Post-Game Quotes vs. Illinois

Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo

Opening statement…
I'm really proud of this team. You know, they have been through hell and high water. I kept saying we've been practicing pretty good; I didn't see any quit in the team. We're starting to move the ball better. We had a lot of guys, I mean, when you get Aaron (Henry) and Josh (Langford), I mean, how can Josh get 16 rebounds, that's Charlie Bell, Jason Richardson type. And Aaron Henry is just becoming a man now. He's really doing a lot of different things, and had to guard, and we kind of wore them down. We got a lot out of our collection of bigs, you know, we put a skinny guy (Marcus Bingham) on him (Kofi Cockburn), we put a 7-footer skinny guy (Bingham), we put a 6-8, strong guy (Julius Marble), we put a couple of guys in the middle, we just kind of rotated guys in there, but we thought we had a decent game plan. We were going to dig down; we did a decent job of that. (Cockburn) missed some free throws (3-of-11), but we missed some free throws too (13-of-20).

And then I thought Rocket (Watts) played a lot more like I think he can play. It was really fun to see him. He was really, really good in the huddles, and just kind of kept moving forward. I think he got a little tired, to be honest with you. And the other guy I was happy for was Joey Hauser. He had those two big 3's, made those big clutch 1-and-1 free throws. He got a couple of rebounds. Joey Hauser, he too played like…I'm hoping he'll continue to grow.

When you outscore them in fast-break points, you outscore them in points off turnovers, the only thing we didn't do a good job of was the second-chance points, and he's (Cockburn) a man-child; they missed some free throws, but like I said, we missed three front ends of a 1-and-1, and we missed some free throws. We rebounded decent with him, especially considering we had such a small lineup in there at times when we were in so much foul trouble. Happy to get a win. Big win, because it was against a, I think, a very quality team who's been on a seven-game win streak.

On "the streetfight" and physical game against Illinois…
"Street fight," that's a good way to put it. We had an alum that was down there and the first thing he said to me was it looked like our street fighting days. And I would say, we did a better job of competing. But I think, even Gabe (Brown), you know, you don't realize his size in there created some issues. He missed some shots, but him and Josh coming back now, and looking more like the players that we'd thought they be, I think is very encouraging.

I think Joshua has become one of our best leaders. Every day, he's works with Rocket, he was in watching film with him, he's spending time with Aaron, he's calling people out. Josh is, to think that in October we didn't think he could even play, in November we were hoping to get 15 minutes a game out of him. The blocks he had tonight, I was really impressed with myself. If he said that (about moving quickly from this game in order to get ready for Ohio State), I'm right with him.

On the energy and emotion the team played with and if they're realizing it's all on the line…
Yeah, you know with Mady and Josh, we had three or four guys with COVID in the middle of the season and I think there is just more energy with them. I think there is more confidence with them. With Gabe and Josh, they're 6-5 and 6-7, they give us a lot of on that wing and we didn't have that, we didn't have their energy. Then you lose some games. So, we haven't done anything yet, but we have played better in all but the Iowa game in the last four of five games. We have a long way to go yet, we all know that. It's a tough task ahead with another game against Ohio State, which has been off since Sunday, but at the same, I keep saying – great opportunities. We're going to have to do a really good job tonight and tomorrow in whatever we do in practice, and then probably a better job of subbing on Thursday and trying to save some bodies. It's going to be fun.

What I really enjoyed was my staff did a hell of a job, I thought, in the scouting report. And I thought we followed the scouting report. That was one thing that we really preached before the game. I think the last game at Indiana helped. Everybody has to get confidence in everybody. So, for two nights now we're better and we're going to see if we can keep building on that.

On whether Illinois came into the game focused on MSU's record…
No, I don't know. I doubt it. Brad Underwood is a very good coach and his teams play hard and tough, too. I don't know if maybe it hurt that we kind of figured out where we are and everybody's games in the Big Ten and because some teams aren't going to play all their games, and some are, maybe they realized they probably have little chance to win the league. I don't know if that had an effect, but this is a very good team. We did a pretty good job against a very good team.

Ayo Dosunmu, if you can say we contained him when he scored 17 points, but I thought we did a decent job not letting him get to his right and the things we wanted to do in the scouting report, I thought we did a hell of a job of it. So, they'll bounce back, they're going to win a lot of games. They're every bit as capable of going to a Final Four as some of the other three to four teams in the top of our league.

On what Josh Langford has been doing to improve the last couple of games…
I don't know how to say this because it's one thing that bothers me with all this stuff, but when they look at teams and they talk about are they healthy or not, it's usually injuries. But when Josh came back I want to say he was 5-for-18, 4-for-16 and then something else – those three games in that period really hurt him and hurt us, to be honest with you, but there was nothing we could do. Then Gabe came back and gave him a little more. Then he was over (COVID) for two or three weeks. I just think he's healthier and Gabe is a little healthier. This is the healthiest this team has been in two months. So, I think a lot of it is that, I really do. When he came off that, like I said, it's different for everybody, but 17 days off and I said it would take 25 or more and it took every bit of that. But he's playing with some energy now and some hop in his legs – I've never seen him rebound and block shots like this even when he was a freshman. Give him a lot of credit because nobody has been through more than Josh Langford and I'm just happy that he played so well and is leading so well. He's doing a hell of a job leading this team.

On running out of big men down the stretch, what went through his mind to put Joey Hauser in and how it worked out…
It was Hauser or my son Steven going in there to see if he could draw a charge on (Kofi Cockburn) because he is a hell of a player. But, they had different lineups in there, too. We played Joey some against Cockburn, but not a lot. We were rotating people in there and were running out of people, there is no question. We were down to him and Malik and Joey had played pretty well. Malik still went in there and gave us five minutes. You say 'what's five minutes?' Well he made a couple of big switches. So we can go a lot of different ways with this lineup.

We played our guards - Aaron 39 minutes, Gabe played 32, Josh played 36 and Rocket 31, so that's not the way it's going to be the next couple of games. There are just too many games in such a short period of time, so these other guys are going to have to step up.

I don't know if you guys saw it, I really didn't see the Mady thing. But, man, of all the people to get a flagrant, he's the nicest kid in America. So, I don't know what happened there, but that hurt us too because he only had two or three fouls at that time.

On the physical nature of the defensive side setting the tone early…
No question. We did talk about that a lot. I talked about that a lot with my former guys. I must have talked to Mateen 10 times in the last three weeks about that. David Thomas has been in my office – we have to get our culture back a little bit. Some of it is the physical nature of our guys. Like I said, Mady was making progress and the poor kid is 218 pounds now, he was 237. Cockburn is listed at 285 and I'm telling you he's 300 pounds, so that makes a difference and we kind of ganged up on him and did a decent job. But I thought we did play more physical. I thought we got after the ball on the floor more for what ever reason. I don't think it's that they're more hungry now, I think that it's that they're more healthy now than they were. They've gone through a tough time and kept their head above water, kept practicing. Last week we had bunch of guys come in a lot more and we really kind of hit on all of those things. I came in the other night and Josh was watching film with Rocket. Those are the little things that bring smiles to a coach's face. Then when guys have been struggling and come back and make big plays, that's great, especially at this time of year.

Graduate Guard Josh Langford
On getting a spark going and crashing the boards…
"I think that going off the last game, the word that we had, or actually two words that we kind of had, one that coach gave and the other we kind of came up collectively as a group. The first word from coach is connected and the second word was attitude. I think we did an unbelievable job of trying to continue to be locked in and continue to be connected and have a solid attitude regardless of what we see because we all know basketball is a game of runs. It's ups and its downs and so the greatest teams that play the game they are teams that know how to fast and concrete and not be moved by outward situations and so that's what we came into the game with. In terms of rebounding, I was joking with coach on my way up here, he was like that was the most rebounds I ever had total if you compare it to my freshman year. I just wanted to go out and try and give my best effort for my team and do all I could for them."

On the fact that every game matters…
"Oh yeah, most definitely. The margin for error is really, really slim. We have to do it together as a unit and we have to expect those chippy plays, right now in the Big Ten you will expect that in every game down the stretch especially right now because everything is kind of so tight and everybody is trying to fight. Especially with Illinois, we expected that to happen and we just wanted to be the aggressor. We didn't want to be hit first, we wanted to hit them first."

On the physically journey it has been…
"It hasn't been an easy journey. It's definitely been challenging, but I think that speaks volumes to the people that I have around me in terms of the program with our strength coach and our physical trainer. Those guys have really helped me in terms of my recovery and just trying to get back to who I am and how I was as a player. I feel like I feel great and things are really progressing well health wise and I don't have any issues. Right now, I'm trying to do the best I can for my team and be everything that they need me to be."

On either Illinois underestimating you or believing more in yourself…
"Give credit to Illinois, they been unbelievable this year. They have great players over there, but I think in terms of us I think we really just believe more in ourselves and realize that you can prepare for a team but at the end of the day you have to know who you are and have an identity and know what you bring to the table. I think right now, where we are going, we really are coming into ourselves as a team and like that word we've been using consistently since the Indiana game we are coming more connected."

Illinois Head Coach Brad Underwood

On coaching through frustrations…
"That's on me. That's on me. I have to do a better job of getting our guys through that. We've had moment like that but tonight was frustrating and I think the more the game went on I thought we settled but again it was, I got to be better."

On Ayo being a little emotional and being a little out of character…
"I don't think there was anything to be made of. Ayo missed a couple layups and a couple free throws that he doesn't miss and it's one of those nights. You look at any pro or any player and they have bad nights. He's been on an unbelievable streak for a long time and has won us a lot of games. It was one of those nights and we are asking him to play a lot of minutes and guard Aaron Henry as well and we'll get them next time."

On Frazier saying it was a toughness issue…
"He's probably overexaggerating that a little bit. I thought we missed some shots early that maybe we should have taken an extra dribble, we should have planted off two feet. We got bumped and you have to play though those two things. Players adjust through that but again, I didn't think it was that big of a deal. I thought we responded pretty well for what was a mucked-up game and a really physical game."

On being due for a game like this…
"The basketball gods treat you in a crazy way sometimes and when you play and you have what is easy and as good as it was against Minnesota, you know getting back mentally. When we miss free throws it's a mental thing with us and we won seven in a row, we've done a lot of good things, we've grown. It's hard when you are in a high major league to find teams that can go and continually win games and not have an off night. We are playing a top 5 team at one point this season on the road in their building, it happens. It happens."

Related News

Players Mentioned

Joey Hauser

Aaron Henry

Related Videos