Post-Game Quotes vs. Indiana

Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo
Not the prettiest game we've ever played. I'd like to start out by saying I give Indiana a lot of credit. I know they've struggled a little bit lately. They played so hard it was scary. Those guards…but I have to give my guys a lot of credit. I don't think any of you that are sitting out there have any clue what's gone on these last 10 days. Four minutes left to go in the game, I set up something for Josh (Langford), and he almost airballed the 3, and then he missed a free throw. He looks at me and says, 'coach, I can't move.'

I didn't like the way we played, but I was pretty proud of my guys. We got Aaron (Henry) to start getting in the paint, and coming to a two-foot jump stop. We didn't practice at all yesterday, except our bigs. I told (Dwayne Stephens), I was humiliated by the way our bigs played, they gave up 50 points down there, and our bigs went at it yesterday because we have so many of them, we just tried to save our guards. And I'll give them all credit, because I think Trayce Jackson-Davis is one of the better players in this league; to hold him to 1-for-5 (shooting), he did go 7-for-10 from the line, but nine points, seven rebounds, against a player that I personally like a lot. And I thought (Rob) Phinisee, I was worried about him, because he was not very good when we played him down there, but last two years, he's been a Michigan State killer. He ran those guys on those, we call them rover-ball screens, back and forth, and poor Josh was just chasing him. I got to get more out of Rocket (Watts) right now. He struggled to guard him. We just got to do a little better job, if we can, and we're going to try to.

But before we even talk about Michigan, and you can ask whatever questions you want, but I got to tell you, I'm really proud of my players. In an ugly game, I thought Indiana played damn good. They cut so hard, and worked so hard, and I give Archie (Miller) a lot of credit, but I do give our team, Aaron, and Joey Hauser made a couple of big plays down the stretch, you know, those big shots, and he gets those couple of free throws and couple of rebounds, and that was big for us. Gabe (Brown) hit those two big 3's, and I think that was really big for us.

But if you were in that locker room right now, you wouldn't be interviewing anybody because they're spent. I think I'll call Magic and ask him, how do you get up for the Celtics, fly across the country, because I know I heard Michigan lost, but they're still the best team in this league, everybody knows it, and we got our work cut out. I'm going to leave here, and go talk to my staff, and try to figure out what the game plan is for tomorrow as far as how we can get a team we haven't played yet, and get through the situation that we've been in for the last six games, or whatever it's been, and look forward to it, that's what I'm going to do. But tonight, proud of my team.

On Aaron Henry getting out and running and getting the ball to Gabe Brown for two 3-pointers in the second half…
It's changed (the game) a lot. And that's why I am disappointed in our point guards, and you know, I can play Aaron there (point guard) some, and I'm sure that you're sitting there saying why doesn't he play him there all the time. I'm playing Aaron at so many different things right now, heck, he could write your article and coach my team for me, and I say that with respect, although I didn't think he was very good the first half. We didn't move the ball at all, we didn't get the ball, as you say, we weren't running, we weren't moving the ball at all, and some of it was Aaron's fault, and he took the blame at halftime, and then we got where we moved the ball, and then he got penetrating, and he made some phenomenal plays in there, but those plays by Gabe were big, the plays by Aaron were big. I'd say those two plays might have won us the game.

On Foster Loyer's health…
We talked and I told you last week that he might do something and we just looked at it – and this kid would play dead, as I said – he tried to shoot and couldn't get that left arm up. We knew he was going to need surgery and he wanted to suck it up, and yet I want him to have a fair chance to be able to play next year. So, we all decided that the best bet, because he wasn't going to be able to play, would be to have the surgery and he had it this morning. He was here tonight. He'll be laid up for a couple of days; I don't know if he can go with us tomorrow night (to Michigan) or not. He was still awesome. I gained a lot of respect for him, too, just how he's handled everything and what he's done for this team.

On the defensive effort, especially on Trayce Jackson-Davis…
When he scored 34 points against us and I think Race Thompson had 15, they scored 49 points against us last time. And that was personal, that was embarrassing. I recruited Trayce – I love his family and him. I think he's a very good player, but you can't give God 34 points. I give DJ (Dwayne Stephens) a lot of credit on that because I kind of put it on him that he should take it personally; put it on the players, because they should take it personally. And I just thought we did a better job of not letting him get the ball so deep. At their place it was 'here, excuse me, you want to stand here? Go ahead and score.' So, I think it helped playing Illinois and Ohio State because they go inside so much. I even think it helped when we played Iowa, even though they killed us here we did a decent job on Garza. We're getting a little better by committee. We put in a few wrinkles that we thought we could do. We did all that in a day and it was pretty good of our players to pick it up. He's a hell of a player and I thought we put a lot of effort into containing him, not stopping him. We did a damn good job and our bigs and DJ deserve the credit.

On where Aaron Henry is now compared to a few years ago…
Aaron and I talk about that (exchange a few years ago) more than a little. I swear to you, I believe this from the bottom of my heart, that Aaron is a better player because he handled that like a man the first day. His family did, he did, and in all fairness and honesty, he needed it then and I'd do the same thing if it was tomorrow. It brought us together. Now when I talk to him you almost never see anything because he knows I got his back and I know he's got mine. In coaching, watching a guy go from…how do I put it politely – lazy – to better and better in the process. Now, he's playing 38 minutes on his knees and making big plays and hitting big threes. That's the beauty of coaching. Those are the success stories. There are a million failure stories. I got some this year I can't get through to yet, but that is well-deserved on him and his family's part because they could have made a scene about it. I just give him all credit. Like I said, if that same thing happened tomorrow, for all those people that were mad at me, I'd do the same thing tomorrow. Holding people accountable is what we need to a better job of in our country. We start holding people accountable, we wouldn't be in the situation we are in. When you hold somebody accountable that cares and you show them you care, it's a beautiful thing, man. I'm so happy for him. Now I just have to find a way to get him some ice and a massage and whatever they do in the NBA to get guys ready. I'm going to do that tonight and tomorrow and we're going to be ready to play on Thursday one way or another.

On how playing Michigan and competing for an NCAA Tournament bid could help the team's energy down the stretch…
Well, there will be no excuses no matter what we do. You could say we're playing one of the best teams in the Big Ten, we're playing one of the best teams in the country. I think they've done a hell of a job, those guys have grown. They've got a hell of a center and get a transfer point guard that has been dynamite. Don't think that the meat and potatoes of that team isn't (Isaiah) Livers and those wings and (Eli) Brooks – he's been a warrior for four years. He's been through it all. I think getting ready for them, yeah we're going to do everything we can to get ready for them. The energy and emotion of the game will help you for a little while, but we have our work cut out. We have to do a better job, I have to do a much better job. We have to sub people – I told Jack Hoiberg be ready to play. We're going to sub a little bit better somehow, someway, no matter what, and see if we can have enough energy down the stretch.

On Gabe Brown saying in huddles that the team had to stop trading baskets…
I think Gabe is trying to take over as maybe next year's guy. He was getting into it. He said something, but Aaron really did. He said 'we're done trading baskets and we need to get some defensive stops.' The amazing thing about this is we hold them to 32 (percent on field goals) and 10 (percent on three-point field goals), we outrebound them by six. Unfortunately, like we said earlier our break was nonexistent and we have to have a fast break. We score points on our fast break and we rebounded well enough to have a fast break, we just didn't run well enough. I think guys have bought in that you have to guard people and we've done a pretty good job of guarding this last six or eight games, hopefully we can get our offense ratcheted up. We had three games in a row where we shot almost 50 percent. We didn't shoot very well (tonight) and I think I know the reason, I mean I know our legs are little. It's not an excuse, it's a fact of life. People would have to be crazy not to see what we've been through, but it can't be an excuse when you go to Michigan. So, if guys play on both feet, I'm cool; both knees, I'm cool; both hips, I'm cool. We're going to play.

Indiana Head Coach Archie Miller
Opening Statement…
Tough game. You know tough game. Give Michigan State credit; I thought the last four minutes they were tough to defend around the baskets, probably one of the most physical games we've seen on both ends of the floor. Aaron Henry made some really crucial plays late. He's a great driver and to his credit he made some big baskets there late. We didn't. We didn't convert in the last three minutes from an offensive standpoint. Especially in the last two and a half minutes in the game. Hard fought game, proud of our guys in terms of how hard we played. We gave ourselves a chance to win, but you are going to have a hard time winning on the road when you go 2-for-20 from three. Things aren't going to open up inside the paint very much if you can't bring them out. I didn't think we took very bad shots in the game, and you got to have a better opportunity. I think this next time out we are going to get the same looks, and we are going to have an opportunity to make more.

On what Aaron Henry has done against you…
It was the same in the last two years when we did lose to him. Bottom line. Aaron Henry is a very good player. He deserves a lot of credit on his development with his staff. He's physical; he's athletic and he can dribble passed you and shoots the ball much better. He's a good player.

On Trayce Jackson-Davis being frustrated…
I don't remember the incident that you are talking about. If you are asking about Trayce and his play on the floor, they did a much better job of not giving his deep of catches. He didn't have an easy time. Once he did catch the ball because of the overall bodies in and around the basket and it was a physical game. I mean both teams shot 30 free-throws. They called 45 personal fouls in the game. It wasn't an easy game to play in. A couple of his calls were very tough, and I thought, especially once he picked up his third, he was kind of out of rhythm. We hung in there. Our team did a good job tonight regardless of how Trayce played. It's not about how Trayce plays or how this guy plays. It's about how we play. We played hard. We didn't play well enough to win, and Michigan State has a reason as to why they won the game. They played very hard too.

Junior forward Gabe Brown

On couple plays that Aaron Henry set him up for some jumpers and how big were they in terms of momentum where Indiana was at that point...
It was very big because the game was certainly slowing down. Henry made some great looks and some great passes, I just happened to knock down the shots, so I'm thankful for him.

On game being sluggish up to that point and what would have caused that early and how much did getting out and running allow them to pull away...
I don't think anything caused that. I feel like it was just part of the game, but we've got to pick our intensity up because games are going to get slower and games are going to get slowed down. So we've got to pick our intensity up and our energy, and just keep the ball rolling.

On Aaron Henry scoring 12 straight points down the stretch and what does it say about him that he's able to do that...
It says a lot about him, he does a lot of things for us. I mean, he is our captain. I mean he does do the vocal part, and that's the thing that you guys don't really see. The 12 points is okay, but in the huddles, he's great, he's phenomenal, he's doing things off the court that people don't really get to see, so it's just translated to the court, he's doing so good, so it's transmitted to us.

On the perseverance that Aaron has showed as a leader over and over again, despite having challenges, but always coming back and having these kind of performances...
It shows a lot because Aaron does work hard. Aaron does put in the time on and off the court, and he puts in the time, so for him to just keep on going and just keep on striving for he wants to succeed, that's amazing and I'm happy for everything that he's doing.

On getting his shots off tonight...
It feels good. I mean, my teammates found good looks for me, and I just happened to complete them. I'm thankful for them that they have that they helped me and they see me.

On the offense not doing great in the first half and persevering and find a way to win this game, and what's that say about the team...
It says a lot. We're not going to give up, that's the one thing that we're not going to do, we're not going to give up but that's all because of Coach (Izzo), Coach is pushing us every day, so that's all to him; give credit to him because he's there every day, he wakes up early in the morning and wants to help us out every day, he's a competitor, so he puts it in us every day too.

Junior forward Aaron Henry
On the last five minutes of the game and looking like he did in game at Indiana and was there something that triggered that down the stretch for that takeover...
I just wanted to win, when the pressure's on that's where guys in my position that have been here before have excelled and stepped up, and gotten teams over the hump, so it just all comes down to me just wanting to win for my team, and that's all I want to do.

On the run that Indiana had in the middle of the half to pull ahead, and when he got ball in transition and fed Gabe Brown and how critical that play was for the stretch run when everything had seemed so sluggish up to that point...
Yeah, it was an ugly game, Gabe's two threes got us going, Joey's two shots in the post kept us afloat, everybody pitched in and guys are contributing at the right times and you know I'm proud of them for doing it.

On perseverance and what he thinks of calling him Mr. P for perseverance...
I'd rather just be Mr. Henry, or I'd rather be Mr. Winner, if anything, I just want to win. I feel like I've done a good job of that throughout my life wherever I've played, and what better place than here at Michigan State. I'd rather be Mr. Winner.

On getting his shots blocked earlier and shots not falling, and able to push through when all those things were happening...
I feel like that's my role, that's where I've grown the most throughout the season, understanding the role that I have on this team and in those types of situations I have to be able to close games and get guys the ball and put points on the board for us. It's just something that as I've grown into throughout the year, then the coaches put faith in me and my teammates trust me with that as well, so I'm happy to be able to do it for my team.

On his late 3-pointer being Mateen Cleeves-esque from hitting shots like that in big games...
Not the Mateen Cleeves shot, but if I can amount to anything that he was here, I mean that's wonderful for me, but I just want to be at least half the winner that he was and he got all the accolades and the winning aspect of things here, and I'm just trying to follow his footsteps.

On getting credit from Gabe Brown for what he said in the huddle and what was he saying to his teammates in the huddle tonight...
Just to stop trading buckets, and the pressure's on us, everybody knows that, we know it, whether we try to address the issue or not, the pressure's on us and we couldn't continue to trade buckets. IU was a very feisty team, and with the things that we're trying to do, and the places that we're trying to go, we have to continue to bear down and understand we have to get those stops and rely on our defense to uphold us in the long run, and I felt like the things that I said were along those lines but guys went out and executed, and we did a good job.

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Players Mentioned

Gabe Brown

Joey Hauser

Aaron Henry

Jack Hoiberg

Foster Loyer

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