Post-Game Quotes: Monmouth

Michigan State Head Coach Tom Izzo

Opening statement…
Well, a year ago we were 0-1 and we're 1-0, so I guess there's some positive things here, actually a lot of them. I am reminded by my good friend Doug Herner, who always says if the ball doesn't go in the hole, nothing looks good, you know? I mean the ball didn't go in and we had 23 assists and we shot 49 percent. So, there were some positives. One of our biggest fears was the way Jaden (Akins) had been shooting and playing and Jaden looked like every bit the senior he should be, and he was. He took the ball to the basket, he got nine rebounds, 23 points, he had five assists, one turnover, 26 or 27 minutes. So, his running on the break was what we were complaining about, and he vowed he was going to do a better job and he did do a better job, so I was really happy for him. Some of our new guys, Frankie (Fidler), struggled a little but, even missed some free throws which he's dynamite at, but he got nine points. I thought Book (Xavier Booker), I thought he had – I thought our 3's that we had, we took 18, I thought 15 of them were great shots, and Book and Fidler and – even Jaden was 1 for 4 from the three. Trey Holloman's been shooting the ball really well, no he never got into the game because he was in foul trouble. I thought, you know the guy that's been playing the best was Jaxon (Kohler) and he just struggled tonight, he just couldn't keep his hands on the ball, and I don't know why, he hasn't done that all summer. And maybe the couple of stars, you know, Coen (Carr), and I thought Jase Richardson for a freshman, not only played well, but he played with a purpose, you know? He has a great basketball IQ, so when we were struggling there, we put him and Jeremy (Fears) in together. I thought that really helped us, I thought that's what Akins played well and Coen, some at the three, some at the four did some nice things. So, we rebounded okay, turnovers we had 13, but we had 11 going the last couple of minutes, playing a bunch of people we're going to have to get used to each other a little bit. They made some shots too, give them credit. We did a really good job on (Jack) Collins, who's one of their best players, he was 0 for 10, 0 for 7. We didn't really guard (Abdi) Bashir, it seemed like every time they got a loose ball, they picked it up and they hit two shots at the buzzer, and that hurt us a little bit. But, all in all, you know, considering the way we shot it, I felt pretty good about a lot of things.

On Jaden's shooting troubles last season and his performance this game…
Yeah, you know, and I mean it doesn't surprise me, he's a very good player, it's surprised me what's happened you know? End of the summer and the fall, I mean, you know, I think him and I met this week and I think he's just putting too much pressure on himself, you know nobody works harder at it, so I know that he spends an enormous amount of time on his game, he just kind of slowed down a little bit. We wanted to get him going with the opening play, I think that did help. He was good defensively and good at running the lanes, I mean he did a lot of really good things that maybe you wouldn't see, you know the 23 points is great but 5 assists, 1 turnover defensively, he was very, very good so that was encouraging.

Talking about the grit shown in this game compared to the exhibition game…
Yeah, I mean I thought it was better. I thought we came up with loose balls, and Saddi (Washington) must have said on the bench nine times, they're just, I thought there were some fouls too on them, I'm going to get on the officials a little bit to start the season just to get in good form, but I thought there some, but I've never seen Jaxon lose the ball like he did. I mean they only had him down for two turnovers, I don't know three turnovers, and you know Xavier had 2 and that's a lot of turnovers for our bigs, you know? But then again, we went to our bigs more. As I say, you know we got 13, Coop (Carson Cooper) had 4 and Coen had 9 so we've got 20-something points out of those guys and that was encouraging. I mean, listen, we're not a soft team. I think we're softer mentally because I think a lot of guys are right now, and we're just going to keep grinding on that, but I thought it was better. I didn't like the loose balls. That was my last key of the game, and my pre-game – get all loose balls, although they knocked some loose too, so.

Where do you want the team to be in getting boards…
Well, we got to rebound better – I mean it was okay. Frankie gets 3, Book only gets 2 rebounds, not good enough, but (Szymon) Zapala gets 8, Jaden gets 9, Jaxon gets 8, I mean that's pretty good, Coen gets 5. You know 48 rebounds is a lot of rebounds, but they missed a lot of shots too, you know. But they got 61 shots up. We got 61 which I'd like to get a few more, without a few turnovers. But at the same time we got 27 free throws, you know? I mean Jaden Akins had 7 free throws, tonight I think he had 23 or something like that the whole year? You know that's marked improvement and that's really going to help us.

On the offense playing strong the whole game…
Yeah, we didn't have any shot clock violations I don't think, or anything close to it. I do think we ran a lot better, I did think we're executing some on the offensive end, and that's where Jeremy has done a nice job of getting us into things and he'll get nothing but better. Remember now, that's his first real game in damn near a year, and to do what he did I think is a step in the right direction. He was very good defensively till the very end, and he's going to get nothing but better. And Tre (Holloman) has been playing very well, he just played 11 minutes. So, yeah, I think if we get the shots we got we're going to make those shots, I really do.

The pairing of Jaxon and Coen…
I thought Coen played really well tonight, you know he played well defensively. He puts pressure on you on that break, and that's why we got some layups on that. Coen's playing very well. And Jax, and I told you and everyone that's seen him, he's been my best player, period. All summer, most of the fall and today, you know I think he just, I don't have an answer for it. But I think those two will play together. I think they'll play together as four and five's . I mean we're going to go small ball some, big ball some, and that's what we're going to do. We even went small ball in the perimeter and with Jase playing like he does, you're going to see Jase, and Fears is tough enough and strong enough to guard bigger guys and you know, whether it's Jaden or whether it's Tre, I think we've got four real athletic guys we can get in there and really get our running game going and put more pressure on defensively. Frankie will get better, remember it's his first game with us, so he's going to get better.

On holding junior guard Jack Collins to zero points …
I mean, we did game plan. I thought he missed a couple of shots, but he didn't get many good looks. But sure didn't get the greatest looks except on a couple of those fumbled balls, but he made some tough shots. He's still seven for 22, you know, it's 30 percent  I think. If we can hold the two best players to that we're going to win a lot of games. And the thought of scoring 81 points and shooting so poorly from the three, I think you're right.  I think we're doing something. We're getting the ball inside a little more. We're getting some baskets in there.  We're throwing those lobs a little bit more. That was encouraging. There were a lot of encouraging things guys.  It's just hard to feel as good when you don't shoot it very good.

On the poor three point shooting …
I thought Jaden (Akins) had some poor selection in a couple of games where he forced a couple. I think we counted two bad threes, which is like a miracle, you can always have a couple. But some were inside-out threes, which we've been working hard to get, get people inside kicking it out, penetrating, Jeremy did a nice job kicking it out. Poor guy had eight assists and should have had 12, which is encouraging, somehow, some way, the negative is encouraging, but sooner or later do you want to shoot it better, sure, and if that's pressure, welcome to the big time.

On freshman guard Jase Richardson's first game …
  I said, he just knows how to play, it's not like he's more athletic than you think, he's not his dad, but he is more athletic than you think. He just kind of has a feel. He has a feel for the game.  He made that one bad turnover driving and he should have lobbed it up and right away, he came over and said, I should have lobbed it, he just gets it. So it was a little better defensively, a couple times he broke down, but to think that he hasn't played at this level and just a couple of years ago he had that knee injury and then didn't play his whole year almost. It's really encouraging that he's such a bright kid and such a good kid. That was a big positive for us and him and Jeremy (Fears Jr.) and Tre (Holloman). I think they have some special things and Coen (Carr) has joined in. Coen did a pretty good job too, so considering I didn't think we played great,  I thought there were a lot of guys that did some good things and I even think (Xavier) Booker, zero for four, I thought he had all great shots from the three.

On the team's toughness …
Well, I think Jeremy brings that, and that's what I thought he would bring. I always knew he was tough, there was no question about that.  I thought he needed to get in better shape. I think tonight he showed that. I think when one guy leads and then the guy's like Jase and Tre really jumped on things, Jaden really did, really got his running game going and Coen did. So those guys, Frankie, he's got some work to do, but I say that and he gets nine points and three rebounds, gets to the foul line seven times.  That's what he's good at. There'll be a place in time for him too. What you saw tonight is a lot of what our team is, except, trust me when I say this, we are a better shooting team than we shot and I can worry about it and not worry about it, but we are better than we shot.  

On senior center Szymon Zapala's impact …
It can change it a lot. I mean, (Carson) Cooper has been better in there.  Jaxon (Kohler) has been the best in there and just had one of those nights, but Szymon is big too. I mean he is seven feet and with a long wingspan and pretty tough kid, so that really helps us the way he is. He's an easy target to feed. He's got pretty good hands. I thought he turned it over a couple of times, a problem with him at times. Defense guarding those ball screens he did a better job the second half than he did the first half. Coop, on the other hand, is a clinic. He's phenomenal at it and I thought Jaxon and for the most part, I thought Book, I thought he played better defensively. (Cornelius) Robinson Jr. got 10 rebounds, but eight of them were defensive.  He had two offensive rebounds and he's a rebounding machine, (Jack) Collins is a very good offensive rebounder and he had two. So I think we did a better job on that. We'll get tougher and I'm not worried about that.  I like to shoot it a little better, but I'm really anxious to go watch the film now and see if there was many good shots. There were a lot of positives.  It's just three for 18, you can't feel positive. Scoring 81 points going three for 18, there's a positive in there somewhere. I just don't wanna see it right now.  But this was a step in the right direction, remember, we were 0-1 last year.

On the decision to redshirt freshman forward Jesse McCulloch ...
We are gonna redshirt Jesse McCulloch as of today, as of yesterday, I should say. I want to say this, you redshirt people for two reasons, and he is not permanently redshirted. Football's got this rule where you can play four games. They can play the whole game and still be eligible and in basketball you play two exhibition games and you're dead. I think we've done a bad job as an association figuring that out to a certain extent. But we have to do that right now.  But if somebody got hurt or if I don't like the way someone's playing, this kid is redshirting because he's good enough. He's not redshirting because he's not good enough. Any of you saw him play, he can shoot the ball, he's six nine, he is tougher than nails. Talking about a guy that brings some toughness too. I could make a point for not redshirting him, but I talked to his dad and his mom, I talked to him, and I always remember back of myself and I remember Draymond (Green). I don't want to play him four minutes a game and waste his eligibility. He and his family have been one of the loyalist people we've had and I ain't worried about him leaving. So that's the decision we've made so far. He was unbelievable talking about it. I talked to him, told him what we thought. I told him that this day and age, you don't waste time or money on a kid who's not worth it.  If you think about it, you just don't do that anymore. And we think this kid is really gonna be worth it. I mean, really gonna be worth it. We'll double take a look at it all, pray for no injuries.  I mean, if we got a guy injured in January, I wouldn't ruin his year of eligibility, but if something happened, he's still on hold, as you know, the rule is, if he plays in a game and then he gets tagged for the whole year from the exhibition season on, so we're stuck, but at the same time he'll get even stronger, he'll get quicker, I hope. Talking a long time about a guy that I'm redshirting, read between the lines, there's a reason. I really think this kid has a chance to be really good.  I mean, he's in the mold of a, he's bigger than Xavier Tillman, he shoots it better, he's got a decent basketball IQ, maybe not quite as good as Xavier. I'd say the foot quickness he's gotta get better, but he is in that kind of mold, so I'm looking forward to that too.  It means I'm sticking around for awhile.

Monmouth Head Coach King Rice

Opening Statement...
First of all let me just say thanks to Coach Izzo. It was really really cool, and I'm not a guy that likes losing. As a head coach you get opportunities, especially when you are a mid major you get some chances to play at some awesome buildings. I have been the head coach at Monmouth for 14 years, and we have some really big wins on opening night. One night, we beat UCLA, eight years ago, last year we beat West Virginia. We have won nine of these games in my 14 years. This one was special to me because it's Coach Izzo, and he said thanks. I get to thank him for bringing us in here. This is really big time for my program, and that he would do it and bring us in and help our program is just really cool. Over these years, I got to coach at Kansas, Carolina, here, Kentucky, Madison Square Garden, against all the famed coaches and Coach Izzo is right at the top. I don't care what line I got, I went there a long time ago, played for one of the greatest of all time in Coach (Dean) Smith and I'm very close to coach (Roy) Williams, Hall of Famers. So for me to be able to sit down there and I tried to make it interesting for Coach Izzo for a little while in the second half we cut it to six and then the Big Ten just took over. Our kids were tired, at half time we sweated through our uniforms already and, I was like 'uh oh' because I have seen that happen before. When the kids are already drenched, and they're getting ready to come back to you it is going to be hard to stay in the game. So I was proud at the fourteen minute mark when we cut it to six or to eight. We won a couple of four minute stretches so that was big for us but then they just had too much. The film didn't do them justice. We watched both games, I studied all the stuff, my whole staff, we had a good plan. Then you get in there and you can have a plan but like Mike Tyson said, plan's great until you get punched in the face. We got punched in the face, I thought our kids fought hard but they were just too much. You take your hat off to them, I'm still going to keep smiling. I thought the fans were cool, the kids being real close to the court like that messes with you a little bit, because you can't hear everything. My kids couldn't hear me when they went on. There was a stretch at the six where I was trying to run a couple of plays and they could not hear me. Turn it over, take a couple bad ones it goes from six to 14 quickly, and right then I'm like 'oh boy' that's probably about our last push. Credit to them, I thought we had a good plan but I'm still smiling because I got to open this season against a Hall of Famer. I have watched Michigan State, I never got to play against them when I was at Carolina, but I have some favorites. I am a big Mateen Cleaves guy. I watched that young man when he was a point guard like the one they have now, everyone says well he doesn't do this and he doesn't do that. Well he wins. My friend Wes Miller said that this guy that you have running the point for you, he said, King he is just such a winner it doesn't matter if he shoots or not. I was a point guard that didn't take a lot of shots and we won a lot of games. Coach Smith convinced me just to be the one that gets everyone else the ball and that helped me to be a better player. I take my hat off to people who are really good point guards. Not guys who can score too, but a kid who comes in and runs the team. I watched them warm up because I was intrigued with him being a point guard. He practices all those passes. Everyone is out there shooting jumpers, doing all of the other kinds of stuff and he is practicing everyone of the passes that he threw tonight in warmups. So credit to them, credit to their staff. I know Coach (Doug) Wojick well. Just a really cool night for us unfortunately, we couldn't shock the world, that's what we wanted to do. I'm still a proud coach because my team keeps fighting. We just got beat by a better team.

On what he learned about his team from this game and what they talked about post game…
You talk to the kids and they are like, we're going 30-0, and we can't miss. Guys with this changing of college basketball, everyone is getting new teams, you have new kids here. Kid number 8 (Frankie Fidlee), he played at Omaha, I am friends with the coach there. Big boy (Szymon Zapala) played at Longwood. They tried to recruit my son last year, he ended up playing for us. We're dealing with these new things where kids are moving and different things and we put together a nice group. We don't have a lot of money. NIL, my center left and went to Notre Dame and got about 300k, the guys on my team about nine of them got 10. That's it, we are not even trying to play that game that everyone is playing, we don't have it. Some of these guys that I have, they may be on someone's team next year. It's the way college basketball is now. What I told them is don't hang your heads, we have to get better. What I learned is we are not in good enough shape, and we are in good shape for a mid-major club. They can weigh it out but these big and strong dudes really got us tired. The part I'm disappointed in and I let them know is you never get out of people's way. On a couple of those dunks, I know they're impressive and that, but someone should have stood in there and taken the charge. You don't move out of the way so they can swing on the rim and make the crowd go crazy, that shouldn't happen. I talked to them about it before, and I talked to them about it after and well get better because those dunks. Not that we could have stopped them because he was up so high, but you drive on the three-point line, you should get someone up there before he gets to monkey dunk it on the basketball. We have to get better but like I said, I think we got tired after we got the six and I think they just glitched us for as much as we had there.

Freshman Guard Jase Richardson

On missing his offensive play style…
I feel like for me, I can score at all three levels, so just trying to find any open spots on the court for me to find any open shot.

On playing well in his first game at the Breslin Center…
It means a lot. Growing up in the Breslin and watching all these games, it finally feels great to be a player on the court in a college game. So for me to play well it means everything.

On what his dad said to him after the game…
I haven't spoken to him yet, so I'm going to see what he says after this. Hopefully it's all good things.

On what he attributes his poise to…
I feel like for me, being a freshman, you have to play more composed. There's a lot of things I messed up on tonight, so I have to keep building on that. So, for me, just trying to stay poised, try to stay calm, and just keep working.

On his role with the team…
I can help any spot on the floor, as a guard. I feel like I can play-make for my teammates to get open shots and then create open shots for myself, so I feel like I fit into the system really well.

Senior Center Szymon Zapala

On what was different from this game compared to exhibitions…
What was different? I didn't get into foul trouble. I watched a lot of film from last game, so I tried to learn from it and improve.

On the Spartans' fast start…
That just shows how high our potential is and what we can do this year. Just have to keep working and getting better every day and good things will come. They were fighting. You can always give it to them that they brought the fight today. They just kept fighting and punching us. But we just kept responding to it.

On first experience in the Breslin…
Man, this crowd. It's amazing. It's amazing. I love it, and it keeps you energized. It keeps you appreciating what you have, so it is amazing.

Senior Guard Jaden Akins

On bouncing back from prior shooting woes…
It was big. Exhibitions are preseason, so it didn't count. I feel like my approach to those games could have been better, but now we are in the real season, and I feel like I have a better mindset of things.

On the fast start for the Spartans…
It definitely helped. Jeremy [Fears Jr.] threw me two lobs early in the game, so I felt like that helped me a lot and welcomed me to the game.

On him being aggressive…
I just tried to be aggressive and make a play, and it worked out. It felt good. They were kind of keeping it close the whole game. Our hot start helped us get up by 11 or 12, but then they cut it to six. We just needed to string some stops together to make a play. I got it in a good position for my teammates, and they made some plays.

On starting with a win…
I think it is really important. We have to stay aggressive, not overthink things, just play basketball, and win games.

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Players Mentioned

Jaden Akins

Xavier Booker

Carson Cooper

Jesse McCulloch

Jase Richardson

Szymon Zapala

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