Post-Game Quotes vs. Louisville

Michigan State Head Coach Tom Izzo

Opening Statement...
I want to send our thoughts and prayers to the kids, the families, the school of Oxford, the tragedy. I can't even imagine sending my kids off to school and not coming home that way, sure makes it bigger than basketball. Everybody out there I hope every Spartan sends their thoughts and prayers to them. If you would have told me, we would have been up 20 at home to Louisville I would have been tickled to death. I deserve a lot of blame for why we're turning the ball over, but God darn if we step out of bounds four times, I don't know how I'm going to do a better job but I'm going to do a better job of that. Max Christie and Malik Hall probably won the game. Malik with his offense and some defense and Max did an unbelievable job on Locke I mean he didn't even get any shots barley. I thought the defense that we played was phenomenal at the end they hit some shots and that raised both their three-point percentage and their field goal percentage. I don't know if we kind of let up or if they kind of made some plays. We rebounded pretty well, we shot the ball well from the three once we stopped throwing the ball in and kicking it out which we talked about morning, noon and night. Shot pretty good from the free-throw line except for some misses late. We had some steals we did a pretty good job there with 10 steals, with 20 assists on 23 baskets. We did a lot of good things, but those turnovers are just something I'm going to keep working on. There are a couple of other guys too, Tyson Walker getting 10 assists was really big. AJ after struggling the first half I thought played very well the second half. We have some things done, but it was a struggle in doing them and some of that is them too. They had a pretty good defense, they came at us, pressured us. I thought out-physicaled us especially in the first half and we played better in the second half.

About Malik and AJ and their performance...

Honestly, we talk to those point guards all the time about not taking it too deep and kicking out not kicking in. We did a poor job of that the first half and an excellent job of it the second half. Inside out passes is how you shoot better from the three. They're still having trouble getting Max the ball but people are taking him away too so we try to give it to him to handle a little bit more and that works some, but they are taking that away. If he plays defense like he did the way he can shoot it, the shots are going to come. I thought AJ and Malik were big factors in this thing. I thought Tyson getting 10 assists was a big factor. I thought our defense probably won us the game.

About the turnover clusters and the stretches of good play...

I definitely think that and it's hard to feel good when you turn it over 19 times when you work on it. You are right there was like 6 in a row it seemed like. In the UConn game I think we had like 11 out of 12 or 13 possessions we turned it over. We started the second half with 14 turnovers and 2 fouls or 3 fouls. Somehow it has to fall on me so I'm going to take the blame for it, but we have to figure it out. If we can do this with 19 turnovers whether it's Kansas, whether it's Baylor, whether it's these guys in other words quality teams just think what we are going to be able to do if we quit turning the damn ball over. It is frustrating I'm sure for our fans, it's probably frustrating for our players and it's definitely frustrating for our coach. I thought our fans really helped us tonight too. It seemed like old times I'm greatly appreciative of that.

About cutting the rotations but other players have been impressive...

I see him fitting in. I really do think what we're trying to do is run more, we did have 25 to 12 so were scoring on a break, that takes a lot out of you, so we have to bring more people in. I think one of the strengths of Purdue if you look at them is they are Noah's Ark, they're two of everything. If we can sub a little more, have Gabe's sub be Pierre and the sub for Max would be Jaden and we get a little more consistency and continuity which I think would help our turnovers. Inside I didn't think Marc was very good early and then he raised up and had 12 rebounds, but I thought he got muscled around a little bit in there which was disappointing. If Malik could play like that, we have to get more out of Joey, we have an upside, we have pieces we have an upside. We have to get there too. Maybe some practice time at home, a little consistency, a game every three days every four days where we can get into a routine a little bit, I think will really help us. I say all that, but we just beat a damn good team and I think we're all kind of I wouldn't say sad about it I think we're all still questioning and wondering what we are doing.

About Malik Hall and the expectations Izzo has...

Malik is another guy, he's a real good player and what we're looking for out of him is consistency. He is starting to play with some emotion which has been a problem for him. He is starting to play with a little more passion in what he does. He's always had it, but he doesn't say much. Maybe being a captain has helped a little bit, I think today he was really ready. I told him before the game that I thought he had practiced well. So, Malik is going to be a big key for us, especially until we get some other guys playing a little bit better. Even Mady went in there and did some really good things for the short period of time he plays. Our subs are going to be important; Malik isn't really a sub, he's a 6th starter, sometimes he starts, sometimes he doesn't. The same with AJ I think we have two guys there who could have started and may start again sometimes. We have a solid seven and then a couple of guys we are trying to bring along.

About Max and his maturity...

I think he's a little frustrated, I would be if I was him, but I do see an incredible maturity it's amazing what he has done as far as 90% of the scorers' let their scoring affect their defense and he hasn't done that one time all year. For a freshman that is almost unbelievable, if you watch him, he is in lock down mode. We just have to get that offense going a little bit and figure out some things and I think one of the things is going to be to get our point guards to penetrate and kick out a little bit. We might put him at the point like we did tonight.

About the ceiling of the team...

I know this will sound crazy, but I still think him (Max) and Hauser are my two best shooters and someday it's going to come, it comes in practice. Max is a little different, in the game he doesn't get the looks Joey got because people are putting full attention on him, and he will, and we will figure out how to do a better job but I'm really proud of Max. You're right he's not frustrated, I think he's like anybody would be but going into UConn they put the best defensive player I've seen on him, and Baylor did the same thing. He's getting a lot of attention and that's probably opening it up for some other people too. Gabe played pretty well the first half, didn't play as well the second half and we will see why when we see the film. We were running well, it just seemed like other guys were getting shots.

On the depth of the bench…

It's an asset and it's a little bit of a problem you know because you kind of say who you're going to, but it is an asset. Anytime you got different guys that can score, I think every one of our starters could score fifteen points, I think two or three of our subs could and here's Jaden [Akins], I mean Jaden [Akins] is going to be electric because he is an athlete. That guy is smart as a whip, he just understands things, can guard the world, he's going to be a hell of a player here to be honest with you.

On the point guard play…

Well, that's a million-dollar question, it really wasn't the first half. I mean, Tyson [Walker] played pretty good. I didn't think A.J. [Hoggard] did and we talked to him at halftime about it and we just seem to go faster, everybody can do things it's like, we took a shot after getting an offensive rebound, with a minute and a half left and the person said, "well I was open", well I know you were open but there's things you gotta do, it's kind of figuring out the game and I think we are all going a little too fast. Gabe [Brown] had two or three traveling calls on the break again. Everybody has to slow down a little bit, you want to play quick but don't hurry is the saying and we have to do a better job of that. We practice that all the time, we practice going hard on the break, we just haven't put it all together yet. We are eight games in, and we had the three games in a row, which means you don't practice at all then. If you told me we'd be, what are we 6-2, after the schedule we played, I think I would have taken that, or more. And yet I am not very satisfied because of the turnovers and the way we seem to find ways to have great stretches and then have a cluster of bad plays so, happy where we are as far as the record, not happy as far as our play, but excited that I do believe what I see in practice, if can correct just one thing, we don't even have to correct our shooting, just one thing, I think we will be a lot better and that's going to happen. I want it to happen sooner, the fans want it to happen sooner, media wants it to happen sooner, and this is one time that we are all on the same page.

On being frustrated about turnovers…

They just killed Maryland on the boards, you're right and don't even talk about that, or I didn't and that's my fault. It is frustrating, think about our wings, I think Gabe [Brown] had three travels, Jaden [Akins] and Max [Christie], somebody had two step out of bounds and Joey [Hauser] the same thing, his weren't step out of bounds I don't think. I'm going to put one of those dog fences in and when they step out of bounds, they get zapped and then I would get sued for that so I can't do that, I'll just have to find a way and I will find a way I promise you. That is frustrating because I don't know how you go to practice and say "don't step out of bounds" but, I'm gonna and see how it works.

On Joey Hauser being in his own head and being frustrated…

When a guy doesn't play well or doesn't shoot well, especially when you're a shooter, that's what is amazing about Max [Christie], he hasn't let his shooting get to him. I think everybody wants to try to do a little more than they, everybody wants to be somebody different. One of the cool things about Xavier [Tillman], he wanted to be Xavier and I think some guys want to put on the floor more, some guys want to do this more, some guys want to do that more and it is frustrating for Joey [Hauser]. If you watched him shoot in practice, the guy shoots the lights out. I'm sure he's frustrated by that and tries to force some things and make some plays because he's not into it, and he's going to have to fight through that, we are going to have to help him get through that. I still think he's a valuable member of our team and I think last year our own fans hurt him, sometimes the media hurt him. We have to understand that some kids are not as able to handle all the abuse, a couple of them left because of it. I would just say let me coach the guys and you guys write about the team. You never know what is going on with each individual player and most people out there sure as hell don't know what is going on with each individual player because they are not with them all the time. I love Joey Hauser; I really do, and I think that the day is going to come, and we are just going to keep working at it until it comes. I know what his skill level is, I know how frustrated he is, Max [Christie] isn't frustrated, I think Joey [Hauser] is a little frustrated and I am glad he is frustrated. It's the guys that aren't frustrated that don't care and I am glad he's frustrated, we just have to work through it, we will. I think if I am going to press on one thing with a couple of guys, A.J. [Hoggard] is taking it too deep all the time, yea you make a layup but then you have a couple turnovers. It's just going to take some time. It's not a finished product and if you look around the country, I study it every day, there are a lot of teams turning the ball over, a lot of teams aren't shooting very good, we shot a lot better. A lot of encouraging things tonight, it's just those pockets of things that make it look absurd.

On confidence going forward…

When we get into our meeting tonight, our staff, that is exactly what we will talk about. If it seems like I'm down, I'm not down. I am a little perplexed and frustrated because from a coaching standpoint, I have always stressed play as hard anybody in the country, you're as physical as anybody, we aren't quite as physical, but we do play hard and then it looks undisciplined when you turn the ball over. I guess it's the football version of penalties, you have a million penalties, and you look undisciplined, and I don't think they are undisciplined, they are just trying to do too many things that they can't do. They are trying to go at a speed that they can't go at. I have heard lots of people say "well, that's because you are running so much", Gabe's [Brown] are happening on the break, very few others are happening on the break, they are happening on the half court. You don't step out of bounds because of the break. There is a positive upside, I've been saying it all year, I think we played some great teams. I think we have played five really good teams and one on the road and somehow that is going to help us. We have a pretty tough game against Toledo coming up and then we start the Big Ten season, but at least there's going to be some separation between each one. I am looking forward to that and I hope that we don't turn the ball over, but I hope people don't worry about my turnovers and worry about the people in Oxford and we will go from there.

Junior Guard Tyson Walker

On freshman guard Max Christie not getting frustrated by being focus of other teams' defenses…

All the time Max says he's not shot hungry. He said that all the time, so I think that's why he looks fine when he's playing. He's just a player. He's doing good with that. Everyone can see when someone is shot hungry, he's nowhere near that.

On getting a better feel of where teammates like the ball…

It's just happening over time. Really, just the more games, the more you recognize how people score the ball, and where that where they're more comfortable scoring it at.

On being first MSU player to record 10 assists in a game since Cassius Winston…

It's actually crazy. This is actually my first time ever getting ten assists since high school, so I was very excited for that. But it is crazy being in the same conversation with Cassius.

On how to correct the turnovers as a team…

Our turnovers can be corrected real easy. Just more focus, just know where we're at. I think we had a couple turnovers just stepping out of bounds, had a charge, not under control. So, those are easily fixed. If we cut those out, we're down to 14 turnovers, 13 [turnovers]. So, the simple things, just focus more.

On running the fast break at Michigan State compared to Northeastern…

Man. Sometimes I even forget about it, which is crazy, but it is. We don't recognize how fast we're moving because that's just what we do every single day. But when you watch it and try to guard it, it is very hard to guard, just because you're always on your toes. [You] got to be on your toes. If you're not, then we are going to score easily.

Junior Forward Malik Hall

On going back and forth to start the second half…

It was some good basketball. I don't think we had that many turnovers in that stretch, we held some of their key scorers. They weren't really getting anything. When we get like that we play good basketball, so that's mostly what it was.

On team balance and being harder to play against…

Oh yeah, 100%. I've been saying that since the beginning of the year. Anybody on our team can have a good game. If one person isn't doing so well, the next person steps up. We're so deep at some of these positions and we're getting good play from our freshmen, so it helps. Other teams try to cut off one person, and the next person steps up.

On finding consistent offense…

It's really just confidence in myself and trust in the work that I put in, while also making sure that I do it all within our offense. I'm not trying to break down the offense and be an isolation person, I'm trying to do it within and find that consistency. I think it's something that I'm starting to figure out a little bit more and more as we grow as a team.

On getting the turnover situation under control…

The coaches said it the other day, you're not going to beat any high level teams, Louisville is a good team, but they're talking about top 5 teams. Kansas we had 20 turnovers, Baylor we had 20 turnovers. You're not going to beat really good teams turning the ball over a lot, and I think that's our next level we have to reach and mentally understand, that we can't turn the ball over that much against really great teams if we want to be a championship team.

On 8 points in a minute in a half…

Honestly the Breslin, I gotta give credit to the fans. Shots were falling, and as soon as they got involved, they started to get loud, and it got a little easier. You get lob plays, you get another three, stuff like that, it'll help you, so I credit that mostly that to the fans.

Sophomore Guard A.J. Hoggard

On shooting well tonight…

Just get our shooters shots. Get Gabe [Brown] in positions where he can shoot well, Jaden [Akins] shot it well tonight. He did an unbelievable job off the bench. I was just trying to get guys involved, get Marky [Bingham Jr.] involved, get Max [Christie] involved, Malik [Hall] played great, just feed off of those guys, cause I kinda had a rough first half. So just me coming in, just being put in a position after Tyson [Walker] had three fouls and having to turn things around, and just spiral my way, and my teammates helped too, so it wasn't just me, it was my guys. They rallied me, we rallied each other, and we just fought and did what we had to do.

On turnovers…

We're not tolerating turnovers right now. It can be a step out of bounds, we're just not tolerating it. We had 19 tonight, we have to do a better job. We also had 20 assists, but 20 and 19 isn't a good combination, so we're trying to clean up our turnovers, and hold ourselves to a higher standard. Turn the ball over, and you're going to hear about it, and I think that's great because it keeps us on our toes and makes us play smart, safe basketball. It's going to help us down the road, get us more shots, give us more opportunities to score...it's a frustrating thing, we want to get shots up. With us turning the ball over, we're missing opportunities. 19 turnovers today could have been 19 shots. We took 49 shots, we're usually a 65-70 range, so that took away from opportunities of us getting shots up. So we clean that up, and it leads to everyone having a better night.

On playing in a loud Breslin…

It was unbelievable. Us going on our run and hearing them cheer us on, it was loud in there. It was so loud at one point I was calling out a rip screen and I couldn't hear myself, so it was fun. Love the atmosphere, love to play in it. It's what you work for as a kid, and just coming here and playing and winning our first test at home, it was just fun. It was an unbelievable night for me. It just shows how much our fans love and support us.

Senior Forward Marcus Bingham Jr.

On what he sees from junior forward Malik Hall in practices and games recently…

I feel like the only thing that's hurting Malik right now is just injuries. He tweaked his ankle when he was in the Bahamas, it's been bothering him, tweaked it again tonight, I saw it when he tried to drive, he kind of tweaked it and then just pulled back out. But, Malik is a hell of a player, and all he's done since the Eastern Michigan game is grow. Everything coaches ask him to do he's doing it, trying to keep us together even in practices with his voice and the way he's been talking since the Eastern game, it has been paying off.

On what he did after being taken out early in the game…

Taking the challenge. You know, Coach [Tom Izzo] came at me about letting my guy get two offensive rebounds in the first half. And I got challenged at halftime so I had to turn it up a notch.

On them stepping up to the challenge of a team like Louisville…

We are going to be a hell of a team, man. We're coming for everybody in the country. I feel like we [were] slept on. [Once] we clean a lot of the self-inflicted stuff up, I don't think teams will turn us over that much. I really feel like it's just us playing too fast, within myself and my teammates. I feel like that when we clean that up, we're going to be a hell of a team. I really feel that.

On how to clean up the self-inflicted mistakes…

Just with leadership, the two point guards understanding what play is right [and] what play is not a risky pass, I think I had a couple myself. I looked down the stat line, it's like four people with three turnovers and that can't happen between five people. Only time will tell, [if] we slow down and we execute, we're a hell of a team.

Louisville Head Coach Chris Mack

Opening Statement…

I thought through the first 28 minutes of the game … we certainly weren't perfect, but I thought we were battling. Offensively we just, we've gone into too many droughts so far as I've watched. And then I watched in person tonight that we've got to be able to figure out how to get the basketball in the lane efficiently so that we can get to the free throw line so that we can open up even better looks than we're getting from the three point line. We got to make some layups, we've got to be able to finish in traffic. You know, the physicality that we've talked about, or that's been talked about with our team has really been about the defensive end, but you know, there's a physicality that you have to play with on the offensive end. And we didn't do that tonight. I give Michigan State a lot of credit and they're one of the best defensive teams in the country, and our guys felt that; first road environment, and we've got to learn from it quick. We got another road environment on Saturday against NC State, but give credit to Michigan State. They're a good team.

On getting the shots the team needs on offense…

I think we have to get cleaner looks, I think we have to get better looks, and obviously not every one of them are the same. You're gonna have some looks where you'll take it. And then you have some looks that we couldn't execute well enough to get a better shot. You know, we took one that probably a little bit lower percentage. I don't think it's out of selfishness. I think it's out of lack of execution. And that has to get better. You know, again, [it's about] the toughness factor coming off the cut. Michigan State's going to be really physical. Our big guys had to do a much better job getting to their ball screen and getting out of it, so that we can create some type of advantage whether that's the guard going downhill and getting in the lane or the short roll… again, Michigan State, give them a lot of credit. They don't get extended. They're a tough nut to crack. But we have to get better with the execution that allows us to get better shots. That'll up our percentage and then give us better opportunities to offensive rebound.

On adjustments...

Well, with Dre [Davis] we tried to get him on the on the blocks a couple times in the first half, and again, it's an understanding that our team has to call to specific plays. We post up Dre and we just throw it back to the top without giving him an opportunity to put his defender on his back and get the ball. And I think if Dre gets it down there, there's very few three-men that are as strong as him… and El [Ellis] did a great job the last eight, ten minutes of the game of really getting in the lane, and certainly shot it well, but we need that when it's a tight game. We need him to make those plays consistently. You know, it's a little bit looser feeling when you're up… when you're down 17 points getting in there and sort of making things happen. He's got a burst to him, he can score it. Hopefully this game gives him confidence but we need him when he gets in the lane and nothing's there not to charge over guys, to be stronger with the ball. And he will, he's [only] seven games into his college career at this level.

On tackling Michigan State's offense…

One of the guys we really wanted to key on was Gabe brown. He's just a terrific catch-and-shoot guy and I think… one time, we left him in transition, and a couple guys had some threes and quite honestly hadn't really shown that in the preseason. Pierre Brooks comes off the bench and he wasn't even playing, and AJ [Hoggard] hasn't necessarily shot the ball well and he had a dagger corner in front of their bench. So you give them credit. They have some really good shooters. I told our team we have to learn from the way they execute. They have a mission on the offensive end, they're tough and they turn the ball over an amazing amount of times but they also for the most part when they didn't turn it over they got the shot they wanted. We've got to learn from that.

On playing in a hostile environment, and on the losing end…

I mean it's as good of an environment as I've coached at. The fact that teams and programs haven't been for arenas in however many months it's been and then you add in Michigan State and the Izzone, it's well-known and it is a tough place to play. And I thought again, probably about the 12-minute mark on, for about five or six minutes we weren't very good and we got to learn from the environment and not get rattled and be able to get good shots and not let it go the way that it did.

On coming into East Lansing for the team's first true away game …

We knew it was a challenge. You know, we knew coming up here, Louisville hadn't won in the history of our program here and there's a reason for it. Those guys in green are really good. And we didn't play very well on offensive and defensively again, they shot the lights out. I'll have to go through, and I know there were some times not in transition that we didn't do a good job. So we gotta clean that up.

Players Mentioned

Marcus Bingham Jr.

Pierre Brooks II

Max Christie

Malik Hall

Joey Hauser

A.J. Hoggard

Tyson Walker

Cassius Winston