
Photo by: Matthew Mitchell
Post-Game Quotes: Purdue
2/26/2022 3:00:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Michigan State Head Coach Tom Izzo
Opening Statement… Â
 Well, I tell you, anytime you play Purdue, you earn your win. I would say that I have great respect for Matt [Painter] and his program, I think they are still the best team in the league, but today we earned our win. It wasn't lucky, I thought we earned it from the get-go, the start to the finish. The second half, every time they came back and made some plays, before halftime that was tough to go in to the locker room after playing so good and then giving them three free throws. I thought that those three threes in the second half, I thought every one of them was in, they were in and then they were out. Free throws are important and we missed a couple of them. We earned the win and I don't apologize for that. I do say that we were a little shaky at the end there and that falls on me and not on Malik [Hall]. We didn't have a timeout and we were trying to tell them what we wanted to do but that was on me, that should be automatic. Heroes, we had a bunch of them. I will go from least minutes to most, that might have been anyone, the crowd was one of the heroes, they were unbelievable tonight. It felt like old times, Mateen [Cleeves] said that in the locker room, Tuck [Mel Tucker], it just felt like the way we used to play and the way our crowd used to react. Mady Sissoko gave us about four minutes and I thought they were an incredible four minutes. He brought some energy; he did some things. If he just hangs in there with us, he's going to be a good player before we are done. We changed up the lineup for a variety of reasons. I don't know what the outcomes was, Julius [Marble II] played very well, Malik [Hall] struggled a little bit and got hurt again. I thought the difference was Gabe Brown, I said to him in the pregame talk, 'four years and you are like a couple other guys that I have had in the past, you search campus to find out the first person you can guard', I said today 'you are going to guard'. I told him that we aren't hiding him and that we are going to put him on Sasha [Stefanovic] and I think he did a hell of a job. I thought that D.J. [Dwayne Stephens] did a good job, the game play was to not give up the threes, they went one-for-nine from the three. I am sure people get frustrated, I was frustrated yelling at my staff … and 25 points, the guy got shot after shot, but he gave up the three and we didn't like [Zach] Edey getting to the line too much. He got there seven times, he is averaging nine to ten free throws a game and not making turnovers, gets us 57 shots to their 48. Turning them over helped and we didn't get to the line, that is one of our negatives right now. We are shooting so good, and we were, but we didn't get to the line and didn't rebound it as well, but we didn't let them get a bunch of offensive rebounds either. All in all, I thought that we had a lot of guys that played well and it was fun to see players and fans reunite and that is what we had.Â
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On the emotions walking off the court and if it was related to tying Bob Knight's record…  Â
You know, it wasn't at all. It was just enjoying our crowd, enjoying our players, getting a chance to celebrate a little bit. I did forget to say, Gabe [Brown] hitting those first couple of shots and the ball going through the basket, it makes you better defensively. Those are the same shots we've been missing. I know it had nothing to do with Bob [Knight], it really didn't. I don't say that with humility. I say it with we need to win a game and we needed to win a game the way we won the game. We had our moments of up and down a little bit, had our moments and we could have crashed like we have in a couple of games. I thought we executed pretty well in those situations and found ways to win. Give Tyson [Walker] credit. We put Joey [Hauser] in so we would have Joey and Malik in there, and we said we're going to screen with their center, and he's either going to be open, Malik is going to be open or Joey is going to be open and I thought Tyson did a good job. That was a big play, and we ran it earlier a little bit like that where we got Marcus [Bingham Jr.] the lob, so they executed pretty well. My joy was just getting a big win against a team that I respect very much.Â
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On what guy was going to step up and take the last shot… Â
Well, [Tyson Walker's] been shooting well but we wanted the ball in his hands because we thought he could get a shot. In all honesty, I thought they might switch out so we had Joey [Hauser] popping and we had Malik [Hall] rolling up, it was three options on the play. When he came off, he was open enough and give him credit, he knocked it down.Â
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On the defense on Jaden Ivey… Â
Well, he was guarded by those two guys, but he was guarded by an army, too. I mean, we tried to wall up on him. He's a hell of a player. I mean, he can get to the hole. In fact, the only three they got was when they saved that one out of bounds and threw it back, and I just thought we did a good job of that. He got to the rim a little bit because you pick your poison. We weren't crazy in him getting to the rim, but we really didn't want to foul him and we didn't want to give up a three. We did a little bit of both, but that kid's a good player, a really good player. When you're trying to figure out whether you should dig on those bigs, there's a lot that went into the prep and give my staff credit, they did a great job. Â Â
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On coaching a game that Michigan State had less turnovers in… Â
Isn't it sad that I have to say 'good?'. It is what it is, I've been telling you that you still got to make some shots. Making shots energizes the crowd and I don't blame them for being maybe not quite like we've been because we gave them nothing to feel great about. Nobody is trying to miss shots, I'm just happy for Gabe [Brown]. He works so hard at what he does and it means a lot when the ball goes in. He did some other things today and I was happy for him and I was happy too for Max [Christie], he did a great job of kind of figuring out where he was, but on that last play when he threw that lob to Marcus [Bingham Jr.], he had gotten fouled I think a little earlier and this time he just saw Marcus [Bingham Jr.] coming and give Marcus [Bingham Jr.] credit, he rolled hard and between the two of them, it was money.Â
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 On winning in the way they did…  Â
 There's some good teams in this league, but over 25 years, nobody plays harder than Purdue on a regular basis. It didn't matter if Gene [Keady] was there, it doesn't matter if Matt's [Painter] there, to win a game against a team like that, you just plug in the individual players. The program stands for that, which I think for the most part ours has to. We win a little bit and all in void here for a couple of weeks, but I think in general, we had to win it by getting on the floor and getting after the loose balls. We sprinted back, we did some things, we contested at the rim, we took shot after shot down there. I thought we hung in there with that pretty good. Julius [Marble II] helps us because he's strong, tough, and a man, and very smart. Although, I did tell him in the locker room, he said to Malik [Hall], 'Why didn't you just throw it the other way right out of bounds than they would have to take it out of bounds there?' and I said, 'Julius, you can take that engineering degree and stick it where the sun doesn't shine because they would have had the ball out back there then' and he goes, 'Oops'. Not always are you basketball smart if you're academically smart, but he really is both. He did a hell of a job, too. Well, we struggled a little bit. Our freshman early, I thought Max [Christie] looked a little nervous, I thought when Jaden [Akins] went in, you know? But, Jaden has been so good for us in a lot of different ways and don't underestimate what Mady [Sissoko] did, Mady brought something and the team just rallied around him. In the huddle, they were just so happy for him and his day will come.  Â
On Gabe's shooting being in the bigger picture moving forward…
Oh, definitely. I said, we'd been shooting the ball pretty good. We were number one in the league, and we just we just missed shots. I mean, your two best shooters are shooting 16% and 9%. From three, I mean, it was a couple of bad shots, but it wasn't all bad like those ones today. I mean, I swear I don't know who else, I think Gabe had one, I think Malik had one. I think this will give us some confidence moving forward, but we got to play. We're still not talented enough to overcome a bunch of mistakes. We have to play; our line is very fine and that's ok. It's been that way a lot of years.
On what do you make your football coach sitting in the Izzone…
 He told me before the game he was going to do it and I said, Mel, Jud (Heathcote) always said the game makes fools of us all, so enjoy being a fool for a day. I thought it was great. Him and Allen (Brian Allen), out there at the end, we had Allen from the from the Los Angeles Rams sitting down there. I told him once, "can you straighten out this official for me?" and he stood up and said, I sure can, and I wish he would have. We had a lot of football players back, Mateen and his crew were back. It's what I love about the place and I was really happy for our guys. It's been hard on them and, nothing's over yet. Hopefully, this is the beginning again and don't anybody say that we get better at the end of February and March. I worked all February, worked my tail off, just wasn't very good. I didn't do good enough job, but it wasn't that I went to Florida Siesta Key and stood around. I didn't do that. I worked, I just didn't work enough. This is one game we got an incredible week ahead of us with travel and late games and all the things and yet what a brilliant opportunity where you're going to play some of the best teams and see where you line up.
On when you saw your team play that hard, start to finish…
It's been since the beginning of the year, that first 10 games, we said that, I said that to you guys. I said it in this same room when we were on that nine game winning streak. I did not like the way we were playing, and I think what I learned there is, there's a fine line between you go into a staff room and you're upset about it and even your staff is saying, hey, we just won a game. So you got to build kids up because everybody else is ripping them down, but you also have to live in reality, and the reality was we weren't playing hard enough. When you play harder, other team turns it over, you get a breakaway, you get to the free throw line. Then if you're not shooting as well, those things come, so I can't say that I'm pleased with the job I've done in that respect or that they've done. I think their captains and their coach all have to take a little responsibility for that, and I will. I have, but I also said, this is a good team and it might be a very good team if we could put everything together. And the point guards are playing a little better, we're getting a little more rotation at centers. We've had a little bit where our steadiest position was the four. We've been a little up and down there now, but boy, if we could get Gabe and Max playing like I see him in practice, we go from good to maybe really good.
On what through your mind in that final 0.4 seconds…
I was tired. I was tired of waiting for I don't know what they were looking at, but that took a long time, didn't it? I was sick of talking to my team. I'll give Marcus credit there, on the ball, he did a good job. The only thing I was enjoying, I enjoyed the crowd. I enjoyed looking around and enjoyed seeing the banners. I enjoyed seeing Cleaves (Mateen Cleaves) and that group over there. I enjoyed seeing Allen (Brian Allen) sitting on the baseline after winning a world championship. I enjoyed a few things and I said, I knew what I wanted to do defensively, but they hit one of those shots, they hit one. I did, I enjoyed a little bit of it, sick as that sounds.
On AJ Hoggard's leadership and if anything significant injury wise…
I don't think so, but AJ has got some young Mateen in him. There's times he ziggs when he should have zagged, then there's times when he takes a shot when I didn't think he should, but he's making progress. I mean, he's a lot better than he was. He did a hell of a job defensively. He played more minutes, tired, pushed the ball, made a couple of big plays when he needed to. I think he was tired and that's why he missed some of those shots, but he's getting there. He's not getting a letter jacket yet, but he's getting there.
On getting a lot of transition points…
Yeah, they threw ahead especially early, and then we got some of them on turnovers, but they threw ahead early, but we finally had some turnovers for touchdowns instead of everybody else getting them and all those little things, I mean, I thought we should have been up more, but I think that shows the greatness of Purdue, too. I mean, they made some big time plays that little guard coming off the left, we're supposed to step up a little harder. We did, but not quite enough, tough, it was a tough place. They run some good stuff.
On Tyson's ability to handle changes throughout the season and willing to step up and hit clutch shots…
Well, it's funny you say that. We had our pre-game meal at 8:00 a.m., and I walked up to him as we were walking out and just me and him were there and I said, you've grown up a lot. Early in the year, if you said boo to him, he didn't handle it very well, to be very honest with you and he's made a lot of progress where those things don't even faze him anymore. I think that's the adjustment you make from a levels and maybe realizing like a couple of times he's made statements like, wow, it is different here. I said, yeah, it's a lot different. Doesn't mean anything degrading it, just the intensity of it, the fans, the other teams. I think he's made tremendous progress. I think what I enjoy, I think he's growing as a man. He's able to handle things, and that's been good.
On the player's feeling in danger of not making the tournament…
I hope not. I really do. I don't think this program should ever feel that way. I don't, I think you should want to win for the players, for the program itself, and I told them, there's personal pride in this. At the end of your life, it's your personal pride and the respect people have for you that matters, nobody cares about anything else. I don't know, be a good question to ask them. I don't think so, I think they got sick of being kicked around. Players when you go on nine game winning streak, I mean, you have parents and people and girlfriends and everybody telling you that you're so good. It's tricky. I've been critical of myself in this room a few times. Today we got after it, we got after it in the pre-game, we got after it, when we ate. I don't know if we use knives and forks. We use fingers. We got after it in the huddles. We got after it at halftime and I guess I going to look in the mirror and say the same thing. I don't really care if they like me right now. I really don't. I know what it takes to be what we got to be and today we did some of those things. Now can we continue to do that without great leadership, that's going to be the trick, and I'm going to have to do a better job. We will have more meetings. I think Gabe is really engaged right now. He's been great through this whole thing. I mean, I think he knows the end is near and he wants to finish with a bang and I was happiest for Gabe of all the players that we had today.
On Tyson's shot being similar to Miles' (Bridges) shot come across your mind and the battles of these two programs…
Yeah, it's really a good question. I remember every shot ever taken to win a game. That's something that goes in your brain and never, I do see Miles, I see it up there, I got a picture of it. I do think these teams have had some battles. I mean, I talked to (Gene) Keady still all the time. And when I look back at the years and that includes when Jud was there, I mean, there were some battles, and Matt Painter, I think, is one of the best. I got to call him a young coach now, but he's one of the best. I mean, he does it. He's involved with every committee. He's really good for the game of basketball, and I still think he has the best team hard to go through a season. If you really look at it, I told my team this, they struggled early. Remember, they lost three out of their first eight. Some of it was schedule, which I try to say around here, but then they've gone on a hell of a run and yet I expect Purdue to be one of those teams that is going somewhere and in late March, I really do and hope they are. It's one of the teams I pull for.
Purdue Head Coach Matt PainterÂ
On struggling to capitalize during possessions… Â
We were getting stops, but we just weren't able to take advantage of the offensive possessions and fouls, every game terminal. At halftime, we thought we were in a good position, I thought they played pretty well. We had seven turnovers at the half and really talked with the team about having a total of 10 for the game. It really challenged those guys. We had four turnovers before the first media timeout. So our inability to play at times, like we'll go three or four games and be be perfectly fine. And then our inability to stay consistent and not turn the basketball over has really hurt us, especially on the road. And you know, we were fortunate at Northwestern, I think we had 14, and we were able to still win the game. But we out-rebounded [MSU] by 10, their leading rebounder had three, we shot 53 percent from the field. You know, if we just give ourselves more chances … I liked our odds in this game, but we didn't [do it]. You've got to give Michigan State credit for their defense.Â
On going down to the wire with Michigan State…Â
Yeah, no question. And I think last time we kind of had the same scenario with Miles Bridges, he hit the same kind of three in front of their bench at the end right there. When you play Michigan State, and especially this is kind of different for us, obviously, as a one-time playing them so late in the year, now you go through and you play people twice, and you see somebody early and you kind of adjust … it's not who you play, it's kind of about when you play them, but now you know you're gonna have to battle. I was proud of our guys, the way we rebounded, I thought we did a good job on the glass. And that's always tough. We've had some good battles through the years.Â
On the breakdown of the three-point shots by Tyson Walker and Gabe Brown…Â
There's the breakdown, we switch five ways … when they went small you've put yourself in a tough spot with [Joey] Hauser and Malik Hall. Because now if you go regular ball-screen defense, and they pop it in to your side, now you got to rotate to them and stuff. And so we were just going to switch five ways. And Trevion [Williams] has done a good job throughout the year in some special situations at the end of games, low clock, and being able to switch and so we had some help from him. But they're driving and he just dribbled in, knocked down a 25-footer, you got to give them credit. Â
On turnovers hampering the team's offense…Â
Yeah, we're a good offensive team. But if you turn the basketball over, you're going to create points for the other team. And I don't say that to take anything away. Because I think a big part of it from your perspective is always your team. You don't ever look at it like 'Well, maybe it's just good defense.' And obviously, it is good defense. I think it's a little bit of both. But you know, we didn't give ourselves enough possessions, if you sit there and look at shots, they took nine more shots than we did. Obviously, we go to the free throw line more, but we should. I think we have a matchup that's causing problems. So just one of those things where you got to give yourself a chance where you got to play and you got to play really good. You got played really good when you have 17 turnovers and they only have ten.Â
On the root cause of the turnovers…Â
I'd have to go back and watch each one of his five turnovers. I thought he did a pretty good job. We like the matchup we had with Zack [Edey]. But when you're constantly turning over, you know, he has five and Trevion [Williams] has four, you're not … we run a lot of stuff. You know, we're not going to keep coming back to you all the time. So part of that is us not coming back to him as much, either one of them because they're turning the basketball over. You want to be able to run good stuff, get a good shot, and be functional. Anytime you're getting good shots, you should be able to have the chance to get some offensive rebounds. But [AJ] Hoggared did a good job as a big physical guard. And I think Jaden [Akins]'s ability to get by people … it just depends what they want to call. The other night he shot 18 free throws, he was just getting by them at will, but when they talked about freedom of movement, they really were on freedom of movement. You don't have freedom of movement on the road. You got freedom of movement at home. So we had freedom of movement at home. We don't have freedom movement on the road, but it's the same for everybody. He is such a weapon with his ability to get by people. He's a very good player.Â
Thoughts on Tom Izzo tying Indiana's Bob Knight for the most wins at a Big Ten school…Â
Yeah, it's a big deal. When we were growing up, I grew up in Indiana, he [Bob Knight] was the best coach in America, he was the best clinician, him and Hubie Brown, Larry Brown, those guys were just spectacular. So, to pass an icon, that's huge, and he's an icon. And it's staying at one place too, which I'm fond of, and the fact that he could have went a lot of places and he did it [here]. And, you know, the Big Ten was able to get that reward too. Anytime you can have consistency … it's a hard thing to do, especially in 14 different schools, how can you be consistent and be great, when you're upsetting the apple cart after three seasons, or somebody doesn't win enough games and stuff like that. But if you stick with people, I think a lot of people around here probably forget [Izzo's] first two seasons, but they stuck by him. And he took off from there, won a ten Big Ten Championships. It's been great, went to four Final Fours. So it speaks for itself … but to be able to pass [Knight], that's one of those things that, you know ... I just thought Gene Keady and Bob Knight would be the coaches at Purdue and Indiana forever. You didn't think anything different. That's kind of the way people in Michigan think too. You can take a 26 year-old in the state of Michigan and the only thing he knows is that Tom Izzo has been the head coach at Michigan State. That's pretty cool. Congratulations to him. I just wish it wasn't at our expense.Â
On Gabe Brown's performance…Â
It's different when you're struggling and you think you're a good shooter, and you're really not. He's a good shooter. He's worked really hard. You can see the confidence he built in that first 15 to 20 games and he was feeling good about himself. He was shooting with people on him and he was triple-threat shooting and he was in rhythm. I love guys that can shoot the basketball. And then he just got out of it a little bit, but they only need that one [basket] make in that crowd to get them going. And I know he didn't have 20 points in this game, but the punch he gave really helped him and it got him off to a good start. So that was that was huge. Gabe really did some good things. It's frustrating. He had a couple ball. He had a couple curveballs at Iowa. And when you're a good shooter, you know bad shooters shoot curveballs. Good shooters don't shoot those shots like that … he was just in a rut. It only takes one game for a good shooter to get out of a rut. Once again, I'm upset it's at our expense but yeah, give him credit, he made some huge plays.Â
Junior Forward Julius Marble IIÂ
On guarding Zach Edey…Â
It was tough, I mean the whole game was pretty much a battle. I knew he was going to get some shots because he's just so much taller than me, but my goal was to make it harder for him to get those shots. I kind of felt like I did that, but our gameplay wasn't double because with the shooters, we would leave the shooters wide open. So, he had more points than he would have but I did the best I could to make it hard on him. Â
On the challenge on taking on a big player and a good three-point shooting team…Â
He was big, and just seeing if I could move him away, I mean it is a little bit tougher to go under or just make sure you weren't down. I tried to do my best on the offensive end, making him run. Just to get a transition to come get me or some ball screens. He really didn't get played that hard on ball screens, he stopped at the free throw line. Just making sure he was running all over the place and getting tired that way. When he gets back on the offensive end it is a little harder for him. Â
On him starting and what his mindset was…Â
We had talked about what would be the best line up. We needed to find a change, find a spark, somehow, someway. I think I found out a couple days ago that I would probably be in the lineup. We were working on it in practice, different things and stuff. It felt good to come out there, start it out. We had a great start; we haven't been having great starts lately. So, I am glad we came out and were able to have a great start today. Â
On today being a turning point for them…Â
Oh, for sure, I mean it's a step forward. Any time you are in a losing streak, the only thing that is going to help out is winning. So, we had to win this one today, get our confidence back up. We have a big one Tuesday at Michigan so, that is going to be a tough one there. Â
On what was going through his mind when he stepped up for some of the free throws…Â
To not worry about the other ones. My teammates on the bench were telling me not to worry about it because I had been missing free throws and I usually don't miss free throws. I got in my head about it. Jaden Akins and Davis Smith told me, hey, you're probably going to get fouled again and to make these other ones you have to get out of your head right now. So, I got out of my head, got fouled again and I thought, 'You're not missing these.'Â
On how much better the team can be when Gabe Brown is hitting shots…Â
So much better, that's what we have been missing the last couple of games. We need to finally get him going, he had a little bit of a slump going on but today was a great day for Gabe. I'm so glad for him, proud of him. Him and Max [Christie], Max had a great game too. For them to get that rhythm and get going is kind of a perfect time for them because we're starting to get down to the end of the season and we need to make a good run for the end of the season and a good seeding for the Big Ten tournament. Them playing great will be huge for us. Â
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On how tough it is to find the offense while holding on the defensive end…Â
It's not like I look for that kind of stuff when I am playing, I look to make plays. They give me that ball in positions where they know I can make plays, so I credit my teammates for that one. I am not too worried about scoring every possession or scoring when I haven't in a while. I think I had two points at the half, and I didn't even know. If they give it to me and I have an opportunity to score, then I am going to do that. The get back on the defensive end and did my job there. Â
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Sophomore Guard AJ HoggardÂ
On what allowed for more transition buckets…Â
I think our defensive effort, our energy that we brought from the beginning of the game. And getting stops early on allowed us to get in transition. Getting stops today was key in our transition.Â
On fast break opportunities…Â
It changes a lot. We are a fast break team. Everyone knows that. So just being able to play our game, even with them pinching outlets trying to slow us down, just getting stops and being able to run and convert in transition was big because we got our shooters going tonight. We helped bring Gabe [Brown] and Max [Christie] along.Â
On what he said to Tyson before he took the final shot?Â
I said, 'take us home.' I believe in him, so I trusted him, I knew he was going to get it done and he did.Â
On guarding Jaden Ivey…Â
I just thought I came in and tried to do my job. My job today was to try and slow him [Ivey] down and that was my focus coming in. I'm just doing everything to help us win.Â
On Miles Bridges' similar game against Purdue and what about this game brings the best out of the team… Â
I really couldn't tell you. I think we found ourselves with our backs against the wall losing these last couple of games. So, we just had to try to find a way to get out of it, and today was just one of those days. Tyson came through with a big shot like we all know. So, I think us getting out of our little slump was big today. Coming out is our focus, getting a win, a huge win against a top-five team and just trying to get back on track.Â
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Junior Guard Tyson WalkerÂ
On his big shot…Â
That shot right there is how I've always done that move since I was a freshman in high school. So, I just knew it was good.Â
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On the options on the final play…Â
We knew they were going to switch, switch five. So we just wanted the ball screen just so we could get the switch, and just for me to make a play.Â
On the defensive possession before the play and confidence he had.Â
Well, I just knew if they score, I'm going to come down and make a shot because I felt the same way when we played Illinois. But they scored that time. Today I'm going to make a big shot and we are going to win the game.Â
On the re-surging defense…Â
It seemed like is a surprise, but that's what we were doing when we were looking really good on defense. So, it was just us getting back to what we do on defense.Â
On feeling the pressure…Â
That's just something you dream about. I'm in my backyard at home just practicing my moves and counting down in my head, and that's just how it felt. It was just routine.Â
On the crowd's reaction…Â
Honestly, something is wrong with me, I can't really hear the crowd most of the time. Even on away games, I never hear the crowd.Â
On if the team was desperate for a win?Â
I don't think we were desperate. We just kind of in a way felt disrespected. We feel like everybody is giving up on us. So we went out and proved a point.Â
Senior forward Gabe Brown
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On his thoughts about Tyson's shot...
See, I know Tyson's moves like the back of my hand. I knew he was going to step back. I ain't even going to crash, cause I knew it was good so yeah. I knew Sasha (Stefanovic) was gonna come off me so, I knew Tyson was gonna hit the shot and he hit a very big shot.
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On energy and grit as the coaches' focus...
We needed a win. I got tired of losing. We've been in close games, and we haven't been able to finish, and I just wanted to go out and get a big win. I know I have bring energy; I gotta be the guy each and every night to encourage my guys and lead, and that's what I wanted to do today.
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On the importance of his early made shots, and if they lifted a weight off him...
Yeah, for sure. Like I said, I always work on my shot each and every day, and I did have a little slump of my own. I mean like everybody else, but, like I always said the work is always gonna show up, and I just kept shooting. My teammates kept finding me, and I kept believing in my shot.
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On if the basket gets bigger for him once he hits his first shot:
Yeah, the basket always get bigger every time you hit your first shot. So, yeah it got to looking bigger but, right now. I'm enjoying this win, but we got a lot more games and a lot more things that we need to finish, and we got a big game coming up, so I gotta be on my guys each and every night about just. Staying locked in staying ready to play cause we got a big stretch coming up.
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On his relationship with Max and how their sessions together impacted both of their slumps:
It helped out a lot because we both was going through the same thing. We both had our little slump, but Max is a worker just like me. He's in the gym all the time, and I told myself and our GA (Manny Dosanjh) we wanted to work out together this entire week. We wanted to get ourselves out of our own slump, and we did a very good job with doing that tonight.
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Opening Statement… Â
 Well, I tell you, anytime you play Purdue, you earn your win. I would say that I have great respect for Matt [Painter] and his program, I think they are still the best team in the league, but today we earned our win. It wasn't lucky, I thought we earned it from the get-go, the start to the finish. The second half, every time they came back and made some plays, before halftime that was tough to go in to the locker room after playing so good and then giving them three free throws. I thought that those three threes in the second half, I thought every one of them was in, they were in and then they were out. Free throws are important and we missed a couple of them. We earned the win and I don't apologize for that. I do say that we were a little shaky at the end there and that falls on me and not on Malik [Hall]. We didn't have a timeout and we were trying to tell them what we wanted to do but that was on me, that should be automatic. Heroes, we had a bunch of them. I will go from least minutes to most, that might have been anyone, the crowd was one of the heroes, they were unbelievable tonight. It felt like old times, Mateen [Cleeves] said that in the locker room, Tuck [Mel Tucker], it just felt like the way we used to play and the way our crowd used to react. Mady Sissoko gave us about four minutes and I thought they were an incredible four minutes. He brought some energy; he did some things. If he just hangs in there with us, he's going to be a good player before we are done. We changed up the lineup for a variety of reasons. I don't know what the outcomes was, Julius [Marble II] played very well, Malik [Hall] struggled a little bit and got hurt again. I thought the difference was Gabe Brown, I said to him in the pregame talk, 'four years and you are like a couple other guys that I have had in the past, you search campus to find out the first person you can guard', I said today 'you are going to guard'. I told him that we aren't hiding him and that we are going to put him on Sasha [Stefanovic] and I think he did a hell of a job. I thought that D.J. [Dwayne Stephens] did a good job, the game play was to not give up the threes, they went one-for-nine from the three. I am sure people get frustrated, I was frustrated yelling at my staff … and 25 points, the guy got shot after shot, but he gave up the three and we didn't like [Zach] Edey getting to the line too much. He got there seven times, he is averaging nine to ten free throws a game and not making turnovers, gets us 57 shots to their 48. Turning them over helped and we didn't get to the line, that is one of our negatives right now. We are shooting so good, and we were, but we didn't get to the line and didn't rebound it as well, but we didn't let them get a bunch of offensive rebounds either. All in all, I thought that we had a lot of guys that played well and it was fun to see players and fans reunite and that is what we had.Â
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On the emotions walking off the court and if it was related to tying Bob Knight's record…  Â
You know, it wasn't at all. It was just enjoying our crowd, enjoying our players, getting a chance to celebrate a little bit. I did forget to say, Gabe [Brown] hitting those first couple of shots and the ball going through the basket, it makes you better defensively. Those are the same shots we've been missing. I know it had nothing to do with Bob [Knight], it really didn't. I don't say that with humility. I say it with we need to win a game and we needed to win a game the way we won the game. We had our moments of up and down a little bit, had our moments and we could have crashed like we have in a couple of games. I thought we executed pretty well in those situations and found ways to win. Give Tyson [Walker] credit. We put Joey [Hauser] in so we would have Joey and Malik in there, and we said we're going to screen with their center, and he's either going to be open, Malik is going to be open or Joey is going to be open and I thought Tyson did a good job. That was a big play, and we ran it earlier a little bit like that where we got Marcus [Bingham Jr.] the lob, so they executed pretty well. My joy was just getting a big win against a team that I respect very much.Â
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On what guy was going to step up and take the last shot… Â
Well, [Tyson Walker's] been shooting well but we wanted the ball in his hands because we thought he could get a shot. In all honesty, I thought they might switch out so we had Joey [Hauser] popping and we had Malik [Hall] rolling up, it was three options on the play. When he came off, he was open enough and give him credit, he knocked it down.Â
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On the defense on Jaden Ivey… Â
Well, he was guarded by those two guys, but he was guarded by an army, too. I mean, we tried to wall up on him. He's a hell of a player. I mean, he can get to the hole. In fact, the only three they got was when they saved that one out of bounds and threw it back, and I just thought we did a good job of that. He got to the rim a little bit because you pick your poison. We weren't crazy in him getting to the rim, but we really didn't want to foul him and we didn't want to give up a three. We did a little bit of both, but that kid's a good player, a really good player. When you're trying to figure out whether you should dig on those bigs, there's a lot that went into the prep and give my staff credit, they did a great job. Â Â
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On coaching a game that Michigan State had less turnovers in… Â
Isn't it sad that I have to say 'good?'. It is what it is, I've been telling you that you still got to make some shots. Making shots energizes the crowd and I don't blame them for being maybe not quite like we've been because we gave them nothing to feel great about. Nobody is trying to miss shots, I'm just happy for Gabe [Brown]. He works so hard at what he does and it means a lot when the ball goes in. He did some other things today and I was happy for him and I was happy too for Max [Christie], he did a great job of kind of figuring out where he was, but on that last play when he threw that lob to Marcus [Bingham Jr.], he had gotten fouled I think a little earlier and this time he just saw Marcus [Bingham Jr.] coming and give Marcus [Bingham Jr.] credit, he rolled hard and between the two of them, it was money.Â
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 On winning in the way they did…  Â
 There's some good teams in this league, but over 25 years, nobody plays harder than Purdue on a regular basis. It didn't matter if Gene [Keady] was there, it doesn't matter if Matt's [Painter] there, to win a game against a team like that, you just plug in the individual players. The program stands for that, which I think for the most part ours has to. We win a little bit and all in void here for a couple of weeks, but I think in general, we had to win it by getting on the floor and getting after the loose balls. We sprinted back, we did some things, we contested at the rim, we took shot after shot down there. I thought we hung in there with that pretty good. Julius [Marble II] helps us because he's strong, tough, and a man, and very smart. Although, I did tell him in the locker room, he said to Malik [Hall], 'Why didn't you just throw it the other way right out of bounds than they would have to take it out of bounds there?' and I said, 'Julius, you can take that engineering degree and stick it where the sun doesn't shine because they would have had the ball out back there then' and he goes, 'Oops'. Not always are you basketball smart if you're academically smart, but he really is both. He did a hell of a job, too. Well, we struggled a little bit. Our freshman early, I thought Max [Christie] looked a little nervous, I thought when Jaden [Akins] went in, you know? But, Jaden has been so good for us in a lot of different ways and don't underestimate what Mady [Sissoko] did, Mady brought something and the team just rallied around him. In the huddle, they were just so happy for him and his day will come.  Â
On Gabe's shooting being in the bigger picture moving forward…
Oh, definitely. I said, we'd been shooting the ball pretty good. We were number one in the league, and we just we just missed shots. I mean, your two best shooters are shooting 16% and 9%. From three, I mean, it was a couple of bad shots, but it wasn't all bad like those ones today. I mean, I swear I don't know who else, I think Gabe had one, I think Malik had one. I think this will give us some confidence moving forward, but we got to play. We're still not talented enough to overcome a bunch of mistakes. We have to play; our line is very fine and that's ok. It's been that way a lot of years.
On what do you make your football coach sitting in the Izzone…
 He told me before the game he was going to do it and I said, Mel, Jud (Heathcote) always said the game makes fools of us all, so enjoy being a fool for a day. I thought it was great. Him and Allen (Brian Allen), out there at the end, we had Allen from the from the Los Angeles Rams sitting down there. I told him once, "can you straighten out this official for me?" and he stood up and said, I sure can, and I wish he would have. We had a lot of football players back, Mateen and his crew were back. It's what I love about the place and I was really happy for our guys. It's been hard on them and, nothing's over yet. Hopefully, this is the beginning again and don't anybody say that we get better at the end of February and March. I worked all February, worked my tail off, just wasn't very good. I didn't do good enough job, but it wasn't that I went to Florida Siesta Key and stood around. I didn't do that. I worked, I just didn't work enough. This is one game we got an incredible week ahead of us with travel and late games and all the things and yet what a brilliant opportunity where you're going to play some of the best teams and see where you line up.
On when you saw your team play that hard, start to finish…
It's been since the beginning of the year, that first 10 games, we said that, I said that to you guys. I said it in this same room when we were on that nine game winning streak. I did not like the way we were playing, and I think what I learned there is, there's a fine line between you go into a staff room and you're upset about it and even your staff is saying, hey, we just won a game. So you got to build kids up because everybody else is ripping them down, but you also have to live in reality, and the reality was we weren't playing hard enough. When you play harder, other team turns it over, you get a breakaway, you get to the free throw line. Then if you're not shooting as well, those things come, so I can't say that I'm pleased with the job I've done in that respect or that they've done. I think their captains and their coach all have to take a little responsibility for that, and I will. I have, but I also said, this is a good team and it might be a very good team if we could put everything together. And the point guards are playing a little better, we're getting a little more rotation at centers. We've had a little bit where our steadiest position was the four. We've been a little up and down there now, but boy, if we could get Gabe and Max playing like I see him in practice, we go from good to maybe really good.
On what through your mind in that final 0.4 seconds…
I was tired. I was tired of waiting for I don't know what they were looking at, but that took a long time, didn't it? I was sick of talking to my team. I'll give Marcus credit there, on the ball, he did a good job. The only thing I was enjoying, I enjoyed the crowd. I enjoyed looking around and enjoyed seeing the banners. I enjoyed seeing Cleaves (Mateen Cleaves) and that group over there. I enjoyed seeing Allen (Brian Allen) sitting on the baseline after winning a world championship. I enjoyed a few things and I said, I knew what I wanted to do defensively, but they hit one of those shots, they hit one. I did, I enjoyed a little bit of it, sick as that sounds.
On AJ Hoggard's leadership and if anything significant injury wise…
I don't think so, but AJ has got some young Mateen in him. There's times he ziggs when he should have zagged, then there's times when he takes a shot when I didn't think he should, but he's making progress. I mean, he's a lot better than he was. He did a hell of a job defensively. He played more minutes, tired, pushed the ball, made a couple of big plays when he needed to. I think he was tired and that's why he missed some of those shots, but he's getting there. He's not getting a letter jacket yet, but he's getting there.
On getting a lot of transition points…
Yeah, they threw ahead especially early, and then we got some of them on turnovers, but they threw ahead early, but we finally had some turnovers for touchdowns instead of everybody else getting them and all those little things, I mean, I thought we should have been up more, but I think that shows the greatness of Purdue, too. I mean, they made some big time plays that little guard coming off the left, we're supposed to step up a little harder. We did, but not quite enough, tough, it was a tough place. They run some good stuff.
On Tyson's ability to handle changes throughout the season and willing to step up and hit clutch shots…
Well, it's funny you say that. We had our pre-game meal at 8:00 a.m., and I walked up to him as we were walking out and just me and him were there and I said, you've grown up a lot. Early in the year, if you said boo to him, he didn't handle it very well, to be very honest with you and he's made a lot of progress where those things don't even faze him anymore. I think that's the adjustment you make from a levels and maybe realizing like a couple of times he's made statements like, wow, it is different here. I said, yeah, it's a lot different. Doesn't mean anything degrading it, just the intensity of it, the fans, the other teams. I think he's made tremendous progress. I think what I enjoy, I think he's growing as a man. He's able to handle things, and that's been good.
On the player's feeling in danger of not making the tournament…
I hope not. I really do. I don't think this program should ever feel that way. I don't, I think you should want to win for the players, for the program itself, and I told them, there's personal pride in this. At the end of your life, it's your personal pride and the respect people have for you that matters, nobody cares about anything else. I don't know, be a good question to ask them. I don't think so, I think they got sick of being kicked around. Players when you go on nine game winning streak, I mean, you have parents and people and girlfriends and everybody telling you that you're so good. It's tricky. I've been critical of myself in this room a few times. Today we got after it, we got after it in the pre-game, we got after it, when we ate. I don't know if we use knives and forks. We use fingers. We got after it in the huddles. We got after it at halftime and I guess I going to look in the mirror and say the same thing. I don't really care if they like me right now. I really don't. I know what it takes to be what we got to be and today we did some of those things. Now can we continue to do that without great leadership, that's going to be the trick, and I'm going to have to do a better job. We will have more meetings. I think Gabe is really engaged right now. He's been great through this whole thing. I mean, I think he knows the end is near and he wants to finish with a bang and I was happiest for Gabe of all the players that we had today.
On Tyson's shot being similar to Miles' (Bridges) shot come across your mind and the battles of these two programs…
Yeah, it's really a good question. I remember every shot ever taken to win a game. That's something that goes in your brain and never, I do see Miles, I see it up there, I got a picture of it. I do think these teams have had some battles. I mean, I talked to (Gene) Keady still all the time. And when I look back at the years and that includes when Jud was there, I mean, there were some battles, and Matt Painter, I think, is one of the best. I got to call him a young coach now, but he's one of the best. I mean, he does it. He's involved with every committee. He's really good for the game of basketball, and I still think he has the best team hard to go through a season. If you really look at it, I told my team this, they struggled early. Remember, they lost three out of their first eight. Some of it was schedule, which I try to say around here, but then they've gone on a hell of a run and yet I expect Purdue to be one of those teams that is going somewhere and in late March, I really do and hope they are. It's one of the teams I pull for.
Purdue Head Coach Matt PainterÂ
On struggling to capitalize during possessions… Â
We were getting stops, but we just weren't able to take advantage of the offensive possessions and fouls, every game terminal. At halftime, we thought we were in a good position, I thought they played pretty well. We had seven turnovers at the half and really talked with the team about having a total of 10 for the game. It really challenged those guys. We had four turnovers before the first media timeout. So our inability to play at times, like we'll go three or four games and be be perfectly fine. And then our inability to stay consistent and not turn the basketball over has really hurt us, especially on the road. And you know, we were fortunate at Northwestern, I think we had 14, and we were able to still win the game. But we out-rebounded [MSU] by 10, their leading rebounder had three, we shot 53 percent from the field. You know, if we just give ourselves more chances … I liked our odds in this game, but we didn't [do it]. You've got to give Michigan State credit for their defense.Â
On going down to the wire with Michigan State…Â
Yeah, no question. And I think last time we kind of had the same scenario with Miles Bridges, he hit the same kind of three in front of their bench at the end right there. When you play Michigan State, and especially this is kind of different for us, obviously, as a one-time playing them so late in the year, now you go through and you play people twice, and you see somebody early and you kind of adjust … it's not who you play, it's kind of about when you play them, but now you know you're gonna have to battle. I was proud of our guys, the way we rebounded, I thought we did a good job on the glass. And that's always tough. We've had some good battles through the years.Â
On the breakdown of the three-point shots by Tyson Walker and Gabe Brown…Â
There's the breakdown, we switch five ways … when they went small you've put yourself in a tough spot with [Joey] Hauser and Malik Hall. Because now if you go regular ball-screen defense, and they pop it in to your side, now you got to rotate to them and stuff. And so we were just going to switch five ways. And Trevion [Williams] has done a good job throughout the year in some special situations at the end of games, low clock, and being able to switch and so we had some help from him. But they're driving and he just dribbled in, knocked down a 25-footer, you got to give them credit. Â
On turnovers hampering the team's offense…Â
Yeah, we're a good offensive team. But if you turn the basketball over, you're going to create points for the other team. And I don't say that to take anything away. Because I think a big part of it from your perspective is always your team. You don't ever look at it like 'Well, maybe it's just good defense.' And obviously, it is good defense. I think it's a little bit of both. But you know, we didn't give ourselves enough possessions, if you sit there and look at shots, they took nine more shots than we did. Obviously, we go to the free throw line more, but we should. I think we have a matchup that's causing problems. So just one of those things where you got to give yourself a chance where you got to play and you got to play really good. You got played really good when you have 17 turnovers and they only have ten.Â
On the root cause of the turnovers…Â
I'd have to go back and watch each one of his five turnovers. I thought he did a pretty good job. We like the matchup we had with Zack [Edey]. But when you're constantly turning over, you know, he has five and Trevion [Williams] has four, you're not … we run a lot of stuff. You know, we're not going to keep coming back to you all the time. So part of that is us not coming back to him as much, either one of them because they're turning the basketball over. You want to be able to run good stuff, get a good shot, and be functional. Anytime you're getting good shots, you should be able to have the chance to get some offensive rebounds. But [AJ] Hoggared did a good job as a big physical guard. And I think Jaden [Akins]'s ability to get by people … it just depends what they want to call. The other night he shot 18 free throws, he was just getting by them at will, but when they talked about freedom of movement, they really were on freedom of movement. You don't have freedom of movement on the road. You got freedom of movement at home. So we had freedom of movement at home. We don't have freedom movement on the road, but it's the same for everybody. He is such a weapon with his ability to get by people. He's a very good player.Â
Thoughts on Tom Izzo tying Indiana's Bob Knight for the most wins at a Big Ten school…Â
Yeah, it's a big deal. When we were growing up, I grew up in Indiana, he [Bob Knight] was the best coach in America, he was the best clinician, him and Hubie Brown, Larry Brown, those guys were just spectacular. So, to pass an icon, that's huge, and he's an icon. And it's staying at one place too, which I'm fond of, and the fact that he could have went a lot of places and he did it [here]. And, you know, the Big Ten was able to get that reward too. Anytime you can have consistency … it's a hard thing to do, especially in 14 different schools, how can you be consistent and be great, when you're upsetting the apple cart after three seasons, or somebody doesn't win enough games and stuff like that. But if you stick with people, I think a lot of people around here probably forget [Izzo's] first two seasons, but they stuck by him. And he took off from there, won a ten Big Ten Championships. It's been great, went to four Final Fours. So it speaks for itself … but to be able to pass [Knight], that's one of those things that, you know ... I just thought Gene Keady and Bob Knight would be the coaches at Purdue and Indiana forever. You didn't think anything different. That's kind of the way people in Michigan think too. You can take a 26 year-old in the state of Michigan and the only thing he knows is that Tom Izzo has been the head coach at Michigan State. That's pretty cool. Congratulations to him. I just wish it wasn't at our expense.Â
On Gabe Brown's performance…Â
It's different when you're struggling and you think you're a good shooter, and you're really not. He's a good shooter. He's worked really hard. You can see the confidence he built in that first 15 to 20 games and he was feeling good about himself. He was shooting with people on him and he was triple-threat shooting and he was in rhythm. I love guys that can shoot the basketball. And then he just got out of it a little bit, but they only need that one [basket] make in that crowd to get them going. And I know he didn't have 20 points in this game, but the punch he gave really helped him and it got him off to a good start. So that was that was huge. Gabe really did some good things. It's frustrating. He had a couple ball. He had a couple curveballs at Iowa. And when you're a good shooter, you know bad shooters shoot curveballs. Good shooters don't shoot those shots like that … he was just in a rut. It only takes one game for a good shooter to get out of a rut. Once again, I'm upset it's at our expense but yeah, give him credit, he made some huge plays.Â
Junior Forward Julius Marble IIÂ
On guarding Zach Edey…Â
It was tough, I mean the whole game was pretty much a battle. I knew he was going to get some shots because he's just so much taller than me, but my goal was to make it harder for him to get those shots. I kind of felt like I did that, but our gameplay wasn't double because with the shooters, we would leave the shooters wide open. So, he had more points than he would have but I did the best I could to make it hard on him. Â
On the challenge on taking on a big player and a good three-point shooting team…Â
He was big, and just seeing if I could move him away, I mean it is a little bit tougher to go under or just make sure you weren't down. I tried to do my best on the offensive end, making him run. Just to get a transition to come get me or some ball screens. He really didn't get played that hard on ball screens, he stopped at the free throw line. Just making sure he was running all over the place and getting tired that way. When he gets back on the offensive end it is a little harder for him. Â
On him starting and what his mindset was…Â
We had talked about what would be the best line up. We needed to find a change, find a spark, somehow, someway. I think I found out a couple days ago that I would probably be in the lineup. We were working on it in practice, different things and stuff. It felt good to come out there, start it out. We had a great start; we haven't been having great starts lately. So, I am glad we came out and were able to have a great start today. Â
On today being a turning point for them…Â
Oh, for sure, I mean it's a step forward. Any time you are in a losing streak, the only thing that is going to help out is winning. So, we had to win this one today, get our confidence back up. We have a big one Tuesday at Michigan so, that is going to be a tough one there. Â
On what was going through his mind when he stepped up for some of the free throws…Â
To not worry about the other ones. My teammates on the bench were telling me not to worry about it because I had been missing free throws and I usually don't miss free throws. I got in my head about it. Jaden Akins and Davis Smith told me, hey, you're probably going to get fouled again and to make these other ones you have to get out of your head right now. So, I got out of my head, got fouled again and I thought, 'You're not missing these.'Â
On how much better the team can be when Gabe Brown is hitting shots…Â
So much better, that's what we have been missing the last couple of games. We need to finally get him going, he had a little bit of a slump going on but today was a great day for Gabe. I'm so glad for him, proud of him. Him and Max [Christie], Max had a great game too. For them to get that rhythm and get going is kind of a perfect time for them because we're starting to get down to the end of the season and we need to make a good run for the end of the season and a good seeding for the Big Ten tournament. Them playing great will be huge for us. Â
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On how tough it is to find the offense while holding on the defensive end…Â
It's not like I look for that kind of stuff when I am playing, I look to make plays. They give me that ball in positions where they know I can make plays, so I credit my teammates for that one. I am not too worried about scoring every possession or scoring when I haven't in a while. I think I had two points at the half, and I didn't even know. If they give it to me and I have an opportunity to score, then I am going to do that. The get back on the defensive end and did my job there. Â
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Sophomore Guard AJ HoggardÂ
On what allowed for more transition buckets…Â
I think our defensive effort, our energy that we brought from the beginning of the game. And getting stops early on allowed us to get in transition. Getting stops today was key in our transition.Â
On fast break opportunities…Â
It changes a lot. We are a fast break team. Everyone knows that. So just being able to play our game, even with them pinching outlets trying to slow us down, just getting stops and being able to run and convert in transition was big because we got our shooters going tonight. We helped bring Gabe [Brown] and Max [Christie] along.Â
On what he said to Tyson before he took the final shot?Â
I said, 'take us home.' I believe in him, so I trusted him, I knew he was going to get it done and he did.Â
On guarding Jaden Ivey…Â
I just thought I came in and tried to do my job. My job today was to try and slow him [Ivey] down and that was my focus coming in. I'm just doing everything to help us win.Â
On Miles Bridges' similar game against Purdue and what about this game brings the best out of the team… Â
I really couldn't tell you. I think we found ourselves with our backs against the wall losing these last couple of games. So, we just had to try to find a way to get out of it, and today was just one of those days. Tyson came through with a big shot like we all know. So, I think us getting out of our little slump was big today. Coming out is our focus, getting a win, a huge win against a top-five team and just trying to get back on track.Â
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Junior Guard Tyson WalkerÂ
On his big shot…Â
That shot right there is how I've always done that move since I was a freshman in high school. So, I just knew it was good.Â
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On the options on the final play…Â
We knew they were going to switch, switch five. So we just wanted the ball screen just so we could get the switch, and just for me to make a play.Â
On the defensive possession before the play and confidence he had.Â
Well, I just knew if they score, I'm going to come down and make a shot because I felt the same way when we played Illinois. But they scored that time. Today I'm going to make a big shot and we are going to win the game.Â
On the re-surging defense…Â
It seemed like is a surprise, but that's what we were doing when we were looking really good on defense. So, it was just us getting back to what we do on defense.Â
On feeling the pressure…Â
That's just something you dream about. I'm in my backyard at home just practicing my moves and counting down in my head, and that's just how it felt. It was just routine.Â
On the crowd's reaction…Â
Honestly, something is wrong with me, I can't really hear the crowd most of the time. Even on away games, I never hear the crowd.Â
On if the team was desperate for a win?Â
I don't think we were desperate. We just kind of in a way felt disrespected. We feel like everybody is giving up on us. So we went out and proved a point.Â
Senior forward Gabe Brown
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On his thoughts about Tyson's shot...
See, I know Tyson's moves like the back of my hand. I knew he was going to step back. I ain't even going to crash, cause I knew it was good so yeah. I knew Sasha (Stefanovic) was gonna come off me so, I knew Tyson was gonna hit the shot and he hit a very big shot.
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On energy and grit as the coaches' focus...
We needed a win. I got tired of losing. We've been in close games, and we haven't been able to finish, and I just wanted to go out and get a big win. I know I have bring energy; I gotta be the guy each and every night to encourage my guys and lead, and that's what I wanted to do today.
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On the importance of his early made shots, and if they lifted a weight off him...
Yeah, for sure. Like I said, I always work on my shot each and every day, and I did have a little slump of my own. I mean like everybody else, but, like I always said the work is always gonna show up, and I just kept shooting. My teammates kept finding me, and I kept believing in my shot.
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On if the basket gets bigger for him once he hits his first shot:
Yeah, the basket always get bigger every time you hit your first shot. So, yeah it got to looking bigger but, right now. I'm enjoying this win, but we got a lot more games and a lot more things that we need to finish, and we got a big game coming up, so I gotta be on my guys each and every night about just. Staying locked in staying ready to play cause we got a big stretch coming up.
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On his relationship with Max and how their sessions together impacted both of their slumps:
It helped out a lot because we both was going through the same thing. We both had our little slump, but Max is a worker just like me. He's in the gym all the time, and I told myself and our GA (Manny Dosanjh) we wanted to work out together this entire week. We wanted to get ourselves out of our own slump, and we did a very good job with doing that tonight.
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