Post-Game Quotes: Villanova

Michigan State Head Coach Tom Izzo

Opening Statement…
Before I start, I want to give two sets of people a lot of credit. Our crowd, it reminded me of the old days. I told Mat Ishbia, who was sitting there, I told Antonio (Smith), John Garfalia, there were a bunch of guys back. I thought our crowd was phenomenal, it was so good to see. It's been a while. That's one group, and the second group, I give Kyle (Neptune) and his team a lot of credit. It was a fistfight; we knew it would be a 12-15 round fight. I thought we had close to a knockout there at the 10-minute mark. We were up 16, and for all the credit I got for doing things well down the stretch at Kentucky, I should get some blame for not handling that stuff very well down the stretch today, because we did not execute very well. We took some bad shots. We did some reaching. But all in all, when I look at this week, that is the most memorable week in my whole career. To play Friday, Tuesday, Friday, and the way we had to do it and the teams we had to play, and the preparation in three different teams. I was very impressed on film with Villanova and in-person. I told my team before the game; it will be the toughest team we play all year as far as physically tough, and they were every bit of that. So, on a positive note, after taking some poor shots early, I thought we had a lot of guys that did play well. Joey was phenomenal early, and then we just did not go to him enough, and that was the problem tonight. The problem was because they switched five guys. In two days, we had to come up with some things, you very seldom deal with that. They switch their guards onto centers, they switch their centers onto guards, and they are all 6'4 to 6'7 and a half and they are tough. That is a very well-coached, very good team. And I would like to give some credit to Jay Wright because the culture that of that program is so good that even though I thought that Kyle did a helluva job, remember, I think four those guys played in the final four last year, and some of them are sixth year guys and fifth year guys, they have been in that program. And that's what I am trying to do here, so the program, when I turn it over to a new coach someday, the program continues,and the culture continues. I was really impressed with that. For us, Tyson Walker really wanted the ball at the end, he really came through. AJ (Hoggard) made some big plays, 13 points, 10 assists and only three turnovers. Having Malik in foul trouble and having him out of there is a problem, and then Jaden (Akins) got going and then he got hurt a little bit, I do not know if it is a knee or an ankle. Pierre (Brooks III) was struggling early, and to his credit and to the team's credit they rallied him at halftime. I thought he did a helluva job in the second half. Mady (Sissoko), like I said, he struggled tonight. Mady has faced three different kinds of centers. A 6'9 brute that is really good in Kentucky. A 6'10 guy that is really skilled in (Drew) Timme. And then tonight, this kid is a special player (Eric) Dixon, he can beat you with the threes, he has really improved his three-point shooting. So Mady has had his hands full, and I'm not sure we covered it all as good as we should have, and that will fall on us. But, to go those three games in those seven days will go down, I told my team, not Magic Johnson, not Mateen Cleaves, not Steve Smith, not Denzel Valentine, nobody's been through three games like that. West coast to here, three different kinds of teams of that caliber. And I am really proud, disappointed that we had a 16-point lead with nine or ten minutes left and to do what we did at the end, but really proud of what they were like the whole week.

On the team's shot selection…
I felt good about some of them, I thought some we took some bad shots. We took some quick shots. We took some forced quick shots, and you cannot do that when Hauser is so hot, you got to give him the ball. We just kind of, I do not know, it looks selfish, but I do not think it is selfish. I do not think my guys have it. It is not really thinking the game, we took shots with nobody under the basket, and yet, AJ settled in. Malik hit some nice ones. Tyson hit some nice ones. Joey hit some nice ones. Pierre hit a big one. So, we did do a better job, and we got going and if you are making threes it helps. We shot 52% from three, I do think we are a better shooting team. But maybe our key guy was Hauser, and he did not get many shots, he only got seven shots. It was good, but our defense was still what won us the game. And that was the only other issue in the second half, I thought they drove us. I think they got a little tired when Jaden was out and Malik was out, we just did not have the defenders out there because I think it was AJ and Tyson that had to play a lot of minutes against teams. Those guards are big and physical.

On the rebounding from guards tonight and going forward…
Well, that might have been what A.J. [Hoggard] did best. We said our guards are going to have to rebound, because we knew our bigs would have their hands full just trying to cut those guys out. AJ going up and getting some of those, Jaden went up and got a couple, Pierre went up and got one big one. Those things were all positives for us and we are going to have to be a gang rebound team, because we just are not that big. Mady got a couple, he got three and I thought Joey did well in the second half, he got a little tired too. We just don't have our rotation down yet, or maybe it was fatigue from the trip and all the things we were going through. I still think this team has a long way to go, but I think this team will get better too. There's so many things we can get better at and that's exciting.

On the all around nature of AJ Hoggard's game,
He's really learning that rebounding is a very important part. For him, even though he's a point guard, he can go in and get them up at the top. Usually, people aren't getting in his way, they're usually headed back. To get to ten assists and thirteen points, a ten-ten-ten would be a nice triple double for him. I don't know if he can rebound like that all the time. They weren't a great rebounding team, but they have length and size and strength. Not big length like Kentucky, but 6'5'' to 6'8'' guys that are built like Adonis. I was really pleased with AJ, and yes I do think he'll get one [triple double].

On his team's perimeter defense,
"I think we will always have to win defensively, it's the nature of our culture and it's who we are. It normally should lead to better fast breaks. We were sort of disjointed on some of the lineups we had in there. Our defense has to really be what makes a difference and it's sad because we held them way down for most of that game, but they probably hit seven of their last eight shots. So, they ended up shooting 45 [percent] and 27 [percent] from three. We did outrebound them and we did things you had to do, but I was impressed with them. I told Kyle he did a hell of a job, and talk about a team that didn't quit. Kyle deserves credit, and I think Jay deserves credit for the culture."

On what went wrong on late inbounds plays...
Good coaching last week, bad coaching today. I should have used my timeout at the end of the game, I could have called it, I should have used it. Joey never makes that mistake though, he always calls timeouts when we have them left. Like a good head coach, I'll blame the player this much, but I will take ninety percent of that blame. I told the official I might use the timeout, I had him right there and I'm just surprised because Joey doesn't usually do that. We did hit a couple big out of bounds plays too. The one Tyson hit late was really big. We're executing those really well. We executed everything, we haven't been pressed a lot, so that'll be another thing, another new part of our regime. We go to Alabama, we will probably be pressed half the game. We are getting a little bit of everything and everybody and we only got two days prep. It was difficult because them switching five was very hard to run anything against and not many teams have 6'7'' and 6'8'' guys that can guard point guards those two guys can and that makes it very efficient and very smart on their part. We actually did a decent job of them backing us down on the dribble, except for Dixon, I don't know if god could cover him at times. We didn't want to double, because we didn't want to give up a three, so that was a little tough.

On Tyson Walker's progression...
He was kind of shy, kind of quiet, and I did talk to him two days ago and said 'you got to get more aggressive' and he said 'my dad told me the same thing'. I said 'well then we are on the same page'. At the end, he did want the ball, he was even a little ticked off about it. Which for me in my huddles, I applaud that, I like that. He kind of challenged me and everybody else and that was very encouraging for me. We got a lot of things we got to get better at, because we could have lost that game. Of course, I have had a lot of games where we could have won and we lost, so I guess this one we could have lost and we won. We knew it was going to be a dog fight. I told every one of you guys throughout the week and we also knew we are going to have to beat them, they aren't going to beat themselves. It was like a Purdue-Michigan State game of the Cleaves era, get the shoulder pads on and boxing gloves out. I love the way they play, they play hard as hell.

On what changed from Villanova in the final eight minutes,
Well, I thought they got a little more aggressive, they got the ball inside more and drove it a little bit more. Defensively, I thought we got tired and didn't have the best lineups in there at times. We had a couple guys playing with four fouls, so they were a little more tentative. And the combination of them hitting a couple shots and Mady, there were a couple times he was supposed to step up. We all make mistakes, coaches and players, but I think we made some mistakes, but Villanova did a hell of a job too. They went at us, they got the ball into Dixon and he was tough in there. I like a lot of their players, but Dixon and Slater are really good and McDaniels is really, really good too. They are all fourth, fifth, sixth year guys and as Jay always said 'it's fun to get old, it's not fun to play against them getting old'."

On Michigan State's and A.J. Hoggard's turnovers late in the game…
That DHO [dribble hand off] on the side away from my bench – takes it right to the sideline – that was ridiculous. You know, he [A.J. Hoggard] is getting better, but he does do those things. If he's going to help lead this team, we can't afford that. It's frustrating. I said it in pregame, so I'll tell you. I loved the way Wisconsin did it a couple years ago with [D'Mitrik] Trice. One turnover, he was out. [In the second] Second half, he got twenty against us and beat us. I've said there's going to be consequences to turnovers now. If that means I'm taking your game away from you, so be it. And yet, depending on what type of game it is, my hands are tied too. But, you're going to see some guys come out of games for turnovers. I promise you.

On advice he'd give to Kyle Neptune, being that he's in similar shoes as Tom Izzo when he took over for Jud Heathcote at MSU…
I told him before the game, 'win, lose or draw, next week, give me a buzz.' I talked to Jay Wright yesterday and talked to him today a little bit. I told him [Kyle Neptune] 'I went through what you're going through. Give me a call, and I'll try to tell you what I went through." As the game was ending, I said to myself "Who am I to tell him something?" He did a better job than I did. I think that program is in good hands. They're going to be fine. Tough loss to Temple – not that Temple's not a good team, but they lost to Temple, a game they led most of the way. I think that's what you're seeing in college basketball, and I've never seen so many different upsets. And that's what makes this week so special to me. We could've won three. Probably played good enough to win all three, to be honest with you. Because we played good enough tonight. That's encouraging, but when you play this kind of competition, your margin for error is zero. And ours is zero to start with. It's zero against average teams and it's zero against really really good teams.

On the performance of Jaden Akins off the bench…
I thought early - he hit that big three, lets the game come to him – and then I thought he forced a little bit. I talked to him at halftime about it. To be honest with you, in the second half, I thought he was playing great. We need him defensively. He's our one athlete that's above level. Not Jason Richardson, not that level, but he's in that discussion. He was really playing well when he went out. I thought he did some really good things and made good plays. He's not back yet, but don't kid yourself. Nine weeks off. He's in his second week back, and he's played against Gonzaga, Kentucky and Villanova, and that's not fair to anybody. Jaden is going to be fine. He's going to be a special player before he's done here.

Villanova Head Coach Kyle Neptune

On the play call in the final play…
A play to score.

On what he has learned as a coach playing against Tom Izzo…
They're team is just extremely disciplined. You can tell, like every little thing they have covered, they knew exactly what we were looking to do, and they took a lot away that we were trying to accomplish offensively, especially in the beginning of the game. And then, I think we were really good the first couple of minutes, we made a lot of adjustments. Obviously he's a hall of fame coach, he's one of the best.

On what he told his guys when down 16 and what to do in that situation…
Yeah, we told our guys, we were down 16, we told them to keep running. And to credit this team, we've been down a lot this year, but it's the only season that we've never stopped coming. And we told our guys, coming off that game, that mentality is gonna be really good for us this year. Towards the end of the game, that last play, we literally ran the score to play, we had a lot of different options, we took what the defense gave us, we would've taken a three, but we would've took an easy two as well, but they just played really good defense.

On what went right to cut the 16 point deficit to 1 point…
You know, I feel like it's our mentality. And, I think a lot of teams in that situation, on the road, tough environment, would've just siad "All right, well I guess we're just inside of it," and not showed the results that our guys did. And like I said, credit to them, they didn't quit and they just kept coming. And like I said, we told them after the game that that mentality is special. And like I said, we've been down a good amount this year, and we just kept coming, unfortunately it just wasn't enough tonight.

On the best piece of advice Jay Wright gave him going into this opportunity…
Just come out and play hard.

On what the environment was like and how he and the team responded to the environment…
You know, it's credit to our guys. We've got a lot of older guys on this team, who've been to a lot of crazy venus, crazy environments, there's a lot of guys back from the final four time, yeah, so I never worry about the stage, environment, crowd, who, what arena, I don't think our guys are ever really phased by that, I think it brings us together.

On the play of Eric Dixon…
I mean, he's a warrior. He's a warrior. We've always said it, we knew it when recruiting him, and watching him way back in high school, he's one of the best scorers we saw for a while, and he just had a knack for scoring. And we knew one day, we didn't know when it was gonna be, but we knew one day he was gonna be a load for us, that he was gonna be a go-to guy for us one day, and today's his day. And I think to credit him as well, he was really good defensively, also had 9 rebounds, he's been a leader all year, you know, encouraging our guys in huddles. Really, really proud of him.

On what changes they had to make to shut down Michigan State after coming out and making threes early in the game,and what Michigan State's perimeter defense was doing to Villanova's team…
I would say, just the speed that they play with, it's really hard to take away threes at that pace, and that's why they play that way. We lost them a little bit there, but for us, you know, second half we played a little bit more guys, trying to keep guys a little more fresh. And you know, like I said, these guys' mentality to just keep coming, we kinda grew offensively. Like I said, I think if we had one more minute, we would've been right there.

On dealing with A.J. Hoggard…
I mean, he's a really good player, he's a really good player. I remember watching him in high school, he's a really good player. He's talented, he's tough, he's nasty, he's a great leader, he's intelligent. So, you know, hats off to him.

Michigan State junior guard A.J. Hoggard

On what about Villanova made it so tough to close out this game near the end…
I would say just us not fully securing the win. Or, them just being vets (veterans). They have a lot of Final Four guys, they got a lot of seasoned guys there. Them just turning it on, and us just having to find a way respond. So I would say it went a little bit of both ways. Us having to fix things, coming to watch film, fix what we did wrong down the stretch, see where we can learn from it so we don't make that mistake again. But also, we just have to give those guys kudos, they made shots down the stretch, tough shots. So that's just what happened.

On what guards being able to come up with rebounds does for the team on the breakout….
I mean, it does a lot for the break because I got the ball. Being able to break initially from the start of me getting the rebound, or them getting a rebound, makes it a lot more effective because we all know how to play each spot on the breakout. Whenever one gets it, we're just jailbreaking.

On what this past week has been like overall with playing all of these top-level teams….
Yeah, most definitely. It's everything together we signed up for, this is what we wanted. I play with a lot of competitors, i play with a lot of guys that want to be in these situations, and be in this schedule situation. So, it's just everything we've asked for, and we just got to come every night and show up.

Michigan State senior guard Tyson Walker

On how he's challenged his teammates by steeping up and taking key shots down the stretch….
At the end, I had it going. And, the play was actually for Malik (Hall). But Malik, you know we have such a tight group, he's so unselfish, he told them to give it to me. I made couple big plays and that's what happened.

On his comfort level within his role on the team compared to a year ago….
You know, just growth. Knowing the game more, the competition, speed, everything. That's just what helps me be more comfortable. Those shots, I just know I can make, and they give me the ball to make them.

On the challenge from Coach Izzo, as well as his father, to be more aggressive and take more shots throughout the course of the game….
Yeah he (Coach Izzo) told me before to give them the chance to tell me 'that was a bad shot', so I kind of challenged him. And he didn't tell me about any bad shot today, so you just have to keep going.

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