Post-Game Quotes: Western Michigan

Michigan State Head Coach Tom Izzo

Opening Statement…
Can't say I love these games, when you play against your former guys. Especially a guy that's given this program and the University itself so much time as a player and as a coach. Maybe I didn't do a good job, but he did a better job than I did. I thought we had some great practices, I was so excited about the way we were practicing. I actually told you guys that I felt good, I'll never do that again. I do not know if you wrote anything, because I do not read what you write unfortunately. I thought we played like we thought we were going to win the game. They had two or three turnovers right off the bat, 17 turnovers should be un-American. I should be arrested for that. Give them credit now, make sure I take no credit away from them. They played hard, but we threw some balls right to them. I guess they are counted as steals, but it was self-defense. They were protecting themselves from the ball coming right at them. So I was disappointed. You can practice that good, and my first key to the game was, 'Are we mature enough to take this from the practice to the game?' The answer is no, we were not. And so, that is my chore now in the next five days. Usually, you do not practice that well, maybe you play better. That part was disappointing. How in the hell, we shot it ok, but how we scored 80 points with 17 turnovers is beyond me. So there was something good there, one of them is you make your free throws and we did not get to the line as much, but we did make our free throws. I think that was one good thing, we got our fast break going a little bit. I want to apologize to our fans, we called over for some extra tickets last night, there was not a ticket to be had. That never happens. Sometimes over the holidays, some people who usually do not get to see us get to see us. Doug Wojcik said to me on the bench 'it is a shame that they do not get to see the exciting brand that we have played with most of the year.' We seemed slow. Maybe as I watch the film, Western (Michigan) had something to do with it. I had a couple of guys that played well. Jaxon Kohler was sick, unfortunately, probably had his worst game. He looked sick the whole game. He had been sick, he wanted to hold it for me so the trainer's kind of did, nothing serious. He was run down and he looked gassed. So all in all, 17 turnovers is not good. For the most part we were getting out-rebounded. We ended up winning that by 6 or 7. We got 54 shots up, we tried to get 65. You have 17 turnovers, if you had 8 turnovers, we could have had 9 more shots and we would have met that goal. So we got some work to do, so everybody that thinks we are worthy, we are worthy of being a really good team. I can take up about 15 other Big Ten teams that are in the same boat as we are, and what we do between now and Friday night is going to determine some of that because for the first time in a while we have faced some adversity where I did not like the way we played. Memphis, lost that game, I liked the way we played. Kansas, I like the way we played, I did not like the way we shot. Today, I did not like the way we played. So that should open it up for some great questions, have at me.

On what was the explanation for the double technical…
Somebody asked me if it was a strangely officiated game, I said, how the hell can I complain about the officials when my team played like the way we did. I have no idea. They said that he (Fears) said something back to him. I'm not sure. I do not know what DJ (Dwayne Stephens) got a technical for. I think we were kind of quick-triggered a little bit. I was too disappointed about the way we were to worry about who was getting technicals. It did not even faze me.

On what he saw from Carson Cooper…
You guys are going to be mad at me. I was pleased with his offense performance. He has been one of my best defensive players. This year he has struggled in that area. This year he has struggled in that area. I did not think our coverages are as good. But I was happy that he offensively got some things, with him and what Coen Carr have done, give them a lot of credit. I do not know what Coen was from the line, 6 for 6 maybe. Carson was 3 for 3. That is 9 for 9 and those guys typically been like 4 for 9, so I think Carson made some improvements there. We still got to get a lot more out of our bigs, if nothing else defensively and rebounding the ball. Coop at least had six. Szymon (Zapala) had nine, but he had four of them at the end when they had a 6 foot 4 guy on him at the end when they went real small. It was ok.

On if the holiday hangover was why the team seemed out of it…
As far as the holiday hangover, usually you would see that the day after Christmas when you come back and you have a six-o-clock at night practice, we had two practices the next day. I mean, two of the better practices I had, I met with you guys. I know you could tell I was excited about how we were. One game does not bring me down, I am looking for us to be different. That is our battle cry, be different. I do not want to be like everybody else. I do not want a holiday hangover, I have had some of those the last couple of years, I do not want those anymore. So, that is kind of the way I am looking at it. I am not going to be happy about it. But, I am going to accept the win and move on.

On Dwayne Stephens returning to the Breslin Center…
As far as DJ goes, played four years here, I recruited him out of high school. He played for me as an assistant, and then he worked for me for 17-18 years. I think more than what he has given me, he has given the University. He was always a guy that did the right things, he was one of the best recruiters. I will never forget. When he was either a freshman or sophomore, Chris Webber was coming up and DJ was his host. I am saying to myself, I am recruiting the guy and putting him in the hands of a guy and that guy will probably replace the guy that is here. And DJ did it with class and so well, and that is when I knew he was a good recruiter and that he would be a good recruiter as an assistant coach and he was. But that kind of story tells it all, he was bigger than himself, he was about the program. That is what I appreciate about him. I will say this, he has had some major injuries, he has had two or three guys out a lot, including that point guard who is really good. This is his fourth game, now they win some of those games. I think he has got pieces. That is a pretty good team, they are physical, they got size, they got guard play, I like his team. The (Markhi) Strickland kid is a chore. I thought Jeremy (Fears) did a heck of a job on (Chansey) Willis. Now they better go into that league and do some damage because I think they can if they stay healthy."

On if the 17 turnovers are concerning entering conference play…
Well, you know, there's a lot of things that could get good out of here, I just think 12, 13 games in, if my team's mature enough, we shouldn't need that. That disappoints me. I think were better than that, that's why I bring up those "double D's,' distractions and dirtbags. I talked to my team about it every day this week, if you let the distractions or dirtbags get you, we're going to be in trouble and so is every other team. Today, I felt like they're a little bit of distractions, and we got to solve that quickly because we do have strength in numbers, but that's not easy as a coach to handle and it's maybe not easy as a player; I think it is because they all get along. I told you this too, the minutes will change a little bit. I'm still hoping to play nine, 10 guys, but they could change a little bit because the best players are going to play. Today, we got into a situation where they went really small. They had #0 (Donovan Willams), 6'4-6'5 was playing center for a while. That creates some problems for us defensively, and our coverages were a little bit different. So, remember this, I have got to do a better job first. I got to make sure it doesn't happen, after every practice I had a little 10-minute team meeting about distractions, and handling Christmas, about what goes on now when people start talking about you. I do it every day. I didn't do it enough, because today, I mean that crowd was so ready to explode it was so good, and we gave them nothing to explode. I almost got a technical just to get the crowd going, I felt bad for them, I should've just got one and said, 'Hey this is on me fans, you guys were awesome, we weren't really good.' I told my team that with about four minutes left to go in the huddle. I said, 'You let down 15,000 people today, because they were ready to explode,' and some of them, when you have a Christmas game over the holidays. You got to remember there's 3-4 thousand students that weren't there. And so what it gives you is, it gives people a chance that never saw you play, and it gives some little… you know, my daughter Isabelle is at the game, I hope she doesn't get mad at me, tell me she didn't get to clap enough because we didn't do enough. You got all those little kids that idolize you and want to get excited and want to get fired up, and we didn't give them much to. That's not the way I want those people to know that this program is being run. So I'm going to be a little bit hard on myself and my team over that.

On his confidence level of Jase, Jeremy, Frankie & Szymon entering conference play…
Well, if you guys interview them, ask them, because after the game, I let them know what I thought was coming. I let them know how I think we're going to handle it, and it's going to be a little bit different. I realized today that it needs to be ratcheted up. Maybe I was feeling good talking to you guys, which I never feel that good talking to you guys, but maybe I was feeling good talking to you guys because I liked what we were doing. And I said, maybe my expectations were too low. So, you always got to look in the mirror and blame this guy first and then disperse it out, but our leadership wasn't good enough today and I told our captains that, and I told our coaches we have got to do a better job, and were going to do a better job. But this is a very good basketball team that's deep and can be exciting and can get a lot of things done, but we're not an over talented basketball team, like some I have had. So, it is about the numbers. A coach that we played earlier in the year said something to me that I thought was a compliment, but was also true. He said "Every time I looked down you were putting two or three guys in, and I kept saying to myself, we can't match that.' And it was a pretty good team, and so I believe that. I believe we do have that, but all those guys got to play well. And we'll get better, we'll learn from this. Tomorrow is going to be fun. I told them we're going to maybe go back and New Year's Eve, you know practice at eight then practice at six in the morning, you know, like it used to be the good old days. As long as some lawyer doesn't sue me.

On the resiliency of Jeremy Fears Jr. coming back…
I say all the time, I mean Jeremy still gets frustrated where he is sometimes. I think it's remarkable what he's done. Incredible. I mean, he missed eight months of that, he couldn't almost do anything. And what he's done, you know, he's not where he's going to be. I thought it would take 'til Christmas. It could take a little while longer, you know, that's a long time to have off. He's improved his shooting greatly. To me, he's not quite as quick and at the end there, he really got after it defensively. I think he can do that on a regular basis. So you know, I've never been through something like that, but I know what the injury was, I know what the doctors said, I know the fact that some say he may never be the same. He worked his tail off, sad it happened but he deserves a lot of credit for what he's done and bouncing back.

On how he thinks Frankie Fidler has done thus far:
I think Frankie's done a good job, he's gotten a lot of opportunity early, played really well over in Europe. Struggled a little bit, you know hasn't shot the ball very well, he's shooting like 18% from 3-point and I thought that's the one thing he would do. I think since he's come back from Christmas, he really shot the ball well in practice. I don't know what he was tonight, 1 for 6, so he didn't shoot it as well either, but he has the ability to get fouled, his ability to get to the free throw line and he makes; I mean he's shooting like 94% from the line. He's still going to be valuable. It's been a little tricky with all these different teams we've played. Now when you start playing Big Ten teams, you have a little bit better idea what you're getting, you have a little more scouting on them and some of these teams, were guys from all over. I think this will help him now to get back into some structure. He's been good, he hasn't been great yet, but it's difficult to go from one level to another level and everything go right. There are guys all over the country that aren't even playing, that have transferred. It's difficult and I think he's hung in there pretty good.

On what about this year's team is different from previous years:
"I hope you're right. I think one thing is that we do have the depth that team (2012 team) had, maybe not quite the talent and the experience, but we have the depth of that team. Coen is a human highlight reel and an unbelievable kid, I love him. He was the one guy today that in every huddle was trying to get our guys to; he saw what was missing. We didn't get to him out on the break like we normally do, but I think people see that, and I think people see a bunch of guys that get along. This day and age, that's really important, we're kind of in an entitlement/selfish era right now, and I don't think these guys are entitled or selfish. So I think people see that, I think it's easy to see. Today, I guess It would be interesting to ask you guys a question. Did we look different to you?

Didn't seem like we had the zip or just weren't the same. Maybe we're getting ready for Big 10 play, that's normal. Its normal when you're a 20-point favorite, I guess. You know, that was brought up to me, means nothing to me, but I'm not on that social crap, like most people are so I don't see it, so it doesn't phase me, it doesn't bother me, but they see it. They see it all the time and so maybe that was some of it, and maybe just to be frank about it, and I'm probably not giving due justice, his team played hard. I'm going to tell you one thing about coaching if you ask me, I told him this after the game, 'If you can get your team to play hard, you done a hell of a job coaching.' That's hard to do today. You've got to drive people, and you got to motivate people a little differently, and his team played hard and that is shown by the rebounding they did. I'm going to be upset with him and that team if they don't make some noise in that league, because I think he's got pieces. He's got to keep them healthy, can't have a guy 'his quarterback misses nine of 12 games', can't have that. Can't have a couple other guys that are in-out hurt. It's hard to have that, especially when you're trying to develop some culture. But I liked his guys, I think they had some toughness to them. I really like this team; I liked his pieces. Now, the hard part, he got the pieces to play hard. Now he's got to get the pieces to play together. If he can do that, then he'll do a hell of a job. So you guys all behave yourselves on New Year's Eve, all right? If you're bored, we might be practicing that night.

Western Michigan Head Coach Dwayne Stephens

On what it was like coming back to MSU and how his team played…
It was a little weird to be on the opposite side and come in here and have a chance to compete and go against one of my mentors. Obviously, it's a place that's meant a lot to me, so it was weird, but it was fun. I'm proud of how my guys competed, playing hard, turned the ball over a little too much and didn't make free throws. Outside of that I was really proud of how we competed.

On how his team competed…
That's what I asked my team to do, come in here and compete, and be really good at the things that don't take talent. Rebounding, sprinting back in transition which is a strength of theirs. Some of those turnovers, that's how they got a lot of their transition points. That was the thing that kind of screwed us up the most was turning the ball over and not having a chance to defend. When we made them go against out half-court defense I thought we were pretty damn good.

On his impression of this MSU team…
I think they have a really good team. Coach Izzo and I talked last week and you know, this team reminds me of the 2005 team. Chris Hill, Shannon Brown, Maurice Ager, Paul Davis, Drew Neitzel, Kelvin Torbert, Alan Anderson, that crew. They have a lot of depth and when they go to the bench they don't lose anything. I think they're going to have a really good year. I think their league is wide open and they have as good a chance as anybody to do something special.

On how he prepared to face MSU…
I'm familiar with what they run and we run some of their stuff. Our defense is very similar. We both emphasize doing to the boards and put a big emphasis on that. My guys were really prepared. We knew pretty much everything that they were going to do and vice versa. They were prepared for us. Biggest thing is that I think over time they kind of wore us down late. and we got a little sloppy and didn't finish. Maybe that's why we didn't shoot as well from the line.

Michigan State Sophomore Forward Coen Carr

On development of three-point shot…
If I am open, then I am going to shoot it. I am trying to show people that I can do a little more. I have been working with Coach Izzo, Coach (Thomas) Kelley, Coach Saddi (Washington) and Blake (Graduate Assistant Blake Lampman) and they have just given me the confidence to shoot it and that is what I am going to do.

On assuming a leadership role within the team…
I have been just putting an emphasis on my voice. These guys trust me and once I recognized that my voice matters I realized I just have to take advantage of that as guys are listening to me and I am listening to them.

Michigan State Graduate Center Szymon Zapala

On what inspired team to pull away late in the game…
They had a few plays that were just straight effort, and we all have to just respond to that. That is what we were talking about, we have to show more effort, show more energy and that is what we did tonight to go on a run.

On importance of refocusing after a win…
It is always better to learn from a win than a loss. There are a few areas that we have to improve on, turnovers are one of them as we had way too many turnovers today. But, for sure it is better to learn from a win than a loss.

Players Mentioned

Coen Carr

Carson Cooper

Jeremy Fears Jr.

Frankie Fidler

Jaxon Kohler

Szymon Zapala

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