Photo by: Matthew Mitchell
Post-Game Quotes: Buffalo
12/30/2022 9:04:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Michigan State Head Coach Tom Izzo
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Opening statement…
You win by 20 and you want to be respectful to the other team, so if you think you played bad, then that's disrespectful to the other team. You try to figure out what kind of questions the media are going to ask, and that's always an adventure. You look at the game, and we shot 51 percent, and 42 percent from the three. We had 10 turnovers, but I feel like we looked real jagged. I'm trying to think of the right word, and any time I go above four letters I get stumped for an answer. There was nothing smooth. That's six letters; I need to come up with something better. It just didn't seem like we executed right. I'm very disappointed in some of our defense. I did not feel like we guarded the dribble-drive very good. Some of you saw Nebraska, part of the second half I was coaching for the next game. I was disappointed with some of our guys, because Nebraska has a team that is going to be way more physical, kind of like some of our old teams. I was trying to get that through to our guys. I feel bad for Tyson Walker, because he had eight of the best looks a guy could have and he just couldn't buy a shot. He has been shooting well. Mady (Sissoko) has been shooting well from the line and went 0-for-3 tonight. I would say things like, we line up for the free throw line like six times, and only one guy stepped in. Another guy was empty on the other side. When we go into our baseline out-of-bounds, we're just walking into them. We looked like a team out of sorts. I know that falls on the coach, so the coach has to do a better job of that, but we had good practices. It's hard to play two games in 23 days. I think you have to give (Buffalo Head Coach) Jim (Whitesell) and his team some credit. I like his team, he's got tough kids. The Jones kid (Curtis Jones), who played with Tre (Holloman) up in Minneapolis, he's a hell of a player. We actually did a decent job on him. I thought that some of there other guys did a good job. Number 11 (Kuluel Mading) really played well. They drove us a little more than I would like. (Isaiah) Adams did a good job of that. We are going to have to get better at that. But, getting Malik (Hall) back to full health would really help. We didn't want to push the envelope towards the end for no reason, but he felt pretty good. He shot the ball pretty good. He was tired, but he defended pretty good. He just brings a calmness to me, and that's hard to do.
On Malik Hall's playing time after returning from injury…
We said we were going to go to 15, and we went to 12 and a half minutes. If I would have needed him at the end, I would have played him, because I could have, but I didn't. He needs to get some play. It's still early, he's still in week six. He and I talked about it, and we made an educated decision.
On parallels between Jaden Akins and Malik Hall's recovery process…
His (Malik Hall's) injury wasn't as bad as Jaden's. He didn't get operated on. If you remember, Jaden was off for nine weeks, played for two weeks and then re-injured it. It's a scary thing for athletes now, with what they see on TV. Usually it's a month for a hangnail, two months for a bloody nose, so it's hard. It's hard on these guys to figure out what's going through their mind. Medically, I feel very comfortable where he (Malik) is. Jaden was really comfortable, and then the second thing happened. That's hard; that's hard on a guy. So, Malik, I think he's good. He is tough, he is strong. I think he'll be fine, it'll take, Jaden is still not back defensively. There's no way, because he can guard the world. Some of that may be conditioning, but it's coming. His shot is getting better. I don't think it'll take Malik as long, because Jaden was out for 13 weeks at one point, and Malik has been out for six, so I think he'll get back quicker, but that doesn't mean it'll take a week.
On the ups and downs in Friday's game, particularly with A.J. Hoggard…
It wasn't just that he made some shots. He communicated. He threw some passes. He just brings a calmness. We've got to get him back to where he's getting after some people too. The only negative that I had with A.J., and I thought that A.J. did a lot of really good things; but he's got to realize that he needs to be more of a jerk. Not to his coaches, but to the players. He has to be more demanding of them. When we have an out-of-bounds play, boom, that thing has got to rock. We will spend time just on that alone, and free throws. My special teams practices of old were; 'when the ball was dead, that's when we're alive.' Dead balls, free throws, baseline or sideline out-of-bounds plays, timeouts. Today, when the ball was dead, we were in Pluto. That's not good. I haven't seen that. I'm hoping that's just a product of everyone trying to adjust to having two-a-days and coming back, but that takes some leadership too, and our point guards are going to be held accountable for that.
On what worked in the Spartans' transition defense during the game…Â
We went a little "live-er" during walkthroughs and we did it twice with our transition defense. I think Jim (Whitesell) does a good job with them. I just think we emphasized it and I think that's one of the things we did a pretty good job of. But when you're scoring a little better, we were shooting 54 percent at one time, it's not as easy to get the ball out. Not many teams run off makes, it's more off misses. To be honest, they get a lot of fast break points off turnovers. They turn people over 16 times a game. And so, that was one of the pluses for us. We had 10, but five of them were charges, moving screens. So those were dead ball turnovers, and they didn't get much off that. So that was encouraging also.
On his trust in Tre Holloman heading into Big Ten play…Â
You know, he really guards. I mean, he gets after it. He's a little scrawny right now, he's gotta put on 20 pounds. He's very athletic. Guards well. He's up there around 20 to 3, assists to turnovers, which is off the charts. He has not turned the ball over much, that's really good. I think what I got is, I got some guys who really listen, who understand. I got really good students. I just need a little tougher kid right now. Tre brings that. His mind is tough, he's a football player. He was a fairly big recruit, we recruited him a little in football, but, his body doesn't listen to his mind because his body isn't developed yet. So that's gonna take some time. But, I was very pleased with Tre, to be honest with you. We had a lot of guys that had moments. We were not real consistent. Every coach, every fan should want consistency. That's what you want in a program. And that was the one thing I harped on before the game. It's just hard to figure out, you know, bringing a new guy in in Malik. And also, trying to play a few more guys, and having those two games in 23 days.
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I was just able to see that we just needed to get things going, offensively. We came out and missed some shots, some good looks. We missed a just a lot of good shots tonight, if you ask me, but we still shot a high percentage for the team. But we missed a lot of shots that we don't usually miss. So kind of just picking up our defensive energy. They had to stop after the over the top to Mady (Sissoko). So it kind of helped us get our momentum going. He got a couple of dunks. We got a couple steals and a couple threes, so it kind of got us rolling a little bit. So we will built from there.
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On the importance of getting so many people involved offensively...
It's definitely important to kind of get the guys feeling good about themselves going into the Big Ten play because we are going to need everybody out there. You got a lot of guys that can score in double digits, so just seeing everybody score the ball and have fun out there was big for me.
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On how much they pay attention to Big Ten basketball...
I definitely watched a lot of a lot of Big Ten basketball. I watch a lot of college basketball in itself. So just seeing Nebraska play, doing things that they're doing. They're a tough team; they have to beaten a lot of good teams this year with Creighton and beating Iowa the other day. We got a got a tough task ahead of us. And somebody we got to prepare for. We couldn't look past Buffalo either. They were a good team as well. They are going to do good things in the MAC, but now we just have to prepare for Nebraska. They are a tough well-coached team.
Michigan State forward Malik HallÂ
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On his return to play…Â
It was nice to be able to play with my guys. I think it was good in general to be able to realize I can still play a little bit. It wasn't too bad. I'm just excited.Â
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On coming out of the game late…Â
I just fell and did something funky so it (foot) was starting to bother me a little bit. Nothing too serious just aches and pains. It's just sore in general but that's what we expected.Â
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On if he was attacking the basket early to test himself…Â
I think I just wanted to be aggressive quite honestly. I was just trying to come back and be able to put pressure on them and that's just kind of how it panned out.Â
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On how he think he played…Â
It was alright. Need more rebounds. I was kind of scared to go in there not going to lie. I didn't want to fall or get stepped on. Other than that I think I did alright. Pretty solid defensively, pretty solid offensively, just need more rebounds.Â
Michigan State graduate senior forward Joey Hauser
On Malik Hall's return and playing with him so much that got back to familiar feeling with what he was used to...
Yeah, I mean, there's always an adjustment period when someone comes back but I mean, he looked pretty good for not playing for whatever it was six, seven games, but yeah, it feels really good knowing that he's back on the floor.
On missing some open shots tonight in getting some open looks and where does the offense need to be heading back into Big Ten play...
Not yet, yeah, Â I mean, that happens when you come back from break sometimes, sometimes your legs aren't there. Maybe we were a little tired from practice or something, but I think when it comes to Big Ten, your offense has got to be clicking, you've got to be able to knock down open shots, so we're still a work in progress.
On Nebraska coming in here next, and how in this conference, there's really no easy nights anymore, when you see who beats who and what's happening around the conference, and if they pay attention to that...
I mean, we're always watching games. I mean, Nebraska's played everybody tough, they just smacked Iowa, they went to overtime with Purdue, so I don't think this is the same Nebraska team that hasn't finished as well in the Big Ten the last couple of years. They're a different team. They're really good defensively, I think that's where they made their biggest strides. So with everyone in the Big Ten, it's going to be a tough game.Â
On looking forward to this part of the schedule and getting back to the grind of the Big Ten...
Yeah, it's a different beast. Once you come second time around as well with teams, they know what you're doing, you know what they're doing. So, it just comes down to hustle plays, it comes down to defense, it comes down to whoever can just gut it out.
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Opening statement…
You win by 20 and you want to be respectful to the other team, so if you think you played bad, then that's disrespectful to the other team. You try to figure out what kind of questions the media are going to ask, and that's always an adventure. You look at the game, and we shot 51 percent, and 42 percent from the three. We had 10 turnovers, but I feel like we looked real jagged. I'm trying to think of the right word, and any time I go above four letters I get stumped for an answer. There was nothing smooth. That's six letters; I need to come up with something better. It just didn't seem like we executed right. I'm very disappointed in some of our defense. I did not feel like we guarded the dribble-drive very good. Some of you saw Nebraska, part of the second half I was coaching for the next game. I was disappointed with some of our guys, because Nebraska has a team that is going to be way more physical, kind of like some of our old teams. I was trying to get that through to our guys. I feel bad for Tyson Walker, because he had eight of the best looks a guy could have and he just couldn't buy a shot. He has been shooting well. Mady (Sissoko) has been shooting well from the line and went 0-for-3 tonight. I would say things like, we line up for the free throw line like six times, and only one guy stepped in. Another guy was empty on the other side. When we go into our baseline out-of-bounds, we're just walking into them. We looked like a team out of sorts. I know that falls on the coach, so the coach has to do a better job of that, but we had good practices. It's hard to play two games in 23 days. I think you have to give (Buffalo Head Coach) Jim (Whitesell) and his team some credit. I like his team, he's got tough kids. The Jones kid (Curtis Jones), who played with Tre (Holloman) up in Minneapolis, he's a hell of a player. We actually did a decent job on him. I thought that some of there other guys did a good job. Number 11 (Kuluel Mading) really played well. They drove us a little more than I would like. (Isaiah) Adams did a good job of that. We are going to have to get better at that. But, getting Malik (Hall) back to full health would really help. We didn't want to push the envelope towards the end for no reason, but he felt pretty good. He shot the ball pretty good. He was tired, but he defended pretty good. He just brings a calmness to me, and that's hard to do.
On Malik Hall's playing time after returning from injury…
We said we were going to go to 15, and we went to 12 and a half minutes. If I would have needed him at the end, I would have played him, because I could have, but I didn't. He needs to get some play. It's still early, he's still in week six. He and I talked about it, and we made an educated decision.
On parallels between Jaden Akins and Malik Hall's recovery process…
His (Malik Hall's) injury wasn't as bad as Jaden's. He didn't get operated on. If you remember, Jaden was off for nine weeks, played for two weeks and then re-injured it. It's a scary thing for athletes now, with what they see on TV. Usually it's a month for a hangnail, two months for a bloody nose, so it's hard. It's hard on these guys to figure out what's going through their mind. Medically, I feel very comfortable where he (Malik) is. Jaden was really comfortable, and then the second thing happened. That's hard; that's hard on a guy. So, Malik, I think he's good. He is tough, he is strong. I think he'll be fine, it'll take, Jaden is still not back defensively. There's no way, because he can guard the world. Some of that may be conditioning, but it's coming. His shot is getting better. I don't think it'll take Malik as long, because Jaden was out for 13 weeks at one point, and Malik has been out for six, so I think he'll get back quicker, but that doesn't mean it'll take a week.
On the ups and downs in Friday's game, particularly with A.J. Hoggard…
It wasn't just that he made some shots. He communicated. He threw some passes. He just brings a calmness. We've got to get him back to where he's getting after some people too. The only negative that I had with A.J., and I thought that A.J. did a lot of really good things; but he's got to realize that he needs to be more of a jerk. Not to his coaches, but to the players. He has to be more demanding of them. When we have an out-of-bounds play, boom, that thing has got to rock. We will spend time just on that alone, and free throws. My special teams practices of old were; 'when the ball was dead, that's when we're alive.' Dead balls, free throws, baseline or sideline out-of-bounds plays, timeouts. Today, when the ball was dead, we were in Pluto. That's not good. I haven't seen that. I'm hoping that's just a product of everyone trying to adjust to having two-a-days and coming back, but that takes some leadership too, and our point guards are going to be held accountable for that.
On what worked in the Spartans' transition defense during the game…Â
We went a little "live-er" during walkthroughs and we did it twice with our transition defense. I think Jim (Whitesell) does a good job with them. I just think we emphasized it and I think that's one of the things we did a pretty good job of. But when you're scoring a little better, we were shooting 54 percent at one time, it's not as easy to get the ball out. Not many teams run off makes, it's more off misses. To be honest, they get a lot of fast break points off turnovers. They turn people over 16 times a game. And so, that was one of the pluses for us. We had 10, but five of them were charges, moving screens. So those were dead ball turnovers, and they didn't get much off that. So that was encouraging also.
On his trust in Tre Holloman heading into Big Ten play…Â
You know, he really guards. I mean, he gets after it. He's a little scrawny right now, he's gotta put on 20 pounds. He's very athletic. Guards well. He's up there around 20 to 3, assists to turnovers, which is off the charts. He has not turned the ball over much, that's really good. I think what I got is, I got some guys who really listen, who understand. I got really good students. I just need a little tougher kid right now. Tre brings that. His mind is tough, he's a football player. He was a fairly big recruit, we recruited him a little in football, but, his body doesn't listen to his mind because his body isn't developed yet. So that's gonna take some time. But, I was very pleased with Tre, to be honest with you. We had a lot of guys that had moments. We were not real consistent. Every coach, every fan should want consistency. That's what you want in a program. And that was the one thing I harped on before the game. It's just hard to figure out, you know, bringing a new guy in in Malik. And also, trying to play a few more guys, and having those two games in 23 days.
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Michigan State junior guard A.J. Hoggard
On what he was seeing that led to so many assists...I was just able to see that we just needed to get things going, offensively. We came out and missed some shots, some good looks. We missed a just a lot of good shots tonight, if you ask me, but we still shot a high percentage for the team. But we missed a lot of shots that we don't usually miss. So kind of just picking up our defensive energy. They had to stop after the over the top to Mady (Sissoko). So it kind of helped us get our momentum going. He got a couple of dunks. We got a couple steals and a couple threes, so it kind of got us rolling a little bit. So we will built from there.
Â
On the importance of getting so many people involved offensively...
It's definitely important to kind of get the guys feeling good about themselves going into the Big Ten play because we are going to need everybody out there. You got a lot of guys that can score in double digits, so just seeing everybody score the ball and have fun out there was big for me.
Â
On how much they pay attention to Big Ten basketball...
I definitely watched a lot of a lot of Big Ten basketball. I watch a lot of college basketball in itself. So just seeing Nebraska play, doing things that they're doing. They're a tough team; they have to beaten a lot of good teams this year with Creighton and beating Iowa the other day. We got a got a tough task ahead of us. And somebody we got to prepare for. We couldn't look past Buffalo either. They were a good team as well. They are going to do good things in the MAC, but now we just have to prepare for Nebraska. They are a tough well-coached team.
Michigan State forward Malik HallÂ
Â
On his return to play…Â
It was nice to be able to play with my guys. I think it was good in general to be able to realize I can still play a little bit. It wasn't too bad. I'm just excited.Â
Â
On coming out of the game late…Â
I just fell and did something funky so it (foot) was starting to bother me a little bit. Nothing too serious just aches and pains. It's just sore in general but that's what we expected.Â
Â
On if he was attacking the basket early to test himself…Â
I think I just wanted to be aggressive quite honestly. I was just trying to come back and be able to put pressure on them and that's just kind of how it panned out.Â
Â
On how he think he played…Â
It was alright. Need more rebounds. I was kind of scared to go in there not going to lie. I didn't want to fall or get stepped on. Other than that I think I did alright. Pretty solid defensively, pretty solid offensively, just need more rebounds.Â
Michigan State graduate senior forward Joey Hauser
On Malik Hall's return and playing with him so much that got back to familiar feeling with what he was used to...
Yeah, I mean, there's always an adjustment period when someone comes back but I mean, he looked pretty good for not playing for whatever it was six, seven games, but yeah, it feels really good knowing that he's back on the floor.
On missing some open shots tonight in getting some open looks and where does the offense need to be heading back into Big Ten play...
Not yet, yeah, Â I mean, that happens when you come back from break sometimes, sometimes your legs aren't there. Maybe we were a little tired from practice or something, but I think when it comes to Big Ten, your offense has got to be clicking, you've got to be able to knock down open shots, so we're still a work in progress.
On Nebraska coming in here next, and how in this conference, there's really no easy nights anymore, when you see who beats who and what's happening around the conference, and if they pay attention to that...
I mean, we're always watching games. I mean, Nebraska's played everybody tough, they just smacked Iowa, they went to overtime with Purdue, so I don't think this is the same Nebraska team that hasn't finished as well in the Big Ten the last couple of years. They're a different team. They're really good defensively, I think that's where they made their biggest strides. So with everyone in the Big Ten, it's going to be a tough game.Â
On looking forward to this part of the schedule and getting back to the grind of the Big Ten...
Yeah, it's a different beast. Once you come second time around as well with teams, they know what you're doing, you know what they're doing. So, it just comes down to hustle plays, it comes down to defense, it comes down to whoever can just gut it out.
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