Post-Game Quotes: Bowling Green

Michigan State Head Coach Tom Izzo

Opening Statement…
The first thing, you guys always ask me about Michigan, and I always say that I don't respect them, I don't like them. Last year I had my nephew on the other staff that I love to death, and this year I had Tum Tum. And I see why I don't like my opponent because every time I like my opponent, we're in a little bit of trouble. You have to give them a lot of credit, if they can make shots like that, they are winning that league. The first half, i thought they did a phenomenal job. I thought we did a very poor job. Jeremy (Fears) started out with three or four turnovers, and I always say, when the head of the snake dies, the body dies. I don't think we had even the same energy, but what we do have is strength by numbers. I don't know how many we had off our bench. 37 – it's amazing what we've done off our bench in different ways. I thought we had a lot of guys that delivered in different ways. I thought Jeremy came back a little bit in the second, Jaden (Akins) made some good plays and 12 rebounds, 6 assists, one turnover. Jase Richardson goes zero for one and made one of the biggest rebounds, biggest blocks, and maybe one of the best assists when he hit Jaden on that one. Tre (Holloman) was really good in that one stretch. Saddi (Washington) has a good point that he makes, to be in the zone as they call it, you know the zone when the players make shots to get in the zone. Our guys must think the zone just comes from one shot, when it's usually three or four in a row that you make, then you get in the zone.

I thought we casted up a few, but when you look at the rebounds, when you look at the defense and we're shooting 64% at the under four mark of the first half. So, what they shot from then on was dismal. We had something to do with it and I also think they were down a little bit, and I think that's what we can do if our strength is in our numbers. So, I absolutely love what Todd's (Simon) done and being able to come back into this area is pretty cool. I like their team, I think they're tough. They can go big, they can go small, and they made us go small. So, it hurt the chances for Book (Xavier Booker) or even (Jaxon) Kohler to do the things that I think they can do. Szymon (Zapala) struggled a little bit with it too but, Carson Cooper, it's not easy to go four for five, but four for four from the line. He was a guy that was struggling last year. 11 turnovers after we had four in the first couple of minutes is not that bad. That is a damn good team, and I mean if they shoot like that; that big fella, he wasn't Marcus Johnson, he was Magic Johnson for that early stretch. He missed some as maybe he wore down, or we got a little better, but we have to improve our ball screen stuff, that falls on me and our staff. I didn't think we did a very good job of that, and we will improve, they will improve. I'm happy I got a win to get the hell out of here.

On how Tum Tum Nairn being on BGSU staff affected their play…
I don't know, Tum didn't make many shots, they made them all. But it is different. It's hard enough to coach against your former assistants, but it's even harder to coach against your former players. I've only done it twice, but only one of them was a 4-year guy and that's Tum. Of course, at Butler, MoJo (Maurice Joseph) was the other one, but he was only here for two years. I just appreciate that whole staff. I thought they played awfully well and if they don't wear down and a couple of those guys, that number 14, (Sam) Towns, he goes 2-for-2 from the three, and we didn't know he could make those. We were going to be off him, so I give him credit, I told him that after. He's got a nice team; if he can keep them together, I can't believe they are 5-for-26 in the three, it felt like they were all going in, that's what happens when you make one or two early. They play hard, they play tough. They have good guards and nice defense.

On what you take away from this game and what you tell your team…
I thought we found a way to win by being up a little bit at the end. By Jaden getting 12 rebounds. Jase making a big play when he needed it. Tre making a couple plays. Our bigs struggled a little bit tonight, too. A little bit of it was the coverage that we bestowed upon them, so we will do better. But what did I take away? We were down 10, and we came back. We were down in the second half, and we found a way to go on a run and hold them scoreless for seven minutes. Maybe that was part of them, but I think it was part of us. That was the best, and the hardest double-digit win I've had in a long, long time. I would agree with that because it wasn't double-digit. It's kind of sad for them, it should've been a four-point game maybe. They played us that well.

On what he was saying to himself about Marcus Johnson…
I was thinking I was in college the same year as Magic, and Michigan State should've picked me up. I could've been that guy that made the shots. But, (Doug) Wojcik says it all the time – there are so many good players. There really are good players, I didn't say great, but there are good players that play with a purpose. And whenever you play in games like this, I remember playing Michigan State, Marquette and Minnesota was number 1 in the country. We took Marquette to an eight-point game, they were one in the country and (Al) McGuire was yelling at them from the sideline, 'You know where they're from, they're from the Lake, Superior, the coldest lake.' He was yelling that quote during the game and I kind of felt the same way tonight. Those guys are good players. Now, he's unique, and he hadn't got in the post much. I think he's harder to guard in the post than he is in the perimeter. Maybe this will help them get him down in the post more because he's got some moves down there. Now, we hadn't seen him in the post, so you'd say, 'why didn't we double him?' He is a phenomenal passer. He's like (Nikola) Jokic he can really pass the ball. They are such a good three-point shooting team. I mean guys, 'Where we did do a hell of a job, they've averaged 12 made threes a game. That's a lot of threes, so pick your poison. We picked our poison, and they got us. But I don't know, I say to myself 'when can I find a Division II guy like that'."

On what he saw from Carson Cooper …
He is my best defending big man by far. But as you know in the last couple of years, he hasn't shot free throws very well. He's not as good of an offensive player as the other guys but he's starting to get better. He made that little hook shot, he had a nice move on the baseline, but he is my most cerebral guy. He understands it most, he helps the best. But there's times we will play him, there's times we will need shooters, like Book. Right now, until somebody steps up in all categories, we are going to play him by numbers and thank God we can do that.

On moving Jaxon into the starting lineup…
I did not call any timeouts because the shots they were making, I did not think they could keep making them, and then they kept making them for a while. I did want to see this team and how they are going to respond and what they are going to do. The lineup change, I am trying to help Book too. He has had a couple of really good practices. I had told him three days ago that I probably would do this. Jaxon, as I say, there is reasons you do it too. There are some guys that are good coming off the bench, and guys that are not. Jaxon has been dynamite coming off the bench, but we got some other guys that have done it. Book came in and hit a three right away. We are just working on how do we get that motor going all the time, everybody talks about it but it is getting better. Practices are getting better. It is a shame that we kind of put him in a spot where expectations are maybe too big yet, there is a process to this stuff. We go around the country, especially now where so many of our guys are playing against so many older guys. The lineup, it is going to straighten out, we are four games in. What I like is Tre and Jase (Richardson), I mean he is playing 20 minutes a game. And he struggled a little bit tonight compared to normal too, for him, he had a couple of mistakes and he is mad at himself. He is going to be a good player too, we put Kur (Teng) in there because we tried to get a shooter in there. We shot it better this week, I think we will continue to do that.

I said that we are strength by numbers, and ironically the only guy that did not score tonight was Jase, he is averaging 11-12 points a game. But he didn't get any shots either. I don't know if we can keep it going, but it sure is nice to know that we have different guys that can score it in different ways. We got to just keep riding that horse until a couple guys break out and start really making shots and then we will go from there.

On if Marcus Johnson reminded him of Popeye Jones…
Matt reminded me a couple games down at Bowling Green when Steve Smith played. It seems like history repeats itself, but I thought that was Popeye Jones myself. Popeye Jones played in the league, so that is a compliment.

On what Jud Heathcote would say about never playing these games…
I feel like saying that too, but I just love that it was not just Tum. That is the main reason I did it, but I got to know Todd and he is a local guy and I have an appreciation for that. I think this will help them, and it will help us. I mean when you run into these small teams, who knows who we will face in Hawaii, three different teams we will play, at least we have been put in different positions. I don't know if we'll ever get a guy [like him] that shoots it. I say that, just think about this, he was 1/11 from the three. It sure did not feel like that, but some of those shots were inside the three. He impressed me.

On whether they played better Tuesday night…
I think so. I do. I think we played better Tuesday. But, you know what Tuesday was, those couple of plays, a turnover, they had two layups off of turnovers, the missed dunk, I won't even go with the missed shots. Those kind of things in games, against more talented players you have become more critical. So I think the margin of error was a little bigger for us than it was Tuesday night. So I think we did play better Tuesday night. Bowling Green came after us, and did some things as well or harder than anybody we played Tuesday night to be honest about it.

On if the win came from the free throw line tonight…
Yeah because we still got almost 60 shots up. We are averaging almost 66 shots a game, which we haven't done that. Our fast break is better, we are getting to the line a lot more. We were one of the worst in captivity over the years, so that has helped us. Frankie (Fidler) has helped us in that respect. If he can start making a couple of those three's that he can make. There are no secrets, we must be doing a lot of things pretty good the way we are shooting free throws, the way we are rebounding, the assists are good, can you imagine 21 assists on 27 baskets. Our assists, you got to make a basket to get an assist. If we would be making some baskets that would be a lot higher. We are still getting 20 three's up. We want to get more three's up. 11 turnovers, much of it we were running and many people were playing, that's not bad. There are a lot of positives, I did not like the way we started of course. I really didn't. That was one of the things that I looked at, not blaming Book, not blaming one guy or two guys, I tried to change the lineup a little bit to see what the start is, I wouldn't say it did anything tonight.

On Tum Tum connecting with players tonight…
We came out of our meeting last night, and they were coming in to practice because there was a volleyball game, so they had to come in later. He talked to some of our guys, but Tum comes up for football games, he comes for alumni events. So yeah, he knows all of the players, it is unique, people should realize how unique it is that Al Anagonye was here this week. It is just the beat goes on, because it happens without me asking, they just keep coming back. Tum, this will be good for him too, it is good for him to be connected with our people and with me. Who knows what the next couple of years brings for him. I enjoyed it, but he sent a text at 6 this morning, I won't share all of it. How he didn't like the day as much as he was excited, he didn't like the day he didn't want to go against someone you respect. I said, I feel the exact same way, but in some ways, we needed to win the game. It would have been great if they would have won it, for them. But I think they will take away a lot from this game that will help them. We have to find things to help us. But, Jack (Ebling) is right, they played it to us, this could have been a 4-6 point game. And they deserved it, I am going to breathe a little easier now that we got away, I am going to give our guys some credit. Because after that first 15 minutes then, they were shooting 68%, they ended up shooting 43%. What were they shooting from the three then? 50%? So we did a good job on that.

On halftime adjustments…
We started getting into our ball screens a little bit better. We tried to dig into the post a little bit. But, once we got it close, we didn't want to give up three's either. That was a tough decision. You could ask what our players learned from that, but it is also what the coaches learned. I did not think that I did a good enough job, I never saw him in the post. So my whole staff, we will have a staff meeting, whether we see him or not. We better make sure we are better prepared for that than we were. And so that part, blame the coach not the players.

Bowling Green Head Coach Todd Simon

Opening Statement …
Good, fun college basketball game you know it was, anytime you get an opportunity to play a program the caliber of Michigan State, it's a big deal for us. I'm grateful to Coach Izzo to give us the game and bring us back close to home for Tum (Associate Head Coach Tum Tum Nairn), and I and some of our guys, so it was a good experience. They're tough and it really helped our team development, we are hopeful for some leaps from this game that we can grow on.

On preparing for a game in an environment like the Breslin and his relationship with Tum Tum Nairn …
Number one, this is year two with us running this program at Bowling Green,and we are getting to stage of having an expectation to win, that was our primary message. We didn't schedule this for all the side stories and the fun parts. We came here to win and that's the mentality we want for our program, but having Tum obviously is very helpful. With his scout, he did a great job particularly in getting us defensively and just having the intel there. He's an outstanding up-and-coming coach, and I think he's going to be a star in this business, so that is certainly helpful for sure. We really focused on being great at the core values of what the Michigan State program is, with the toughness and defense and run the floor and those are a lot of the things we believe in, so it was a good test of various common core values.

On starting off great and thinking they could pull off the victory …
Yea, we did. I'm probably the most irrationally confident person in the world. I just always think that we're going to win until that horn sounds, and we felt like we had a game plan in place. If we executed, we were going to have a chance and against a team like Michigan State. You've got to rebound and you've got to get back on defense, you've got to match the toughness. You're going to have to execute offensively because they are always going to be good defensively. So we thought if we stayed the course and just be consistent throughout, that we would have a crack at it.

On what went wrong during the 7 minutes and 11 seconds Bowling Green went scoreless …
We got a little shot-happy, but I think the fatigue started to set in a little bit. We thought we'd have to make a dozen threes or so in this game in order to contend and we had some open looks and obviously they didn't fall, which Michigan State did a good part in making those misses.

On MSU's performance at the foul line…
They did a great job. It's one thing to get to the foul line but to get 28 for 32 they had to make those shots. The foul trouble put us behind the eight ball so we were still, seven of the guys don't have a whole lot of Division I experience yet, so it puts us in a little bind. We're still trying to figure out minutes and rotations which got us a little sideways in foul trouble.

On what he did to get his players motivated and keep them motivated…
I have watched 1,000 Michigan State basketball games, and I know the deal. When the tide turns it can be an avalanche, so you have to weather the storms as best as you can. To have certain things to stop the runs, so we wanted to make sure that we were not going to do that. We weren't going to let them run on free throws, we weren't going to let them run. Take certain things away and be mindful of those runs especially here in the Breslin where they get stops and scores.

On Marcus Johnson and his performance…
We are asking a lot out of him. This is his fourth Division I game as a D2 transfer. He is a dynamic player that we move all over the floor, kind of playing him like a guard with his size which messes up some coverages and allows our guards to break free. I don't think you will see him go 1-for-11 too often, he's shooting 57 going into the game and we always think it's going in when he shoots it. We didn't want him to play 35 minutes but that kind of dictated the situation with all the limitations with foul trouble so we had to let him go for a little bit and he did a great job.

On the impact of Trey Thomas getting taken out with four fouls…
That coincided with our drought a little bit because Trey gets us organized. He does a nice job of getting the ball where it needs to go and getting set up. I think we got a little sped up when he went out. He doesn't get in foul trouble very often, and I am sure he will have games where he doesn't but he will learn from that and get better.

On what he learned about his team and how it will help in MAC play…
I learned that we can fight and I think this is going to be a good Michigan State team. They just battled Kansas, this is a gritty team, they embody what the Spartans have been about. I liked what I saw on film and that test on toughness and rebounding is going to be good for us. That was not a strength of ours today and they had some size and quickness advantages on the glass but we know we have a very simple list, but a very difficult list of things to fix. We have our eyes on doing some things in the league and games like this help us with that.

Michigan State senior guard Jaden Akins

On Izzo and Lourawls (Tum Tum) Nairn Jr. being close making this game more competitive…
He knows all of our plays and was calling some of our plays out, so he knows what we do but we still have to execute.

On the team adjusting from Tuesday's big game…
You get up for a game like Kansas, or the No. 1 team in the country, and then you come back and play, and you can't think 'Oh, everybody just comes in and we win the game easily.' We saw what they were capable of. They have some good players over there, so we knew it wasn't going to be just 'the easy game.

On the team's offensive balance…
We just go on strength and numbers really, starters come off, bench comes in and provides instant offense and instant points. So, I feel like that just makes our team really dangerous, we have to continue to be like this.

On talking to Lourawls (Tum Tum) Nairn during the game….
No, I was watching him a little bit, but I wasn't talking to him too much. I was just watching when he was talking to his players, when we were playing defense or when I was over there on that side of the court.

On playing a complete game…
I still have been working on my shooting every single day; I feel like all my shots feel good. From three-point range I was 1-for-2, and I feel like they were pretty good shots. So, I am going to keep taking those, and I feel I always try to do other things that affect the game, which I didn't do on Tuesday. So, I feel like I did a better job, I just got to keep it consistent.

On Bowling Green forward Marcus Johnson….
He's crazy, he's got game. We saw it on the film, our game plan was kind of stuff for the bigs because he has a lot of triple threat moves, he did all those moves down there, and it's hard when we're not bringing the double team, so that kind of played right into his wheelhouse and he can shoot the three, so he's a good player.

Michigan State junior center Carson Cooper

On what this game shows about the team…
I think this game we just kind of trusted the mantra of our year and our team is just togetherness. I think starting off was a big dent on our morale and how we think coming into the game, so being able to kind of trust everyone's going to make the right play and then lean on each other backs is almost a skill at a point for a team, so it really big.

On Coen Carr's dunks…
I think that was what kind of put us over the edge there. I think he put us up by two, you get the Bres (Breslin Center) rocking, and it always tough for the opponent to play. Obviously, whenever Coen dunks, it's always a big momentum boost for us.

On the bench impact….
I think our bench points have been over 30 or something, the last four games. So, our bench has been able to come and contribute a lot, and I just heard Jaden say it, 'strength in numbers,' is another mantra that we have been going by. It's really nice to see everyone kind of step in and have a part in a big win.

Michigan State sophomore forward Coen Carr

On how his scrappy play helps the team…
It's great, just being able to sit back and watch last year and not putting as many minutes, just to get my opportunity and know that Coach (Izzo) believes in me to go out there, help bring our team back and make winning plays, and stuff like that. So, it just puts confidence in me knowing he's putting me out there.

On what goes through his head during his dunks and hearing the crowd…
Yeah, I hear but sometimes it depends on what the play is. Sometimes I get back on defense and sometimes scream a little bit but just trying to get a stop next. That's probably what I think about, trying to get a stop.

On if he knows he did something 'crazy'…
I kind of know when I did something crazy, usually, I'm not really surprised by it, because I did it so much. But I know when I have done something crazy, and I feel like the fans would know when I feel like I've done something good.

On how much his dunks mean….
A lot, I don't feel like my dunks are worth two points, I feel it's worth more than that. I feel it's worth two points and it is worth helping getting us a stop on defense. Other team not knowing what they're calling on offense because the gym's screaming so loud, so I just feel like my dunks do a lot with that.

On the defensive efforts in the 2nd half…
Strength in numbers, everybody going in there, we had seven guys over double figures, so just going in there everybody doing their job, and just grinding it out. It just took a lot longer for us to wear them down, and be able to come back, stop missing shots, get some stops and take the lead and take advantage of it.

On the key to 'strength in numbers'…
Just having a lot of guys that bring the same energy, and that play hard on defense, because everybody comes in and there's no drop off. Everybody comes in and does their job. It's like we have a team full of starters. Just having that can definitely take a toll on teams.

Players Mentioned

Jaden Akins

Xavier Booker

Coen Carr

Carson Cooper

Jase Richardson

Related Videos