Post Game Quotes: Baylor
12/16/2023 5:43:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo
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Opening Statement…
"I can't say I've had many fun press conferences here in the last few weeks. That was one of our better performances in a long time, and I know Scott has a hell of a team, if you watch them on film that wasn't the team that played today, we had something to do with it. I told him after the game, I thought they look a little slow footed, sometimes when you take an extended period of time off, sometimes it works to your advantage and sometimes not. That is a really talented team, we did something we haven't been doing, we got to get back to who we are, we're so worried about our shooting and I probably did a poor job of talking about it a lot too, I didn't want too, but I did. For 29 years we defended, rebound, and ran, that's what you got to do; if you're running game starts going and you defend better, then some good things happen offensively. They still ended up shooting a little better than I would have liked, it's because my kid can't make a free throw and turns the ball over. I was impressed, A.J. and Tyson were really good, Mady did some great things defensively, we still missed some free throws, we still got some things to lose sleep over. What an incredible, probably as much as the win is 20 former players in that locker room right now. For me, that's it, I still think that's what separate us. I thought today's game was won in this great city of Detroit, to get people that never see us play and we tugged on our players about that. I said all along I coach for the fans, alumni, the players that built the place, and the team. I felt better today, and we have to turnaround now and play Kampe, I don't even want to talk about him because every year it's a dog fight. I'm going to enjoy this win for the next hour and half bus ride home and get back to work."
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On the opening possession setting the tone for the whole game…
"We did what a lot of you have seen a lot, we guarded, rebounded, we knocked a couple out of bound plays. They capitalized on a couple of our turnovers they hit two threes were both from us turning the ball over, we still made some silly plays, but I thought we just kept grinding it and that's who we need to be. What's funny is you can score 80 plus points against a good team by grinding it, that's a good deal."
Senior Guard A.J. Hoggard
On making sure he was taking care of his teammates on the court …
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"I felt like I grew tonight in a leadership aspect. I was more aggressive of course, but I definitely grew in that aspect. That's what I was really looking forward to coming into this game. Baylor is a good team. The score doesn't reflect how talented they are and how good they are going to be when the time comes. I just wanted to let the guys know, this is something we can do, this is something we can win. Being that positive reinforcement throughout the whole game and getting those guys involved was definitely my mindset coming into the game."
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On playing with multiple freshmen on the court at once …
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"If you could be a fly on the wall, you'd hear those conversations I have with them. I just have so much faith in those guys. A lot of you guys had questions about the Xavier Booker thing, and I just wanted him to come in and show you guys he is the guy you think he is. His opportunities will come, and he will continue to grow. He will continue to adjust to the college game of basketball. It was definitely exciting, seeing those guys have fun in big games like this. It's definitely fun for me because I've played plenty of them. Just seeing them have fun out there is a joy for me."
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Graduate Guard Tyson Walker
On whether they had more confidence after the hot start…
"No, we've just been talking, after the loss we had a week off, just trying to get better. You know, we've been missing shots, but we've been getting better with it, and we made some today. Everybody stepped up, the bench stepped up, but that's what we needed to do for the win."
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On how impactful the hot start was…
"I mean that's always good to start the game off up. I don't know how much we got up in the beginning, but we started the game off making shots, getting stops. The bigs did a great job rebounding, all screens they did a great job, so that's good to have good starts and then we just had to maintain it."
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On where this game ranks for him in terms of executing Izzo's three staples to the game…
"Pretty high. I don't think we've ever been up thirty and maintained it like that. We did a pretty good today."
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On his alley-oop dunk…
"I was just showing y'all something. I've got a little bounce in me, that's it."
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On being able to get into a groove, especially with the step-backs…
"It's crazy, I was just practicing my step-backs yesterday. I hadn't in a while, so I was like, I need to get some in. I was working on that same move too and I just did it."
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On whether this is an indication of what the team can be…
"For sure. We put the work in and then we just had to bring it from practice to the game and we did that today."
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On how much confidence it gives them that they can take any opponent, anywhere…
"They're a really good team. They've even got really good guards and we did a really good job controlling them. We didn't let them get loose like we have before this season, so that's always a big confidence-booster, being able to get stops on good guards."
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Baylor Head Coach Scott Drew
Opening Statement
"I think they had the opening statement first half. We knew coming in, Michigan State is a lot better than their record indicated. Coach Izzo is a Hall of Fame coach. They got a top-five preseason ranking for a reason. They've lost a lot of close games for whatever reason, but today, I think they showed who they are and who they're going to be the rest of the year, or most of the year. Everyone has good games, bad games, I don't know if anyone can shoot 8-12 every time from 3, but Coach Izzo had them prepared. Desperate or not, they kicked our butt in the first half, period. I did a bad job coming off finals preparing our team. So, we'll analyze film, see what we've got to do to get ready for our next game at Duke. First twenty minutes definitely wasn't who we are. Second twenty minutes was a lot better, although it still wasn't what we're capable of."
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On how much the tone was set in the first two possessions with two turnovers…
"You know, shot clock violation didn't bother me, that means we didn't put them in transition with the turnover. The 3 bothered me because we prepared for him coming off pin-downs and we didn't execute that right. First play of the game there can't be slippage on a player like him, you get them going, you get them confidence. Coming in, we had so much respect for him as a player and he obviously got a good look to get him going and finish with 25."
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On MSU's defense, particularly the guards, and what he changed after halftime…
"I think defensively, watching film on them, they were a lot crisper on the rotations tonight. They were in gaps, but then they didn't give up easies, they didn't over help. I thought they were a lot more disciplined, fundamentally sound; I mean they were really, really, good in the first half. I mean, 21 turnovers for the game, they deserve a lot of that credit because our offense was second-best offense in the country coming in. Wasn't like we didn't know what we were doing, but they made us look really bad."
