Post-Game Quotes: Stony Brook
12/21/2023 9:17:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Opening statement…
Well, there's some really good things. The Jud Heathcote rule is the last game before Christmas and the first game after Christmas is when the most upsets happen. So, we were concerned. I talked to Geno (Ford), and he said our defense was so good early that they lost confidence in their shooting, they have to make shots. Our defense wasn't good in the second half, again. That was a negative. Our rebounding wasn't good in the second half. I guess in some ways when you're up 20-30-40 points up, it's hard to coach, and hard to play. The positives were 33 assists on 38 baskets with Jeremy (Fears) and A.J. (Hoggard) getting 10 assists each. A.J. gets a double-double and I thought did a hell of a job. Jeremy, we put in the middle of the zone, and he was very good in there, he was never in there before. Tyson (Walker) had a stretch where he was good. Jaden Akins had his best game in a long time, he shot the ball well in practice in the last two weeks, with a little adjustment on his shot and I think it really helped. We tried getting (Xavier) Booker some time, these kinds of games he needs to get some time in so he can get some confidence. He's making progress and that's all I can ask. All in all, got 64 shots up there were all kinds of positives there. We gave up 16 offensive boards and 40 plus points second half was discouraging but other than that, it was an encouraging night.
On Tyson and A.J. being more focused and controlling the game…
That's what I'm most excited about. I talked to A.J. and Tyson a lot in the last couple days. Last night I texted A.J. about some team that got upset, and his text back was, 'don't worry, I'll have them ready to play.' That means he's starting to take over the team. That's very encouraging. I thought he did a phenomenal job with that. He had his best semester academically. What he did tonight was just control the game, control the team, got players involved, made shots when he had too, didn't take that many shots, made most of his free throws. I was hoping he would rebound better, and so was he. Tyson missed some wide-open shots, but his defense, he got his hands on every ball he could get his hands on. I was impressed, I don't know if anyone else was, but I was.Â
On the unselfishness of the team…
There are watershed moments in a game, there's things you look for. There were a couple times Tyson took a couple shots that were too quick, Jaden took about two and I told them that. The next time he passed one up and it was a phenomenal play. That as a coach makes you feel good, guys are listening, then guys are putting what you told them to work. I was impressed. Jaden's whole demeanor, as I told him, now when he doesn't shoot well, he's got to have that same focus. But he took good shots. Even though we shot it 38 percent, I thought at halftime we had a lot that went in, then I said at halftime we're only shooting 28 percent. Then the second half we started making them and I just said, 'where were these shots in the beginning of the year,' even the ones we missed were right there. Beginning of the year, the ones we missed were like missiles. That's really encouraging when your misses look good.
On the reaction to Nick Sanders' three-pointer...
I don't know who was more excited, I think Steven (Izzo) was more excited than Nick. It was pretty cool. Steven's first assist, Nicks first bucket. Barry (Sanders) was in the locker room with his sons, those are really cool moments. Nick is an incredible student, so much like his dad with his humbleness and humility. I had some good walk-ons throughout the years, Davis Smith has been so good for our program, Nick Sanders has been unbelievable. You can tell by the bench, those guys have a real love for him because they know what he does every day. They were happier than he was, he has the Barry coolness. But Steven and the bench went crazy so that was cool.
On Xavier Booker's performance and what a game like this does for him...
He still gets pushed around sometimes, but he's doing more things against certain teams. Now you got to do those against other teams like Nebraska, or the team we're going to play who has a center who is really good, but he's making progress. I think people look at the end goal instead of the journey to get there, and the journey is hard. What does this do? This probably proves that I'm a bad scheduler. Maybe if we had some games where he could have played in earlier a little bit more. It also proves putting him on the scout team two and half weeks ago was the greatest thing I have done. I did it with Xavier Tillman, Valentine, I did it with a lot of guys over the years and it has really helped him. I think what you're seeing is, those guys want him to play harder, want him to get that motor going. He missed that earlier dunk, I keep telling him he has a 42-inch vertical. That's up there not quite with Coen (Carr) or (Jason) Richardson, but up there with them. Now he's starting to block shots, he hasn't done that all year. He's starting to play with a little bit more aggression. I like the journey he is on and that's pretty cool.
On Xavier Booker's lack of emotion on the court...
I chewed him out last time for that. I said you hit a three and you just went cool. I said 'I don't care if you rant and rave but you gotta show some. When he missed the dunk, nothing, ok. How about hey Ty (Walker) thanks for the pass. 'Hey, coach, that won't happen again.' These are all part of the teaching points. It might not matter in some programs, it damn well understand that it matters in this one. So, Book is taking baby steps. I really love the way players responded to him. I love the fact that he is moving his feet better, he is, in practice he is being more physical. It's just like I keep saying part of the journey. And the journey for him started a little lower than maybe some others. But the journey is what gets you to the rainbow or the pot of gold at the end. It's kind of how we are looking at it.
On improving defensively over the season...
Believe it or not, if you look at our first couple of games, you look at our defensive field goal percentage and our three point (percentage). It was off the charts. We were ranked seventh in the nation. And then as our shooting started going down we weren't guarding as well, I think it affected some guys. But, I'd say the biggest thing to is the health of Tyson, you know the hip and the weight he lost and the sickness. Because Tyson, he had his hands on more balls today than, I just couldn't believe it. He looked like Professor Gadget, his hands were everywhere knocking balls loose. And then A.J., I think those two decided we are going to guard people, and then Jaden can do it. I think Jaden has been effective with his shooting and it affects those two guys. And Ty has just been a terror defensively these last couple of games. I think Mady has improved too on some of the ball screen stuff. Yeah we are better defensively, Malik did an unbelievable job on the kid from Oakland, he scored 17, but on Malik it wasn't many. I thought he did a great job. We are starting to put our defense together then if we rebound and run we get our running game going and we did have fast break points, 27. We had 21, we had 23. That's getting better and yet you got to rebound. I am concerned about our rebounding. We are not only not rebounding great. But we aren't getting a lot of clean rebounds.
On if the players are absorbing what Tom Izzo is teaching them post-Nebraska...
As we talked at Nebraska, we weren't making any shots. And we started to make some in that game even and I just felt like our defense wasn't as good but they made some shots. When you make three or four 'Christers' that's the difference between 30 percent and 40 percent because you don't have that many shots. That's what is hard for people to understand, sometimes the other team just plays good. They make shots, I don't know if they played good they made shots. That's why I think our rebounding is important and our defense is important. Because that should be more constant. But we did have a lot of meetings and a lot of talks and we think we got some things straightened out with Jaden's shot. We think that AJ has been pretty good for the last five games, I want to say six or seven double-figure games now and he is shooting a higher percentage. He is getting assists and not turning the ball over a lot. I am really pleased with how he has played. We will find out because things change quickly. Most people think it will change when the Big Ten starts. I have done some weird scheduling things, but this team is good, they are well coached. They have five guys that are shooting 40 percent from the three including their center. Everybody I talked to, they said why would you do that? So like a good head coach I blamed KP (Kevin Pauga). That's what we do. But at the same time, it's not like they are better than a lot of the other Big Ten teams so maybe it is a good progression into it. We'll see. We'll see how our guys come back, we'll see if they come back. Today they came in with some vigor. That was a really encouraging part because that showed maturity and Tyson and AJ deserve a lot of credit for that. I think that showed really mature on their part and when AJ texted me back that last night I believed him. I think he too, we are all growing, in different ways. But I think it is towards the same goal. Man, we have been through hell now, you guys know it has been a tough run. When you shoot as poorly, not losing the games, just shoot as poorly as we have shot. And those starts and how we have corrected some of that. People say you got to go through some hard times, makes the good times better so we will see if that is true.
Closing Statement...
Let me close by saying to everybody on TV and news that I hope you have a happy holiday in whatever way you are celebrating and I hope you get some time to spend time with your families. As you get older you realize that your family is important and you got to find a way to spend some time with them. Christmas usually brings everyone together. The holiday season is general. I hope you have a great time. I hope you take care of yourself. I hope you show up here the game after Christmas because I think it is going to be a hell of a game.
Michigan State Graduate Guard Tyson Walker
On seeing the young guys play…
It was good. Everybody got in and contributed. We made some good plays. Book (Xavier Booker) scored double digits, Jeremy (Fears) got 10 assists, so it was good. Definitely was a confidence builder.
On trying to get other guys going from the start…
We just came in and were moving the ball, just seeing how they were guarding us. They left people open and we made the right play.Â
On the team's good play in the last week…
We definitely feel good. We made some shots which were good. We weren't making them before, but we're making them now. We're guarding better and getting off to good starts. Now we gotta carry it over when we get back.
On his Christmas plans…
I'm having a little toy drive on Saturday and that's about it. I was talking with some friends and they were like 'we gotta do something', so we decided to do a toy drive. I went and bought all the toys. It cost a little bit, but it was good.Â
Michigan State Senior Guard A.J. Hoggard
On sharing the ball well as a team...
I think we are doing a good job of making the right pass. The coaches did a good job of putting their scouts in front of us, how they guard certain things and how they move around, so we knew certain areas where certain people are going to be open. We were just trying to figure out how to swing the ball and get everybody involved.
On Jeremy Fears' 10 assists...
I see Jeremy being Jeremy. Being aggressive, coming in and making plays and doing the little things that we need him to do. He missed a couple bunnies tonight that I think he should have made but overall he did a good job at defending and getting people involved.Â
On the team's momentum after the last three games...
It was super big. Especially after Nebraska going into Baylor we wanted to make a statement, get ourselves back in the talks of being the team we know we could be at the beginning of the year and find a way to get back in our rhythm. We are making shots at a better rate and not letting missed shots affect our defense how we were the first couple games. We are doing a good job at guarding, not so much in the second half, but in the first half we were definitely jumping out in teams and not letting them jump out on us so that is definitely making a difference for us in our outcome.
Michigan State Junior Guard Jaden Akins
On the impact of his performance tonight as a shooter...
I feel like it continues to build confidence. I feel like I really haven't lost confidence at all but seeing some shots go in is good for anybody so it's gonna continue to work.
On having a breakout game...
I mean I knew it was coming. I didn't know when but when you put in the work I feel like it's bound to happen so it's good that it happened tonight.Â
On how the team has improved recently...
I feel like we picked up our intensity like A.J. said, getting out on teams early. We feel like that makes the rest of the game easier so just doing that and playing together. I feel like we did a great job playing together and sharing the ball tonight, but intensity is probably the biggest key.
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