. But the between the legs, behind the back dribble, throwing it up there like he's Kevin Durant, him and I will get real close and comfy sitting on the bench. So, he knows it. And that's why he laughed at me when he came out and even agreed. Marcus has done a very good job. The maturity is probably the best word to use. He's way better. That's a tribute to him. Did it take longer than I'd like? Sure. But I can tell you a lot of guys that took longer, some that ended up in the NBA. Marky can shoot that three. I feel comfortable with it, when it's a ready, shoot, three.

Communication with Hall and Brown being captains and the player-level leadership…
Boy, a lot of deep questions. Gabe (Brown) has done an incredible job with his energy this year. I walked through today and he's off the charts. Unbelievable. He's another guy that has improved a lot in that area. Malik (Hall) is more of the quiet guy that understands everything. In the perfect world, your point guard, your quarterback, not many football teams have their center as their leader. And, so, we still need those point guards to do more and to talk more, communicate more. But as far as locker room (and) practice, Gabe and Malik are making progress. You know, it's an area that they haven't done. There's not a million great leaders anymore, but they're making progress. I was pleased. With Gabe, I was pleased with all year, but with Malik, I think he's going to be a big player to this team and play a lot of positions and he's really a good, solid player. I don't know if sometimes he understands that as much. Like why are you passing up shots? I say, let me coach you. I'll tell you if it's a bad shot. I want him to take those shots. He's worked hard on his shooting and they're good shots for him. Sometimes when he puts it on the floor and guys aren't on him, that's when those charges happen.

Biggest takeaways from the exhibition games…
That is difficult when you're trying to get everybody in. (If) my kid (Steven Izzo) turns it over one more time, he's off the Izzo scholarship. But other than that, I think the biggest thing out of (it) is we won two games. It's always important, you got to learn how to win. But the mistakes, the free-throw shooting, it bothers me because they should be mistakes that shouldn't happen. We are a really good free-throw shooting team. I mean, I've got the stats to show you. We shot them all summer. So, that means there's a little lack of focus or something. Those things are controllable. So, you kind of hope that the things that are controllable - you know, if you have a bunch of turnovers when a team is really pressing you - but when we had them like against Ferris (State), those are still concerning. I'm waiting for a player to get mad about it and not the coach. That's progress that a team makes as they go. But all in all, it's been a fun team to coach. At times we can really get up and down the floor. I think we have a great enough base. We have players to work with. The cupboard isn't bare If they could each improve a little bit. We gotta coach a little harder and look forward. I mean the beauty of these games, like Kansas or teams that are playing nobody's, the beauty of these is you get to see where you're at. And one way or another, you don't question: was your team up for Grand Valley or up for Ferris? You look at it the same way. Like I said, I have great respect for Ric (Wesley) and that program. I reminded our guys that we did get beat by Grand Valley (State) in (20)10 or (20)12, I guess it was back in the (Drew) Nietzel days. Because I still remember him changing out in the hallway because we kicked him out of the locker room. Couldn't do that today, could you? Three lawsuits on that one. In general, I like the (guys) I have to work with. I like the guys. They're good students. They're everything you want, except I'd like them to communicate a little more. I'd like them to be a little more demonstrative on each other, pushing each other, and that will come. It'll take some time, but it will come. We're right into the fire right away and then we come back, and we got Louisville, Butler I mean. Then we got some of the tournaments where there's a lot of good teams. So, within a couple of weeks, you know it's going to be a lot of big games that we're going to play. And we're just going to have to adjust both ways. If you win some, you're going to have to look at that. If you lose some, you're going to have to adjust. I knew that every year when I make out the schedule. But this team, I think has shown that defensively, we are better. And that's one thing that we wanted from last year. Rebounding, I think we're better. Can't really tell against these kinds of teams. But I do thing we're better. Running, I think we're a lot better. Leadership, as far as on the court and at the point, I think we have a lot of reasons that we are better. But we'll find out shortly how much better.

GVSU head coach Ric Wesley
Opening Statement…
I thought it was a good experience for our guys. We knew it was going to be tough, they have got a really big, strong, physical team. I thought we did some good things. Our offense really struggled at times, we just didn't consistently get good shots. I thought our defense for the most part, even though we gave up 83 points, I thought our defense wasn't too bad. We got back and did a pretty good job of controlling their break. All in all, really appreciative of the opportunity to come here. It's always kind of a thrill and exciting thing for our guys. I just wish Michigan State the best of luck this season.

Freshman guard Max Christie
About AJ Hoggard's performance…
AJ played really well, he gave us that energy off the bench. (He) got a couple of 'and one' baskets, and made great passes to Marcus (Bingham) and Mady (Sissoko).

About Mady Sissoko's performance…
I think Mady did a good job rebounding and being physical down there, which is his job.

About the upcoming game against Kansas…
We are really looking forward to Kansas for sure. That's been a big emphasis this week, especially after this game, we are really going to lock in and try to do our best to win that game, which is what we plan on doing. We just need to lock in, make sure that we are all focused doing the little things, make sure we are ready for Kansas by watching their film, going hard in practice and walk through shootarounds. We need to make sure we are locked in on all aspects of basketball, and off the court we need to take care of ourselves, just so (that) we are at our best for the Kansas game. It's going to be a really good test for us right away and we want it, we are ready for the test. We want nothing more than playing the best teams in the country right away.

About areas of improvement…
Free throw shooting is definitely a big must that we need to improve. We normally shoot well at free throws in shootarounds and practice, but during the games we slipped a little bit. We will be focusing on that for sure. I thought we did a really good job taking care of the ball. Tyson and AJ did a good job for the most part taking care of the ball and getting into our sets. I think offensive rebounding and defensive rebounding, in general, we could've done better. Our missed free throws gave them a lot of rebounds, but, overall, I think we did a good job.

Senior forward Marcus Bingham Jr.
About the three pointers that Tom Izzo is okay with and the ones that Tom Izzo doesn't like...
Man, I caught it with one hand and that's what really messed him up. I caught it just like this and then I just took it, but he likes the stepping better. He's not lying though. I like the stepping's better, too. As the season gets going, we're going to keep it rolling.

About confidence...
Yeah, with my role being as big as it is... in the past, I would be more mellow and stuff like that, but with being an upperclassman, it brings that leeway of you knowing your role and you knowing how much your role means to the team, so the confidence is there for sure.

Playing at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday and feeling almost overlooked...
We have a big chip on our shoulder going into these practices, we are just going to try to get better every day, not have too many slip-ups and we know what's on the tablem. So, we're going to be ready.

About how tonight was the way that he envisioned his senior year...
Yeah, for sure, playing hard and just trying to bring that presence of the defender on the team. I'm just trying to keep getting better, watching film and stuff like that, just to keep getting better.

How does the two point guards change things for the team...
Either one (AJ Hoggard or Tyson Walker) can push the ball. AJ doesn't have a problem running the wing, Tyson doesn't either. It's just them knowing spots, different spots at any given time. They can be playing at the two or the one, both of them, so knowing that both of them know that spot is a real good deal.

Sophomore guard A.J. Hoggard
On him and Tyson Walker cutting down turnovers from last game…
It was just more of a focus after last game against Ferris State, just some things you can't have especially looking forward into the conference we play and the opponents we play. Not taking nothing away from the two teams we played, but turnovers like that lead to baskets. Having 20 turnovers can lead to 41 points, 42 points. So, things like that, make sure we just lock in at practice and we need to take care of the ball more, do better on our part.

On having more energy in the second half…
I kind of wasn't finding my rhythm in the first half. Coach (Izzo) got on me a little bit and it just turned around from there. I had to focus more in the second half and just get back to playing basketball like I know how. I got my teammates putting confidence in me as well outside of coaches telling me to be aggressive and do things that I know how to do. So, that went a long way with me lighting that spark in the second half.

On playing on the court with Tyson Walker…
Man, I feel comfortable on the side of Tyson. I love being out there with (him). It's easy because if he gets outlet first, we're running, if I get the outlet, he's running, so it kind of gives us more cheap buckets being behind the defense ... so I just think it just was fun. He has a good feel for the game, I have a good feel for a game I feel like, so it's easy to put each other in position to score and put others in position to score when there's two threats out there.

Players Mentioned

Jaden Akins

Marcus Bingham Jr.

Max Christie

A.J. Hoggard

Steven Izzo

Mady Sissoko

Tyson Walker

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