Post-Game Quotes: Georgia Southern
11/28/2023 9:29:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Michigan State's basketball head coach Tom Izzo
Opening Statement….
Well first off it was great to see Charlie (Henry). Charlie is from Michigan, and he's done a good job in many different places. I think he has a collection of athletes that just need to get used to playing together. I liked a lot of things about his team on film. I liked our team a lot in the first half, especially defensively. I thought we made some mistakes offensively. We learned a lot about playing the freshmen. In the last seven minutes, we gave up four three's and gave up other points. It wasn't the subs; it was some of our returning guys. We let a couple 3's go, but there was a bright spot between Jeremy and Tre. We had 10 rebounds out at the point. 13 points and 13 assists and only three turnovers. Those are some pretty good stats. I think Tyson still isn't back to normal, but he is better. Malik could have had a double-double easily and he missed some free throws which he has been shooting the lights out of. Let's explain the free throw shooting. We work on it morning, day, and night and have been shooting them very well. When Malik missed that free throw, it was mind boggling to me. The other plus to me was 23 assists on 31 baskets. Getting 60 shots when you have 15 turnovers is a plus and a minus. We defended without fouling which is a plus. So, we did some really good things and some very average things. The biggest thing is now that the playing group is going to shrink. Nobody's fault, just some of the freshmen aren't ready to play and they will have to be ready in a week or we are just going to shrink it down.
On playing decisions today and how A.J. Hoggard responded…
I know you won't believe this, and people won't believe this but I'm trying to do everything I can to get A.J. to play at a level that I think he can play. And for the most part I've pampered him, I've yelled at him, I've done this and that. We just have to try something different. It's not all his fault that we are getting off to these slow starts, but he is a much better player than he is playing and it's my job to help him succeed. So, I know people will say, 'Is that helping him,' but what you do is try different things. How did I think he responded? It was okay the first half, I thought better the second half. He got a little lazy, everybody did defensively. I was disappointed in that because, you know it's funny, I talked to Draymond (Green) today because he plays tonight, and if you benched a guy back in the day, they would be frothing at the mouth, upset with you and this and that, or if I took him out, and he and 9 rebounds like we did Malik, and I put him back in to get his tenth. I believe in personal goals as well, but when I took Draymond out, he threatened my life, my wife, and my kids. And we're missing that right now, we just have to get a little hungrier to accomplish personal goals and team goals. So, how did A.J. respond? I don't know, how do you think he responded? I mean it was okay; read my lips, hear my voice – I think he is a hell of a player. I think he can play a lot better than he has been playing and I just need to keep pushing buttons, and I'm going to keep pushing buttons until I figure it out. But the bottom line is, we help him, he helps us. So, if I don't help him, we don't get help either. So, it's not a punishment, I didn't do it to embarrass him. I did it because a couple of those other guys played well. But we're not going to be as good until A.J. starts playing the way he is capable of playing, and he had a hell of a summer, but it's a little up and down. When you talk to a person and they say, 'What do you mean,' that is not a good sign because you should know, you watch tape, you should listen to coaches. So, I'm just trying to find a way to do him a favor, and that is to make him a great player because he is better than he is playing. He was better tonight, but the competition wasn't the same, so we'll see. But I will say this: we're not going to beat the best teams if he's not playing a lot better than he has been playing. That's the goal, so if anybody's got any other ways to do it, I'm all ears.
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On what stood out about Jaden Akins the last two games…
He's shooting the ball better, he didn't settle for just threes, he got in there and pulled up over people, that was encouraging, he got some rebounds when he rebounds, he's more active. He's better, against Arizona if a guy scores points it doesn't mean he played good and the first half down there wasn't very good, second half was good. But we've got to put two halves together, this is Big Ten basketball.
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On difference between first half and second half…
You know, I thought we missed some good shots again early, I don't think our effort is bad, we held them to 11 points. They shot 18% from the three, now the one thing I can tell you is they can score. I think Charlie had to get his defense in order, but his offense can score. They have some athletes; they had more blocks than us. I think he's going to have a good team, if he can get them to guard and not turn the ball over, we got some of the same problems. I think we did a better job of making shots, our defense picked up, we got some offense off our defense, our rebounding got better. We did some good things, you'll like to finish a game, have players playing at a level but when you're subbing that many guys and you're playing some freshmen, which I chose to do, they got to play better.
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On Jeremy Fears and other guards play and moving the offense…
He moved the ball well, had 10 assists and two turnovers, Tre (Holloman) didn't rebound as much but some of the time we had Tre at the point, and we let AJ and Jeremy play the two so they could go in and rebound a little more. Jeremy got a lot of defensive rebounds, which is impressive, I was really pleased with Jeremy. I think he competed, he didn't force shots, he took shots he can make right now, he guarded very well to the end, I was really impressed.Â
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On strong guard play and taking pressure off Tyson Walker…
I think it did. I think our defense, the turnovers, and getting our running game going, I don't want to take any pressure off Tyson Walker, I want to put a lot of pressure on Tyson Walker because I think he's one of the best players in this league and I'm going to put more pressure on Tyson Walker. Now, it helps if those other guys can add in, but we're getting guys shots. Tyson forced a couple and Jaden maybe one or two, but those two guys get 24 shots, they go 12-24, I mean that's a pretty good night. I don't think Ty's guarding like he was, and I think he's a little frustrated still, not back fully healthy. I think Jaden, when he's back second half when he starts making shots, his defense ratches it up about four notches. So, we use the defense there when he's not making them, but I was pleased that he went and rebounded it again after not rebounding it against Arizona. So, I'm just putting it all together. I think if we get those five guards between Jeremy, A.J., Tre, Tyson, and Jaden, that's five good guards – that's what I thought we'd have. Little disappointed I thought, you know it's been a little tough on Coen (Carr) having him play at the four and the three. Struggling to guard some of those perimeter guys and so we've got to work on that because he's a good enough athlete and tough enough to do it. We still got something out of both Mady and Coop, I mean between those two they didn't get as many rebounds but [Cooper was] 2-4, that's 6-8 [combined FG's between him and Sissoko], you can't beat that. 3-4 from the free throw line, they're shooting better than our guards. Coop had four rebounds, Mady only had four rebounds, but he had a couple big ones and the only negative of Mady's is the three turnovers, and I think Coop had none so that was encouraging but Mady with the three turnovers was discouraging, and he's got to do a better job.
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On going back to Sissoko in the starting lineup…
Honestly, it's to kind of keep you guys on your toes, I'm always looking for quarterback controversies, where most people don't like adversity I just absolutely love and seek it. So, Doug [Wojcik] felt like Mady played really well against Arizona. Coop's playing well but he's not playing as well as he was, so we keep them on their toes and working but for the most part, Coop played 16-17 minutes, Mady played 17 minutes, so they're going to be at 20 and 20 because we're not going to be able to sub all those big guys in big games. But they're both cool with it, I'm cool with it, so it's good that Doug keeps them on their toes and so I was in favor of the little bit of a switch, so it was for no reason other than to keep a guy hungry.
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On what Carr might need to do to get back where he was…
He's got to guard, he's got to guard somebody because we know he's not a good shooter, and yeah there would be some tendencies, but he went up and got a couple big-time rebounds. I mean Coen is really the guy that he's strong enough and tough enough, he's just got to get better at guarding the perimeter. The guy has guarded centers most of his life so I'm a little disappointed but not concerned. Unbelievable kid, I've got to do better as coach. He's easy. There's guys that are making excuses that I don't like, he makes none. No excuses. So, he's got to be able to compete and, by the way, it's sometimes not as easy to guard teams like this, so we'll come out there with four guards and do it a little different. They took a lot less 3s, they usually shoot 33, today they took 25. In some ways, that's harder for him too. I think Charlie [Henry], they run some good stuff and I think they run these blurs which is something we don't see a lot of so that was harder for Coen. I think one of the biggest issues is to play him in a couple different positions, which is hard for anybody much less a freshman. We're just trying to give him some time and he'll be fine. It was really good to see Jeremy and Tre play well, but let's face it; we're going to go as our best players and A.J. and Jaden and Tyson and Malik, they've got to play well. We got a lot out of Malik tonight, there's just a lot more to get.
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Michigan State senior guard AJ Hoggard
On being able to see the game and what he can pick up coming off the bench...Â
I can kind of pick a read. Especially with the other point guard out there, I can see the play and see what we get, see what we didn't see. Just looking at it differently from the bench is definitely different than playing, so I kind of see different things that are opening up, how to guard different things, how they guard Tyson (Walker) or Jaden (Akins) on the post. I kind of see those things early and get a better feel going in. Helps limit turnovers a little bit, personally, but definitely get a better feel for the game and know how to pick spots better because you can see how they are guarding or reacting to certain things. Â
On defenders putting multiple sets of eyes on him...Â
I think they definitely are. That comes with it, that comes with being a senior and making plays. Still have faith in my guys. Still not shooting the ball how we can. We just have to keep shooting when that all opens up and when the ball is going through the net the way we know it can. From the three point line, I do have to adjust.Â
On how he came off the bench after Northwestern last season and how he got going and if this is something that he is hoping happens again...Â
Most definitely, I'm hoping that's exactly what happens. Last year when I came off the bench, things started going up hill for me.Â
Michigan State graduate forward Malik Hall
On how to use time to get better before Big Ten play…Â
Rest and just make sure that we are ready by focusing and locking in. Everyone needs to kind of self evaluate what they need to do to get better before entering the Big Ten.Â
On how he is feeling overall…Â
I think we just need to continue to be the best version of ourselves. That's really what it boils down to. When we are the best version of ourselves, we are one of the best teams in the country.Â
Michigan State freshman guard Jeremy Fears Jr.
On where the team is right now...
It's hard to really evaluate right now. It's a new team, new roster. We all gel and we've got some freshmen who are super young and inexperienced, and we have some experienced players, so just trying to get a flow and get a feel. We are getting better day-by-day and keep grinding and getting better. Â
On what allowed the team to get past the five-minute mark in the first half before they started to get going….Â
Our defense. Our main goal is to defend, rebound and run, so just getting easy layups, getting an open three, getting to the foul line is really big. Just making sure to defend, rebound and run.Â
