Post-Game Quotes: Purdue

Michigan State Head Coach Tom Izzo

Opening Statement…
First of all, I want to say that it was a privilege. This is one of the greatest days in our nation, Martin Luther King Day. I was alive then. It is an honor to get chosen to play on that day. I told my team that it's one of the privileges of being able to play at Michigan State. You're wanted on the events that are big events. Whether that's on an aircraft carrier or playing on Martin Luther King day, you get to do stuff that a lot of people just dream of doing. So, we watched a little bit of the 'I Have a Dream' speech this morning. I had a dream that turned into a little bit of a nightmare. First, I would like to give a lot of credit to Purdue. I think that Matt Painter is one of the best coaches in the Big Ten, I think he's one of the best in the country. He puts his people in position, as he did with (Zach) Edey. I also want to give a lot of credit to Fletcher Loyer. I've known the family, and I've known him since he was very young. I thought we did a hell of a job on him. The last five minutes of the game, he just took it over, so you've got to give him credit. You've got to give Edey some credit, because he hit all of those shots. But, I'm so sick and tired of listening to officials telling me about pushing guys out when they are pushing guys in. I'm sick of it. So, I'm not going to ruin a good party for them and just bitch about the officials, but that last call, as physical as that game was; they called that one on Tyson (Walker) down front. That was disappointing. We lost the game in the first minute. The ridiculous turnovers in the first five minutes. A.J. (Hoggard) looked like he reverted to last year. We looked out of sorts. We were throwing it into guys backs. We just didn't do our job, got behind and dug ourselves a hole. To the credit of my team, we battled back and physically outrebounded them. More people got thrown around underneath the basket. We outrebounded the best rebounding team in the Big Ten, and one of the best teams in the country. We outshot them. We missed a couple of key free throws, had a couple of tough calls. We had a couple of bad plays early that we just couldn't catch up from, and Purdue is a hell of a team. Don't take anything away from Purdue. And don't anyone write that I'm ticked off about the officials, except that I'm ticked off about the officials, but it had nothing to do with Purdue. Nothing. They did a hell of a job and had a hell of a game, a hell of a game plan. They went into him (Zach Edey). I'm sure one of you will ask about doubling him, and you can ask, but I was really proud of my team for how they responded. How they competed. How they executed down the stretch. Tyson for making big shots. Joey (Hauser) made a couple. A.J. played so much better after the first – I think we had five turnovers in the first five minutes. I think we had six in the rest of the game and three in the second half against a very good defensive team.

On the defensive plan against Zach Edey…
We tried to push him up, and we pushed him all the time before. They called a foul that I did not thing was necessary. One guy was pushing out, and one guy was pushing in. One guy was 400 pounds and one guy was 150. I'm sick of that. So, I could have doubled. The reason Fletcher Loyer and (Braden) Smith didn't go off was because we didn't, because those two have been on fire lately. So, you pick your poison. You try not to get him in that deep, and when you get paranoid about how they are going to call it, you do that. But, he's a hell of a player. They do a hell of a job getting him the ball. I have no complaints about that. I've got more complaints about the fall on Tyson up top after all of the physical-ness of that game; they called that, when it had no bearing for anything. The one that went out of bounds, I don't know. A lot of people tell me – we chose to dig a little bit and double a little bit. We doubled with certain lineups out there. We doubled him with A.J. a little bit, but we didn't want to get their 3-point shooting going. I picked my poison. If I had to do it over again, I would pick the same poison. Other than an absolutely horrendous start, I thought that we played our butt off in that game. For 90 percent of the game. But, the opponent has something to do with it, and they're damn good.

On how Zach Edey affected the game…
We told Tyson, and then Jaden (Akins) made an unbelievable pass to Tyson. We said, the game plan was that we weren't going to get over him. We weren't going to get those. Then we started moving him a bit more. I thought we did such a poor job early of just dribbling the damn ball. Dribble, dribble, dribble. Poor, poor job. Because we wanted to move him, and we didn't move him. Later on, we moved him and we got some shots – Tyson hit some big ones – but we got some good shots. With Edey, they play him and shack him. I thought he did a good job, maybe because of what Tyson did in the last game. They moved that thing up, usually he just sits back in the middle of the lane. They moved it up a little bit. I don't know, they bumped us off some things. They did a good job too.

On the plan to call a timeout with 11 seconds remaining…
I called timeout because I wanted to set my defense. I didn't want it to be open court where they could hurt us, and then we would be all spread out. Plus, I wanted to get a sub in there so we could switch four. We were having trouble with that thing. Some questions – maybe Matt (Painter) will call time out and give me a chance to get my guys in. Maybe he won't. Now, I did what I wanted to do. I did what I was supposed to do. That's what we do. If you want to criticize it, criticize it. I'm just telling you that's what I did, and I would do it again.

On playing tonight's game without Malik Hall…
Yeah, we're trying to win the game for him because he's crushed. Today was an important day for me because I do appreciate Martin Luther King Day. I appreciate people that had dreams and goals. That was me. I appreciated it that Malik handled it so well – we still don't know what's going on, just so you know. I mean, nothing looks good in the immediate future. Whether it's the full year or not, we don't know. I just felt like we gave everything we got, except at the beginning. We ran out of gas at the end. I was hoping to win so I could complain about the scheduling and all that we've gone through, but I can't do that now, because when you lose, you can't do that. Something's gotta change here. The NCAA and their wisdom are so concerned with us having 20 hours (of practice) a week. Right now, I'm telling my staff to get their butts home and not look at another piece of film because people get burned out that way. For those of you that don't know me, don't think I'm complaining about a loss, because I'm not. Matt's (Painter) one of my best friends. Purdue's one of my most respected programs. It's been that way since Gene Keady was there and Jud Heathcote was here. Hasn't changed. But, the consistency of things, whether it be scheduling, whether it be fouls – I think we gotta take a good look at that and I don't think we have.

On Tyson Walker's run in the final minutes of the game…
Yeah, reminded of last year against Illinois. And yet, you know, what they did is they switched with (Zach) Edey and we hurt that. That was one thing we did a good job of, I think we exposed that a little bit. We started to make shots over a big guy and then he missed that short one later on. We had our chances, but Tyson played his tail off. I thought he did a pretty good job. I thought he did a really good job until that last foul. Tyson Walker has really grown as a man. So has A.J. (Hoggard). We're a better team. We're going to get better. You can't have bad starts. We're just not good enough. You can't have empty possessions. We had a couple of those. Nobody plays perfect, but we gotta play a little more perfect than other teams because of what we've got. But, you talk about competing? That was a hell of a basketball game. I had Mark Dantonio on one side and Mel Tucker on the other. I know they enjoyed the game. Two defensive guys. It was a close fistfight.

Purdue Head Coach Matt Painter
On the last play...
Yeah, it is something we have run through the years, something simple. You are in a tough spot with ten seconds, Michigan State did a good job. If you could go really fast in that and try to get a shot. You would like to be able to still be in the game if you have to foul at that point so you have three, four, five, or six seconds. They came up to get us, so that was not going to be the case. We were going to go to him, obviously. They stayed one-on-one in there and were very physical with him and made it hard. But for us it is not really a decision if you are going to allow him to get it, then we are going to go to him. He missed a lot of shots today he normally makes, but obviously, he is still a tough cover.

On Zach Edey's performance...
Yeah, he is a good player. He has worked really hard. He is really unique with all the cargo and size. He is just a big dude. He has worked on his game and done a lot for us. When people play those minutes and get 17 rebounds is pretty impressive and impressive for him. He is someone who has always had good cardiovascular and he has always been able to play, we just had Trevion Williams before so they split time, so it was easier to run both those guys in and see who is playing well in the game. With Edey, Tre (Williams) has had his struggles so it was like giving him more responsibility minute-wise and we got to get Tre (Williams) going because he is a really good weapon but he has struggled when he has been subbed in those last couple games. But Zach has been great, Zach is a good leader he works hard, and I'm just happy for all the success he has had.

On if he would have pushed the pace in those last ten seconds...
No, I would have called a timeout. But he called it first. I was going to bring it to half court.

On the chess match in those last moments...
I have gotten beat every which way. We go in transition right there and he does not call it and we call play on and you don't beat yourself up on that one. Now he calls it. What a lot of people do not understand is there is the flip of it. I have struggled both ways. He wanted to set his defense, which is understandable. But now they can go to the assistants and find out what are the plays we run that are better late in the clock or late game type of plays. So, the back and forth of timeouts was just trying to see their alignment and see if we kind of knew where they were going. We felt they were going to Tyson, but with Joey Hauser, with AJ Hoggard, they have more than one option. But when it gets late clock of 1.8 which it was, you know it is just going to be a catch-and-shoot which you felt more like it was Tyson Walker. We did not do a good enough job. We took Edey off, they went small. I wanted to keep Edey at the rim, just in case of a slip play or a lob play and now all of a sudden you do not have a 7'4 guy there to help you. And so, they went small and he did not really have anyone to cover. So, with a low clock, we put him on the basketball trying to make it hard, they still got a good shot. That is still a pretty damn good shot. Especially with a low clock there, I did not think we did a good job of guarding their guards. I thought their guards really got too deep on us and we just allowed Tyson to get, we did not let him he is a good player, but he just got into such a rhythm on his catch-and-shoots and his dribble pull-ups and his mismatches. He made some tough shots; he made one over Zach (Edey) when we had to switch right there. I was going to call it though, but we were going to dribble it and bring it to the side. He is so damn big that if you can get it in there into the side, you can sometimes go directly to him from the side which you would not think you could get a post-up there. But you can get that with him sometimes, then if you take it away, he can pin them and it is really hard. I'm glad we got him.

On the play of Fletcher Loyer...
Fletcher is a good player. When he struggles in the first half this year, he plays great in the second half. He really did not struggle in the first half; he just got into foul trouble and did not play as much. He is very aggressive, very sure of himself. Can catch-and-shoot threes, can shoot off the dribble, can get to the basket, he is very deceiving when he handles the basketball, but he does a good job at getting angles and being aggressive. He is not scared of the moment.

On Zach Edey's conditioning...
He has always been that way; his wind has always been good. And he just has not been able to play, when he first got here, he could not pass and he could not play without elbowing people in their head and getting offensive fouls. Just being honest. It was kind of a unique thing. I got COVID at the end of September into October and so I was not there for the lovely 17 days, which was pretty cool. I watched a lot of Netflix. And I came back and I was amazed how much better he was in the 17 days. Like when you take somebody like that you are just like, I really think he is going to be good, but when is he going to be good. he could not pass the ball, he was elbowing people in the head, and all of sudden as we start the game, as the guys who cover us will tell you: he would play 15 minutes, have 13 points, get seven rebounds, have five turnovers, and go to the monitor twice. It was like the same recipe, you saw that after five or six games of watching tape and then it just kind of stopped. He has a moment or two. He had a turnover today and I do not think it was his turnover. It was the over and back call, they gave that to him. I do not think that was his, so he really did all of that without turning the ball over.

Michigan State senior guard Tyson Walker

On how he felt about his impressive performance…
Pretty well, I feel I started too slow. I missed some easy shots, but once I got settled in, I was able to play pretty well offensively and defensively.

On his consecutive made shots…
The basket did feel a little bigger. It felt good with my teammates definitely backing me up today. They kept telling me 'keep going', because they know what I can do, and they were able to push me to do it today.

On the back-and-forth essence of the game…
Well, I hit the shot, but they came down and hit another shot, which wiped my shot off the board. They did a good job of responding compared to what we did. It was a moment, but they also came back down after that and hit an and-one.

On the game plan following the last timeout…
We were just trying to get some good movement. We were unsure whether they were going to switch or not, which they didn't. I got an open shot; I just rushed it.

On the loss of Malik Hall…
I feel bad for Malik. He is a senior with big plans. He was playing well when he came back, and it's just unfortunate that is happened. You definitely feel for that, but he's done a good job staying with us mentally by helping people out and being a leader. We just have to keep playing basketball and perform.

On the outcome of his last shot…
As soon as I let it go, I knew I had missed the shot. I just rushed it.

On his controversial late game foul…
In that moment, I feel like I didn't foul him, as I was just fighting over the screen. I didn't think I fouled him, but the refs thought otherwise.

Michigan State senior forward Joey Hauser

On adjusting to the level of physicality that Purdue tends to play with…
I mean we knew coming in, that's what they did. Their offensive rebounding - we knew it was going to be a team effort. We knew the guards were going to have to help us come down and crash on the rebounds there. It wasn't going to be just the bigs. I mean pretty much our five-men, between blocking out and going for rebounds. So, yeah we made an adjustment to it. And definitely adjusted in the game as well.

On how he felt about the team being able to fight to the end against Purdue…
It says a lot about the guys we have. It says a lot about kind of our culture that we have here. I mean, obviously we came up short, but we are going to keep fighting to the end, even when a guy is down. We tried to play for Malik (Hall) today, and we just came up that short. But, I think going forward, we will be better because of the whole thing.

On what the support from Malik Hall means while he is injured…
I mean, he's big time. It's not easy. I've dealt with injuries, and I definitely didn't react the way Malik related to his. You can go one of two ways, and he's done such a good job being there for us, even when he's hurt and cheering us up. It does fire you up, but it also gets you going.

On how he feels physically after playing a lot of minutes…
Yeah, I mean I'm pretty tired. Especially after a game like this. It was so physical. The running part is not really an issue, I feel like I could go forever. But when it gets physical, when you're really banging down there, it definitely takes a toll on you. So, you just have to get treatment and take care of your body, and rest up as much as you can. I mean, what seems like every two to three days we are playing or something like that. It's been like that for a while, but you just have to rest up.

On the play of Tyson Walker…
It was unbelievable. It was a performance that I don't know if we have seen it here in a long time. Someone said the last time someone had 30 here was Cassius Winston. So, it was pretty unbelievable. It sucks we couldn't end up getting the win, but he made that big bucket that put us ahead with 30 seconds or whatever it was. I'm happy for him, but we just couldn't get a win.

On what experience in close games has done for the team…
I think it just builds character. You find out kind of what you are made of in those situations. We've come out on top, and we've fell short a couple of times. So, we're right there, and every game like this in the Big Ten is going to be like that. You know, it's hard to find ways to win games like that, but we've done it a couple times this year, so we got to get back on that and pull one out.

On if he can feel a sense of calm as someone who has been in hectic moments…
A little bit. I mean, I've been in a lot of those situations. Just cause, I've been through a lot of games. But, definitely for the younger guys, it's good to get them in those environments. It's loud, and our home crowd was unbelievable tonight. We're on defense, we need one stop, you know we've dealt with the same thing on the road, vice versa. So, you know it definitely helps, just kind of exposing them to those late game situations.

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Players Mentioned

Malik Hall

Joey Hauser

Tyson Walker

Cassius Winston

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