Post-Game Quotes: Niagara

Michigan State Head Coach Tom Izzo

Opening Statement…
First thing I want to do is thank our military people. I thought it was great that we had a tribute to the military. I told (Xaiver Booker) Book's dad, who is a marine, that we don't do enough for our military people. Our marketing people, fans, and equipment people all did a great job making this happen and I give them a lot of credit. I thought we were really average the first couple of minutes. I give them credit, they made those three three's right in a row. It was an overall strange first half. We missed five dead-nut layups. You look at that and say, 'Big deal,' but that is 10 points that could have given us a bigger lead at halftime. I was impressed with them early on, even better than the team we played the other day as far as matchups for us. We had to play Book and Jaxon (Kohler) on their four-man who is 6 '5 guard. That was good practice for what is coming up next. We didn't turn the ball over much and got to the free throw line. I think another big stat was 16 offensive rebounds and getting 21 points off that. Fast breaks are getting better. Shooting is starting to creep forward. Rebounded pretty well. Overall, I thought we played pretty well. The one thing that was disappointing was not building on the lead we had. Two guys took really quick three's and it went from a 14-point lead to a 7-point lead. Our guys screwed up on that. I thought Frankie (Fidler) was a lot better in the second half. Booker's rebound numbers are starting to grow. Jaden (Akins) was solid. Fears did a hell of a job. He is playing better and better each game and I think the best is yet to come with him. It was a good game to move forward with and I think he is a very good coach who deserves a lot of credit.

On Jaxon Kohler and offense in the second half…
He just went. I tell our guys effort really is a choice. I give him credit. He was the best player I had all summer and he did some good things. He got to the line which helped the entire team get to the line. All our guys did some good things. Jeremy made some good plays. We learned from the first half and we stacked some plays together and built on it.

On the depth of Holloman, Kohler, and Richardson…
"Well, all three of those guys could start. I think it has been great because with the minutes we are around the 19 and 20s but we tried to play 12 guys. That gives 15 minutes that could be dispersed. If that happens, I think we have a chance to really get some things going. When we went with Jeremy, Jase, and Tre, we were smaller but we were quicker and were able to get some things done. Last night I had a meeting with seven of my guys and I am really proud of them because we told them there is going to be some different lineups at some times. We aren't worried about anyone's ego or playing time, we are worried about winning games. They are all really encouraging for a coach.

On the team's toughness …
I challenged Frankie (Fidler) at halftime on any kind of toughness, playing harder and I thought he did. I gotta realize that it's gonna take Jeremy a while yet, and he's way ahead of where I thought he could be. It's gonna take Frankie and Szymon (Zapala) time. Usually when guys come into a new system, new everything.  It's not easy to do, but we're asking them to do it. The toughness and the mental toughness and playing hard all the things that I kept saying that's what you got to learn how to do here. I don't know what you did before, nor do I care, but we got to do a better job of that. And I thought Frankie second half got a couple of big rebounds, got a couple of power plays. If he makes those two layups in the first half he has 15 points, and that's a hell of a game.

On finishing through contact …
I think it's gonna be real crucial. We gotta finish, I thought we were. We got the ball inside, we got the ball outside.  I don't know how many points in the paint 52. I mean, I don't think that's gonna happen onto Monday night or Tuesday night or whenever the hell we play. But it's going to be setting the tempo.  It's gonna give us something to go back to. This is what we did well is what we got to continue to do and I think we have some versatility inside and outside and I like the way we move the ball, even though 20 assists on 35 isn't a norm for us. But there was some one-on-one drive in the lanes from the wings and those aren't assists, but I thought when we needed an assist, we got a big time assist.

On changing lineups …
I haven't changed with the starting lineup right now. Jaden (Akins) is our guy, he's gonna start. He's got to start and he's got to continue to play well, but his confidence level has just jumped and where he's good is defensively. He is now becoming more like a Gary Harris and more like some of these guys where he is guarding the hell out of his man plus doing some good things. Jeremy (Fears) is fitting in and with the three, there's a couple question marks yet as there is sometimes with our post guys, but the rotation seems good.  They're all happy with it. Our guards, they'll play more minutes than they did tonight. The only one that played a lot was Jaden.  He had 27, Jeremy had 21 and (Xavier) Booker was 18, Frankie was 19. I like our rotation right now, and it's just going to be holding guys accountable. We're announcing our captains tonight, it's gonna be Jaden and Tre (Holloman), and we're gonna do a little something different. Each week we are gonna name a captain that does all the things we need him to do in practice on the court and off the court in the classroom.

On redshirting the Walton brothers …
We are going to redshirt our two twins. It's not fair to them.  I think those guys are good enough to play, maybe here, maybe somewhere so I would never want to waste that opportunity since I wasted one in college or I might have been a pro, who knows? But I would have had a fifth year, so I want to make sure I don't do that to somebody else.

Niagara Head Coach Greg Paulus

Opening Statement...
Congratulations to Michigan State, they are a heck of a team and a championship program. We have such respect for all that Coach Izzo has done in the Big Ten in college basketball. Having the chance to compete against him for a number of years when I was at Ohio State and even now, what an unbelievable learning opportunity for our guys, to see that championship level pedigree, the culture and identity that they have. For us this is a great learning opportunity, we get the opportunity to be here and we are looking forward to getting better from this experience.

On how he thought the team played…
We wanted to shorten the game into four minute segments. When you look at 40 minutes against this team, it is a lot so we tried to simplify the game, shorten the game into segments. I really liked the way we responded. I thought the first half we fought really shared the basketball. We did as well as we could have limiting second-chance opportunities. They only had five offensive rebounds in the first half and then they had 11 in the second. Then their transition wore us down, their size, their physicality. For us having 14 new guys, this is only our second time playing together and our first road game. What an environment this place is. It's absolutely incredible. So for us I was proud of our fight, togetherness, we got worn down a little bit but I thought we did some really good things today that we will take with us as we move through the season.

On what he says to the team to get them ready to come into the environment that is the Breslin Center…
I don't think you can simulate an environment like this. We played the fight song every day in practice for the last couple days just to get us to communicate better. It's really hard to simulate their size, the way they push the basketball in transition. For us our level of preparation grew, we got a little better in that area. We only have had the chance to do this two times now playing against someone live with people in the stands. For us as we can continue to grow throughout the season we want to use these experiences to just help us get better; that's what I shared with our guys. That's a Top 25 program, for us we did some really good things so let's keep getting better and staying together. For us it's going to be a process, it is going to take time. Having that many new guys, trying to teach them the standards, trying to teach them togetherness to go through the ups and the downs of the season. So for us, we just want to keep getting better and better. Our saying in our program is 'to be better today than we were yesterday and to be better tomorrow than we were today.' I think we have gotten better the last couple of days having the opportunity to prepare for a team like Michigan State.

On what he can say about MSU's depth…
Depth is huge for them and not just in numbers and in terms of scoring, but in size and physicality and with the pace of play they have. They get up and down the floor whether it's made shots, or missed shots. They scored 36 of their 96 points in transition, that's 38%. Being able to rotate bodies and guys that can shoot and guys that can make plays. They get you on the glass too, sending three and four guys each time. That's their identity, it's probably going to be the best offensive rebounding team we play all year so for us to take the positive in the first half, and to learn from the second half, but they definitely wore us down tonight and that type of depth and talent gives them a chance to play that way.

On what he saw in Michigan State's number 0, Jaxon Kohler on film and was a different tonight in person...
Well I think he does a great job pursuing the basketball, he wedges you out for offensive rebounds…. it reminds me a little bit of when I was in the Big Ten with (Ohio State head coach Thad) Coach Motta for six years, a little like the Wisconsin teams used to do where a shot goes up and he's anticipating it like it's a defensive rebound, but really it's an offensive rebound, I mean he (Kohler) had six offensive rebounds and he just doesn't quit on plays. And with that size and physicality and to go to the previous question about depth, you go to one and when you go to the bench you've got to be focused in on the challenges. With that I thought he was terrific tonight, obviously really efficient, 8-for-12, 20 points, 13 rebounds, I thought he was really really good tonight.

On not playing against Michigan State but from coaching against them while at Ohio State and what he told his team about coming to the Breslin Center and playing against a Coach Izzo team...
Yeah, when we watched the film, we talked about their identity and the strengths of what they do. We talked about a lot about just controlling what we can control. Hey we knew that they were going to be bigger, we knew they were going to be stronger, so how can we get better at the things we can control, our response to things, along with the balls on the floor, our togetherness, sharing the ball, playing off of two feet in the paint. Hey we knew that they were going to throw some lobs in transition, that's what they do, they're really hard to guard in transition so can we have the poise to respond. Can we have the togetherness not just when we go on a run, but when they go on a run. And for us, those are the lessons that we can continue to take from this and learn, so when we go on a run, how do we continue that. And then when they go on a run how do we stop it, by getting that score-stop-score, and doing the things that we can control so for us we showed a lot of stuff on them but at the end of the day we're still trying to create our identity with a brand new team. And so being able to talk about those things and focus and now that we have another game for us to learn from I think it will benefit us.

On coaching 14 new players...
We've come a long way since the first week of the season, we probably had half guys that committed without coming to campus. So the first time we meet them and their families is moving them in. We had our first couple practices of the season, we're doing a drill and we have guys who don't know each other's names. So we've had to teach them names and build relationships, relationships are the foundation for our program, so we're trying to invest so much into our guys as people so we can grow them holistically and then bring them together. So we've come a long way from the summer, we tried to use each opportunity to learn and grow, film, walk-through, bus ride, hotel. For us, we're at the infancy stages of our process and hopefully we can keep growing together and getting better through the ups and downs of the season.

On if shooting so many 3-pointers is part of his coaching philosophy or if something that uses with the personnel on the court with a smaller line-up and wanting to lead on that...
Yeah we went a little bit small ball today, and with that we felt like we could create some longer closeouts, maybe get some guys in rotation, playing small with pick-and-pop or rolling and just playing five on the perimeter and just trying to space them out. So for us there are certain times where that will be advantageous for us, but we want to be really efficient and take the right ones. I thought in the second half they did a great job of speeding us up a little bit, the physicality around the rim, and we were at our best when the ball was moving. And for us I think that there will be games where we take 20 (3-pointers) and games where we take 30, it's not about the number but it's about the quality and as long as that ball goes inside-out or one more, we'll shoot a higher percentage. And that's something that we demonstrated in the first half and the second half not so much.

MSU Junior Forward Jaxon Kohler

On what clicked for him on his career-high night…
"Tonight it was just working, but that is my expectation of what it should be, I feel like I am capable of doing that. The last game, I didn't really get into a groove, but that is what I should bring every night."

On the team's second-half performance and rebounding improvements…
"When we came in for halftime, Coach Izzo said there were a couple of things we had to improve on, for me, rebounding is always a crucial part of my game and what I have to do. I was looking to attack the boards, and I continued doing that in the second half. That's what everyone should expect of me every game, that's what I expect of myself every game, and that's what I did."

On the spark the bench players brought tonight…
"The great thing about this team is we have so many people that can be starters, for any team, coming off the bench we provide that spark, everyone had a great game, I think the most important thing we can do tonight is take the win, but focus on the next game, and the next game is gonna be a big one. We want to enjoy this one, but people are locking into the next assignment."

MSU Senior Guard Jaden Akins

On his confidence shooting the ball since the exhibition games…
"Yeah, real season is here, exhibition games I had some struggles, still not shooting the ball great right now, but my whole career I've just got to get going, improve my confidence, but I feel good."

On his defensive intensity…
"I feel locked in on defense right now, it's my favorite part of the game right now, something I really enjoy, when we are scouting teams and I am knowing the plays, just competing on that side of the ball, I have a lot of fun playing defense."

MSU Redshirt-Freshman Point Guard Jeremy Fears Jr.

On being an extension of his coach on the court and becoming a starter…
"It's not fully there yet, we are two games in, there's going to be ups and downs, but really just understanding Coach Izzo, understanding what he needs me to do, and what I need to do to help the team succeed, help the players, help the team. If he tells me something, I've got to relay the message, because obviously coach can't play."

On Jaxon's big night and seeing him take a leap this year…
"It was big to see Jax perform the way he did, last year I know he was injured, and had a rough season, thrown in a fire, and it was hard for him to get a rhythm, for him getting a fresh start was so great to see for him. He is back healthy, clear mind, and ready to play."

Players Mentioned

Jaden Akins

Jeremy Fears Jr.

Jaxon Kohler

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