Post-Game Quotes: Northern Arizona

Michigan State Head Coach Tom Izzo

Opening Statement…
Laissez game, I thought. Very, very, very good defensively I thought for a large part of the first half. At the seven-minute mark, I thought we started to kind of lose our intensity a little bit, and some of it was that we had some guys in foul trouble, and [Tyson] Walker probably had his worst shooting night since he came here. A.J. [Hoggard] in foul trouble, and then he turned it over. The things we wanted to do is hold them under 40 [percent] field-goal wise, hold them under 30 [percent] from three and outrebound them, hich we did. Nine turnovers was impressive. I thought offensively we did not get the ball inside enough – consequently, did not get to the free throw line. Did not get Malik Hall enough shots. Jaden [Akins] probably got too many from his first game back, but I kind of figured that would happen. He's worked so hard, and thank God he's feeling great. Pierre Brooks is shooting the ball well. If he can rebound and guard somebody, we're going to be in good business with him. I thought [Joey] Hauser played well on both ends and rebounded well. It was an OK start. We had 13 assists, four turnovers, and A.J.'s were all crazy. So we got a lot of out of that position. Just didn't shoot very well out of that position. And I thought our centers, [Jaxon] Kohler, I thought he did a nice job, nine rebounds. Their double teams hurt us, we weren't ready for that, but that's more on me than on my players. In general, it was okay because we needed our intensity to be up, we needed to be better defensively, and really, probably for 30-some minutes of that game, we were.

On what he liked from Tyson's Walker from a defensive standpoint…
Well, I thought for a while, he was phenomenal, then I think his poor offense kind of affected his head a little bit. I think Malik too, and they [NAU] got some open threes because of it. Walker at times I thought was tremendous defensively. And I give them [NAU] a lot of credit. Liam Lloyd, I thought he did a good job. That guard we played against, Jalen Cone, he's as good a guard as we'll face in a lot of teams. I thought Shane (Burcar) did a good job. He changed some things up. The post was, I guess, effective. Although, in the second half we did a better job of taking our time. But I thought Walker's defense was very good and I thought our bigs stepped up pretty good defensively. Mady [Sissoko] did some good things. We just weren't as smooth in our offense. I think the ball stopped a lot. I didn't think we moved the ball enough, and we didn't get it inside at all, which was our fault. Not a lot of inside-out stuff, which means we had some bad twos in the first half and too many threes in the second half.

On coaching against a fellow Yooper…
I don't get to do that that often. I think he is going to have a good team. He will do well in his league. You know one of my former GA's was there last year (Chris Fowler) and that's why we agreed to play. Just a good guy and a good coach and I think he will do a good job there. He's got some good players, I mean they got some size. I think they are going to do well in that league, I thought they played hard as hell. Lots of positives, the UP should be proud tonight. Two Yoopers in Division 1, can't beat that.

On what he preached to his team coming out of the game against GVSU, as well as the contributions he got from the team tonight…
Yeah, I think it can work a lot. But the reason we boarded pretty well is because we defended well and they missed shots. Some of the other teams, like even when we outrebounded Tennessee in our scrimmage. But, in the second half they shot over 70 percent, and then you don't get any rebounds. So, I think part of the good rebounding was the pretty good defense that leads to good rebounding or at least good rebound opportunities. I'm telling you, we played really well defensively for a large part of that game, but I do have some concerns offensively. And yet, Tyson (Walker), I don't think we'll ever miss that many good shots. And Malik has been playing really well and shooting really well. He hit the first three and then we almost didn't hear from him again. You know, maybe a little bit of it is his fault, I think running that wing and stuff. You know as I told him, like Draymond (Green) went through many years ago, you're getting guarded by a better athlete now. So, it's hard to get open, you really have to work to get open. But we got to work to find him too. He got a little frustrated, they got him in the post a couple times, and they doubled him. So that's things we can grow and work on, but you know if Tyson hits any shots, we shoot 50 percent and then it would have been a…You know, that's the other positive I wanted to get him soft shots, so I know when you have nine turnovers, you get up 65 shots, which is the most we've had in many years, that's encouraging.

On the play of Joey Hauser and the rest of the team…
He rebounded pretty well, played a lot of minutes in the second half, but what I liked was that he was ready to shoot and he took some shots and nothing bothered him, made a couple mistakes, didn't bother him, he's in a really good space and I'm really proud of him for what he has done and how he's handled things. It's good to see him as a favorite because we've gone through times here. He wasn't, to his credit, he persevered through it. Joey and Malik (Hall) have been our best two players along with Tyson (Walker). Two of our three best players didn't play as well and we still found a way to win tonight. Getting Jaden (Akins) back will add to that list. A.J. (Hoggard) has to realize a little bit, he had eight assists, which is a lot, but he could have had 11 or 12 when he went in and got blocked or there was someone wide open in the corner. I think sometimes guys get frustrated when they don't get shots but thank God instead of 53 shots we get 65 so more guys got shots. We played some more guys, Tre Holloman played well for the minutes he played, and I thought we played well enough to win by more than we did. Some of that was them, and some of that was the shots we missed in the second half.

On if he wants more of an edge from Malik [Hall]…
I do want an edge from him. If you are a great player, you find different ways to do it and not demeaning somebody else. That's one of my favorite things from coaching Mateen Cleaves. He was the toughest guy I have ever coached and yet he respected other people. You're right, I am looking for a little toughness and I enjoyed the blocked shots and rebounds. In this day and age, refs are gonna give T's faster as we saw tonight so I rather him do it with his play, not with his mouth.

On balancing free throws and 3-point shot attempts…

I'd like to get to the line 20 times, and I'd like to get to the three 20 times. And so, we took the three 27 times, and we didn't get to the line enough. Part of that was because we didn't have many offensive rebounds early, and even the ones we got, we only got 10 and three that went out. You can't do that if you don't get the ball in the post, and you don't really penetrate. Some of it was their good defense. But, I think when I watch the film, a little of which I'll watch tonight because we are going to be moving on here into the wee hours tonight. The way it goes when you play a team like we're doing (in San Diego for the Carrier Classic against Gonzaga), and traveling there, is that tomorrow is a big day of practice. We won't get a lot of time once we get there. I'll take enough time tonight and figure out – I'll watch the offensive side of the tape, because the defensive side, I thought was pretty good.

On what he told freshman forward Jaxon Kohler, and his performance on Monday…

I remember exactly what I was telling him. First of all, I love the kid. He has nine rebounds, so I love that about him. But when he came here, every time he got the ball, he shot it. I think I'll call Z-Bo (Zach Randolph) and have him call Jaxon, and tell him that he's got to pass it once in a while. He had a couple of times when he was triple-teamed, and guys were wide open. That's what frustrates players. But he's a freshman. For a freshman, he was a great impact for us. I thought he did a hell of a job. It's just that, I wanted to tell him that he didn't need to revert back to the way he was during the summer, because he's come a long way. He's really a very good passer too, and he can shoot a three, so I don't mind that. I just think that, we've got to get it in and get it out more, have the ball moving so we can penetrate and do some things. We didn't do that tonight, but Jaxon was one of the bright spots of the night.

On Jaden Akins effort returning from injury…

I think he responded really well. He wasn't that tired. He's in pretty good shape considering what he's been through. He guarded, and he ran pretty good, but he was antsy offensively. He was anxious. He wants to do so good so bad, and I talked to him about it last night, I knew what was going to happen. Him and I kind of laughed about it at halftime, because we knew it was going to happen. But most of the shots he took were pretty good. A couple of them, I thought, were not. But considering all he's been through and how hard he worked this summer, I thought Jaden did well. It wasn't that anybody - A.J. (Hoggard) a bit, Tyson (Walker) offensively, they struggled. Malik didn't struggle, we just didn't get him the ball, or he didn't get the ball. I need my big three to be good, and that's Malik, Joey (Hauser) and Tyson. And as Jaden works into it, but he's still going to have to work through it. To be out eight weeks and come back, that's why I wanted to give him a few more minutes. With some big games coming up, it's not like we get any rest or any time to work him in. It'll probably never happen again for a month, so that was an important 16 minutes. The best part was, in the practices that have been for an hour and a half, he's had no problem. I'm proud of him, and happy for him.

On playing a grueling schedule in the coming month…

We've been outside-the-box U for 20 years, and other schools are catching up now. That's good, and that's why I didn't want to pass up this game, even though the schedule was brutal to start with. I'm really looking forward to it. We're playing a good team, and a really well-coached team. Mark (Few) and I are good friends. We're on a board together. We will have to play a lot better than we did tonight. I really, in the summer when we started, I was nervous and scared because I was questioning what I was doing. After spending four or five months with my team, I'm not nervous or scared. Now I'm anxious and excited. I really am. What does that mean? It means just what I said, anxious and excited. I'm looking forward to going upstairs and watching the second half of their game. They are playing right now. I'll spend some time here tonight. A great thing happened. The wife called and said that the power went out at my house. That's a good reason to stay at work tonight. I don't have to apologize for it. I can just hang out here for a few hours and get ready to go. Our schedule over the next few days – tomorrow will be a good day for us. Then Wednesday we practice a little bit in the morning, and then we're out of here. When we get there and you look at the schedule, there's not a lot of time, so most of our prep will be done tonight and tomorrow, and tomorrow night. After that, it'll be just like an NCAA Tournament game when you do prep in the hotel. We will get a chance to get on the ship and shoot a little bit, and practice a little bit. It's exciting guys. I think about it and when I look at some other team's schedules, you think about how you could get Jaden (Akins) back. Where do we find time to get some other guys some confidence? Where does Tyson (Walker) come up with it? But I've got veterans. They've been through it. They know the drill. I think me and my staff know the drill. As much as I said 'what did I do?,' now I'm saying 'what opportunity do we have?' I'm not saying that to feel good about it, I'm saying that to feel good about it. Some people will be playing teams that aren't as good. We will be playing teams where if we don't play good, we're going to hear about it, and if we do play good, we're going to build some confidence. That's kind of what I plan on doing. What was so impressive tonight, we are going to have to be good defensively in games like that. Especially when you play on an aircraft carrier and you'll be playing outside. That's going to be good. We can't turn the ball over, but we did some things tonight that I think will prepare us for the next four weeks.

On what he's seen from sophomore guard Pierre Brooks…

Pierre works hard. As hard as Jaden (Akins). I've got a lot of guys that spend time on their shooting, like Malik (Hall), but Pierre is relentless. He's in there every morning. I'm trying to get him to spend a little more time watching film, so he can guard – first game, I've got to be polite, right? – so he can guard players on the other team, and that is an issue. I told him that. That rebound, where you saw him get a big rebound late, what you saw there was impressive, because he went in there and got a rebound off the rim. The problem is he only had one of them. When Pierre becomes a complete player, he's going to be a hell of a player. He can shoot it, he has strength, and he's in better shape. He's got to work on those couple of things. We need him to guard better, and we need him to rebound better at that position. Thank God Malik got seven rebounds from the three spot. That was impressive, and we need that.

Northern Arizona Head Coach Shane Burcar

Opening Statement…
First thing I would say, I don't know if anyone knows anything about me and that's okay but the 2019-2020 season I became the interim head coach at Northern Arizona, and I went out there with some professional development guys with the Phoenix Suns because they worked out in Flagstaff and used our gym. And I came and saw Coach Izzo and Coach Wojick and they opened up the doors to me, and I went into Coach Izzo's office and he said, 'How are we going to get you this job Shane," and we talked and had a great conversation. And he said, "If you get that job, we will schedule a home game for you." Then we had the pandemic, and he called and said, "Let's play it when you have the opportunity to play in front of some fans." Being from Hancock, Michigan in the upper peninsula and with Coach Izzo being from Iron Mountain, I'll tell you I took two things away from that visit with Coach Izzo. He's a man of his word; he could have easily said no we don't want to play. There's not much of an advantage especially recruiting wise playing Northern Arizona, and the other thing I took away is he's a man who wants to help another coach. I'm 50 years old, happily married with four kids, and I'm not afraid to say this, he's somebody that I inspire to be since he's been here.

On what his team got out of this game…
The biggest thing our team took out of this is that you compete the whole time, who else would you want to play but a tough team like Michigan State. I think they are very underrated, worst case for us was how the first half went against Grand Valley, and we knew that coming in, we knew we were going to get Michigan State's best. The compete level and the attention to detail is something we can take away from this, and I think we can leave here with our heads held high. The reasons we play these games is because everybody's goal is to make it to the NCAA tournament, and we're a one bid league in the Big Sky, so you play this game on their home floor to hopefully make the NCAA just like everyone else but it will be on a neutral court where the underdogs are always getting rooted for, so it's a big picture game for us.

On the play of Jalen Cone…
Something that Jalen has done since he transferred from Virginia Tech is he's a great shooter, and he's such a coachable young man. He came into our office and asked "How can I get better", and we talked about some things just like we talk about with everyone. The thing I was most impressed with was his 10 defensive rebounds. He can really shoot the ball but I thought he could open up more if we got some more guys to make some shots early. We struggled early to make shots, I'm not a brow-beater with missing good shots, anyone who has played the game knows that can happen. I think with Jalen Cone being the floor general I thought his leadership and the 37 minutes he played was a lot we can take out of that.

On playing in the Breslin Center…
The last couple of years we have played at Arizona and at Gonzaga and again it's a big picture game that we were looking forward to, we did more hand signals than we usually do as far as the noise was concerned. I'll tell you what the Izzone was very respectful, they were rooting for the Spartans as they should but nothing derogatory and no bad language, and if they did I could care less. Just a class act by the Izzone. It's going to help us and the truth of it is in some of the Big Sky buildings some of those crowds are never there so as we say you have to bring your own juice sometimes.

Graduate student forward Joey Hauser

On how his comfortability while being out on the floor has grown during his time here...
I mean, the more years of experience you have in college basketball, the more comfortable you get. You know, this is my third year playing here at Michigan State, and I've been here long enough where I feel like a senior leader a guy who's been here and been through the ups and downs. So, just kind of that experience, as you get more comfortable playing in front of that crowd and playing in a tough environment, an environment like Friday. So, it just keeps growing.

On how exciting it will be to have the opportunity to play on an aircraft carrier...
It's going to be unbelievable. I mean, I've heard (former players) playing there back in 2010 I think it was, and them saying that it was the best experience they've had from their college careers. The game could be the best part. But just going there, meeting the people, and just having a good time and just enjoying it, it's going to be an unbelievable experience.

Sophomore Guard Jaden Akins

On how it feels to play…
I felt really good just to play. You know, I had a couple practices this weekend when I knew that I would be able to go tonight.

On if he had any pain playing…
It was pretty comfortable, no pain. Really just getting back into the flow with things.

On if he had any nerves…
It was a little bit of nerves, but good nerves. I was excited.

On what he liked from the first half…
I got that offensive rebound that I put back, so that just got me going. Really, it's here, I am in the game, making a play helped a lot.

On what you will be working on…
Making sure I am getting my extra work in and being smart about it. Just making sure I am getting my exercise in and making sure everything is feeling good going into those big games and going out there and showing what I've been working on.

Freshman Forward Jaxon Kohler

On how he felt about his nine rebounds…
It felt really good. We had an exhibition game a couple days before, and I felt like I wanted to make a good first impression again. Every game I try to go as hard as I can, do what I can to help the team whether that's rebounding, defending, scoring, I try to do it to the best of my ability. Today was just good on rebounding.

On Akins being back in the game…
Yes, he came in the game, and you can just feel the energy shift. We really had good energy and we really felt like the team was complete and having him on the floor was great.

On Akins setting a good example for freshmen…
He has, he really has. He sets a good example on and off the court. He sets an example on the court of how to work hard, if things aren't going your way, how to deal with it. And off the court how to be an example to others and to be a good person.

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