Photo by: Matthew Mitchell Photography
Post-Game Quotes: Toledo
12/16/2025 9:35:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Michigan State Head Coach Tom Izzo
Opening statement…Â
It's pretty good to have a little fun in this job once in a while. Players probably don't want you to. It was a pretty damn good first half. I didn't think it was elite. If (Jaxon) Kohler makes some layups, he had the best half of anybody who's played here, probably 20 and 11. I didn't think we were elite. I think we missed layups, and that's starting to bother me. We had a good first half, but in the second half, we didn't learn from the San Jose State game. We didn't take care of the ball. 15 turnovers, nine in the second half. We shot the ball pretty well early. Jeremy (Fears Jr.) missed four in a row, and they were all good shots, so I don't have a problem with that. I didn't think our bigs did as much as they needed to. 13 rebounds, nine rebounds, but offensively they did do the things they got to do. Too many missed layups. It's mind-boggling for me right now. We'll take the win. Out-rebounding them by 30 is big. I thought Tod's (Kowalczyk) team did not play very well early, but give them credit. Being down like that, they bounced back and played really well. Sonny Wilson, who came from Cassius' (Winston) school (Detroit Jesuit), we recruited him and looked at him. You normally see the things a guy can't do instead of what he can do. I thought he was phenomenal. He played under control and really well. I was disappointed how we guarded him on some of that. All in all, when you're up 25 or 30 points, it takes a real, self-driven human being to stay focused on the task at hand and realize you're trying to make yourself better and playing for games down the road. We still showed some immaturity. We've got to get better at that, and that's what we'll work on the next couple days. Oakland … we've never had an easy time with them. Give Toledo credit. They turned the ball over four times all night. Nice job on that. They shot well from the three and did a good job. They didn't quit when they could have, and they did a hell of a job. I do want to thank our crowd. Early game, I was a little worried, but when you look up and the corners are getting filled up, that speaks volumes about our program and our athletic department. Thank you fans. You did a better job in the second half than we did.
On Sophomore G Kur Teng's performance…Â
Yeah, I mean, Kur (Teng) played better. We kind of lost Divine (Ugochukwu) tonight. Like I said, it's a musical chair thing, but Kur played better, Jeremy (Fears Jr.) got him the ball at the right time in the right place. I thought we did a very good job. He was ready to shoot, made some big-time shots, and that was a plus. With Divine, we just got to get a little more out of him. I still want to get a little more out of Coen (Carr). As good as our bigs played, there's still a lot of room for improvement on layups and post moves. I was pleased with Kur. I think he did some really good things, and he made some shots. His defense is getting better.
On the layup issues of late…
We're not using the backboard. You get bumped down there. Jaxon (Kohler), on that one, missed two in a row that were point blank. Nobody's trying to miss those, but those do get depressing. It's been three games. There's no doubt in the Duke game it cost us. These two games, it almost cost us at Penn State, and it didn't cost us tonight. That'll be a good film session tonight for me to go back to the last three games and really view all the layups we missed and show them, because kids nowadays need the visual. They don't need the word of mouth. They need the visual.
On if having more days off coming up is a chance to work on some different things as a group… Yeah, the problem is I wanted to do a lot more when we came back from Penn State, but you back and you got Sunday, and Monday's the day before a game. I got assistants that are getting softer than I am. We have nobody that played that many minutes and should worry about rest. Let me do my job. You do your job. Your job is to prepare and get better at the things you're not better at. This is the time of year when you normally get a lot better. The problem is you don't have as much time as you used to. We got a game in a couple days, then we're off for a week, then once the Big Ten starts, it's constant. If they're tired, maybe I'll give them Christmas off.
On the message to the team after the game…
My message was that the coaches, myself, got to do a better job at halftime, but the captains got to do a better job. Players play the game. I'll take the blame for anything. I took the blame in the Duke game on some zone stuff, and as you saw tonight, we attacked the zone a lot better because we worked on it. That all falls on me. So I took the blame. They got to man up and take the blame for what they don't do. The captains got to get together and figure out, why are we letting these games slip away? Not that it slipped away. I mean, I know there's a human element. And every mother will say, well, we're 30 up coach. I'm never satisfied. 
They're right. I'm not. Because I'm looking to play games way beyond the game we just played. 
And that's where this program is. I don't need to win games. I need to win games and improve. 
And if you're not improving in winning games, then eventually it's gonna catch up with you. I told them I'm proud of the rebounding. Some of the rebounding, you get 18 offensive boards, you know why? You miss about 15 layups, and the ball comes back to you. 
So that's a little distorted stat for me right now. I didn't think we got to the line enough. I didn't think we were strong enough in there with the ball. 
We had a lot of balls. I mean, when you have Coen (Carr) get four turnovers, (Carson Cooper) Coop get three turnovers. Jaxon (Kohler) had one, Jesse (McCulloch) had two. 
Our big guys are turning the ball over because they're getting knocked it out of their hands, which means they gotta get tougher and stronger.
On scheduling games with mid-major programs…
 Yeah, it's funny. It's like what's happening in college football. We still have this dumb, I don't know what it is. Is it KenPom or one of those, so he'll be mad at me. Where you get points for how much you beat a team by and all these stat things. What I was mad at my team about is those two twins (Brennan and Colin Walton) and (Nick) Sanders. They deserve to play four minutes. What they've done for us on a scout team. People don't want you to do that. So I do think there's an obligation on us to give a kid a chance. (Sonny) Wilson, as good as he played, he showed a lot of people that he can play at a lot of places because he single-handedly kicked our butt tonight. I'm happy he's there. Tod (Kowalczyk) does a hell of a job with his offense. I think they've got to keep improving defense and rebounding. I was a little disappointed for him since he's a friend of mine. One time, twice, we almost hired him as a G.A. here back in the day, and I have great respect for him.  I didn't think his bigs did enough. They were playing really good, and I don't think it was all us. It was some of them. It's great to give those guys an opportunity, just like it's really good for us to give the Division II, being a Division II guy, but those days are now over because we have to do other things. It's going to be interesting in football and basketball when you saw what happened in college football, that everybody's going to be scheduling differently. Some teams are scheduling all home games, and you're not going to be able to do that anymore, which is good. I think it's good. If I was at their level, it's an honor to play those schools because those kids deserve a chance. Those coaches, too. That's why I was so impressed with our crowd. They got to play in front of, probably wasn't packed, but it was damn good. I'm happy for them for that.
On if Toledo was 'elite' protecting the basketball tonight…
Well, let me ask a dumb question here. What did you think? I mean, there was a ball on the ground in front of me at my table that Jeremy (Fears Jr.) was in the backcourt, and he was yelling at Kur (Teng) to get it. When you have time to yell at a guy to go get it, it probably means he isn't reacting very good. So, I was disappointed in that with us. And yet, I mean, listen, I can't say that. I always want to say, 'When I played…', but we never had that big a lead at Northern Michigan. In fact, usually we had the opposite. So, I don't know what it's like to be a player out there, but I know this: If those captains do a good enough job, they've all been through the wars, they've lost some tough games in the NCAA tournament, they've won some tough games, they should know that we have bigger fish to fry and that we have to improve if we're going to be a real contender or a pretender. And this is when you work on it. Right now. Right now, is when you're going to make some of those decisions and I didn't think we decided on that. I thought they were scrappier than we were. I thought we were not as smart as they were. We put the ball on the floor, we're spin dribbling in the middle of the lane. I mean those things are inexcusable and I didn't like it.
On the growth of redshirt freshman forward Jesse McCulloch…Â
I think Jesse was one of the guys we really talked about in the pregame. He was very efficient, and that's kind of what you want. He had a couple blocks also. Did they have him down for them? Yeah, three. He had some good rebounds. Took his time most of the time in there but getting that many rebounds is pretty good. So, I thought he's making some progress. We got to get Cam (Ward) back to where he was before he got hurt, and he took a little bit of a step, got six rebounds tonight. But we need Cam too because he's so athletic and we need that in our lineup. So, I don't know, maybe Jaxon (Kohler) and (Carson) Cooper are playing too many minutes, and we will figure that out. But we got a little tired there. That one stretch in the first half, went like 11 minutes without a true stop and we couldn't get Jaxon out (of the game). I think that sometimes if the tank goes dry, it's hard to replenish it, and he (Kohler) didn't seem the same after that. So maybe that's our fault.Â
On the message to the team about handling distractions over the holiday break…
That's the one good thing about Twitter. It really is the one good thing about Twitter. There's only one good thing, but that is the one good thing. There are so many distractions throughout the year. Christmas is no big deal. Christmas, we'll just get through it. I mean, Christmas is important, but Christmas compared to the other distractions they've got. I mean, I walk in the other day, and my staff is saying that it's an epidemic on Twitter about the missed layups we have. They said, 'The guys are reading that and commenting on it.' So, I would say this to our own fans: 'We're working on stuff.' You have the right to do whatever you want, but it's your team too. And if you think these kids can handle all the distractions, what's my double D's? Distractions and dirt bags. There's a lot of those out there. Christmas isn't one of them. In the good old days, it used to be, Jud (Heathcote) would give the speech about finals week, and that usually went up to the 21st (of December) and you had one game and then everyone went home, and he always gave the lecture about finals week, 'Make sure you finish.' Then the game, 'Make sure you finish.' Then when you go home, 'Make sure you're not shoplifting.' Those were the three things that, remember, athletes, I mean, it was all the time, it was an epidemic. Although now most of them can buy the store, so it's not as big a deal. So, there's been some things that have worked out better because of Twitter and because of NIL, and there's some things that work out worse, but I'm not worried about the distractions of Christmas. That's why we scheduled like we did. So, we're off on the 20th (of December) because I think it is important they get home, get to spend some time with their family. We used to go to the 22nd (of December) then you get home and you got two days. So, I think they realize, and we've talked to them about it all year. We're going to give you the time to be off, make sure you don't take it off before it starts. And thanks to Twitter, I think they're really understanding how many distractions there are, and that poor Christmas isn't one of them. He gets nervous when I get on a rampage. And so, I didn't mean, I hope I don't get condemned by people for saying that. Christmas is very important to me, very important to my players, but not the distraction.
On the play of graduate student Denham Wojcik…
Denham (Wojcik) deserves some (minutes) because he's Doug's (Wojcik) kid. We just want some stability there and it was getting hard. Denham (Wojcik), I mean, the one thing about our three guards, is those three guards, they're not very vocal people. Jeremy (Fears Jr) is, but the other three guys aren't very vocal at all. So, it's hard to be a quarterback if you go into a huddle and you can't call a play. And so, that's when we decided that we're going to play (Denham Wojcik) more to take some of that pressure off them. And if we got a guy that comes in, that's good. And so, then he comes in there and runs the show for a little bit, and now we've got to get Divine (Ugochukwu). We've got to get Kur (Teng). I think we're doing a decent job of getting Jordan (Scott) more time backing up Coen (Carr), and we get a little rotation, and that's what this break is for. We talked about it. Doug (Wojcik) and I sat down, like old times, and went over it the best we could. Did a decent job of it today, but not great. And, as happened last year, once Christmas comes, maybe that playing group's going to shrink a little bit, and that's not going to be determined by me. That's going to be determined by them.Â
On Brennan and Colin Walton and Nick Sanders…
You know what, guys, you guys don't, because you guys are getting soft. I opened practice up. You guys come at the end of practice; you don't watch it. You just come to practice. Those guys (Brennan and Colin Walton) have been so damn good that they were going to go to Central Michigan to just be a student. And I called them and said, 'That's crazy. You guys are two good athletes, great students, and why don't you come here and walk on and maybe in a year or two we'll see if we can help you whether you're good enough to play here.' I mean, when you think of guys like Colby Wollenman, I started him against Duke. Those kids, if you came and watched the practice, watched it instead of sitting up there on your phones and everything, no insult but it's truth, those guys can really shoot the ball and they're tougher than some of my guys. And Brennan (Walton), I think it was, I still have trouble, I'm going to put a dot on one of their heads, so I know who's who, because they are really identical in my humble opinion, probably not his parents, but Brennan's (Walton) been sick. He didn't even practice 'til today, which was his first practice. He went out there and knocked one in, but they're really, really, really good on our scout team. And so is (Nick) Sanders. That might not be as important to you guys, but it really is to me.
Toledo Head Coach Tod Kowalczyk
Opening Statement...
First of all, just wanted to take a moment to thank Tom Izzo for the opportunity to play in this game. I've known Coach my entire life, and with the new age of college basketball, everybody needs revenue to be able to play a game like this, where there's a short bus ride, we needed it. I begged him for this game. I begged him. With that being said, really disappointed on how we played in the first half. I thought we played starry-eyed, lacked composure, and lacked toughness. Maybe our guys gave too much respect to the opponent. They out-toughed us. They have 26 fast break points in the first half, and 12 or 14 offensive rebounds. Second half is rocket basketball. We gave up 10 fast break points and six offensive rebounds to them. We had 7 assists to 0 turnovers. I thought our guard play was good. Sonny Wilson had a great game, and so did Leroy, but certainly need more from a lot of guys right now. Overall, just disappointed that we didn't compete like I thought we were capable of. Second half was better, but too little, too late when you play against a team that's top 10 in the country. They're good. They're so good in transition. They're elite rebounders. They're deep. And when they make shots like they did tonight, they're hard to defend, and they made shots in the first half.
On efficiency and play of junior guard Sonny Wilson...
I knew that question was coming. Happy for Sonny. He's a Detroit guy. Pontiac guy, from Detroit Jesuit. Happy for him. He deserved to play well on a big stage and improve. He's a really good player. Happy for him, to answer your question. I know the direction of your question was, are you afraid of losing him because he played so well, and I'm never afraid of that. I want what's best for guys like Sonny Wilson because he's a team-first guy, and I thought his leadership tonight was outstanding. Need more leadership from some other guys. But his talk, when things weren't going well, was great. His talk at halftime was great. The talk of the other veteran guys was very poor. Leadership, extremely poor.
On changes made before second half...
The changes were just effort. We had three keys to this game, that's it. If you ask any one of our players or managers, they'll tell you what the three keys were. Number one, you've got to be tough when you play against Tom Izzo teams. You have got to be tough. We weren't tough in the first half. Number two, you'd better get back in transition. We had some guys laboring in transition. They had some post-players that flat out ran past out post players. Carr, just on the left wing, runs past Kyler Vanderjagt. That can't happen. And the third key, you've got to rebound the ball. They gave up 12 or 14 offensive rebounds in the first half. That's the game. So there wasn't any changes besides, hey, let's get back to what we talked about. Remind them about that. And to be honest with you, they were embarrassed at halftime. We should be for how we played in the first half.
On preparing for MSU's Jaxon Kohler and Carson Cooper after their development offensively...
I've got a ton of respect for both of them. Correct me if I'm wrong, but they're both four-year guys in this program. That showed tonight, and it showed that (Toledo junior center) Austin Parks hasn't played in a couple of years, right? He was a high major guy who went to Ohio State. They've gotten better, they developed, they stayed, and they played for a coaching staff that invested in them. It's like Sonny Wilson, who stayed for three years. That's what happens in good programs, and Toledo is a really good program. Coming into the season in conference wins, in the last five years, we're number three. Houston's one, Drake is two, and we're tied with Purdue for conference wins. We've won at a high level because most of our guys have gotten better, and those two post guys have gotten better. The fact that Kohler can step out and shoot the way he does. I think of all of Tom's really good teams, he's had a four-man who can step out and shoot. They're always going to be elite on defense. They're always going to be an elite rebounding team. But you go back to their National Championship team. Their four and five were skilled. They were skilled. (AJ) Granger, is that what his name was? (Andre) Hudson was four or five. I mean, they were skilled. All of his really good teams have had that. He has that this year. That's a luxury. That's a big-time luxury when you have post guys who can step out and shoot. We've had that in the past, and this year, not so much.
On rebounding and preparation for a team like MSU...
I'm not sure you prepare a team, like Toledo, physically. You show film. You drill it. But if we're going to be able to compete for a league championship, which I think this team can, we're going to have to rebound the ball much better. But they're elite at it. We can only emphasize so many things, and obviously, his (Izzo) number one thing for his entire career, they're going to be the toughest and rebound.
Biggest takeaways from game against Michigan State...
I think it's hard to really evaluate this game. If you look at our schedule, we have played some really good mid-major teams. You probably didn't see it, but we gave away a game last Saturday at Robert Morris, up 18 at halftime, and gave it away. Robert Morris is a good team, but we should have won that game. We lose at the buzzer to Oakland. You guys all know Oakland's a really good team. We leave a wide open three to win the game. We played Wright State on the road. We played Belmont. A lot of teams in our league haven't played anybody. We played a lot of really good mid-major teams, and you're throwing in a top 10 team in the country. I'll look at more of the other games than this one; it's hard to evaluate. No one in our league can rebound like Michigan State or run like Michigan State. But we have to get better, there's no question about it.
Michigan State redshirt sophomore guard Jeremy Fears Jr.Â
On the difference between first and second half...
Just really having to stay focused. The first half, we started out good, we got stops, a couple of mistakes, we messed up. Obviously, earlier we could've held them to a little less points in the first half, but other than that, the first half was pretty well. In the second half, just mental mistakes. We start fouling early. They got a couple of open threes that they made. Really just doing the job in the first and second half.
On Tom Izzo wanting more from his captains...
Just do our job. We all have a job to do and a role we bring to the table. Just making sure that we understand what we have to do and do it. You know, it's pretty simple. The second half, we can't let happen. That's a captain thing. All of us. Just making sure we clean up those things, and it matters.
Michigan State senior forward Jaxon Kohler
On keeping level of intensity between halves...
It shouldn't be. It shouldn't be difficult to keep that intensity. That's something that Coach teaches to us, and we've just got to execute it. It happened to us before against San Jose State. The first half, we were really good, and in the second half, we dropped. We've just got to be better as a team.
On turnovers in the team's past two games...
First, the turnovers, especially that much, should be unacceptable in our program. I think there's times in the game where we just have to slow down a little bit. There are times where the other team goes on a run, or coming out of the second half, especially after a really good first half, there are times where we can't force anything, and that leads to turnovers. We can't be too jumpy. Going into the second half, we really have to figure out what the vibe of the game feels like. What the defense is. What adjustments they made. We just have to figure that out instead of being too jumpy. Obviously, we want to be aggressive, but there's a balance between being aggressive and being reckless with turnovers.
Michigan State sophomore guard Kur Teng
On learning from the team's second-half mistakes...
It's a team effort. We kind of all did bad on that part, but I mean, coach is right. We gotta clean them up. I think we had 15 turnovers, but that's not acceptable.We've got to have 10 and under from here on out. So I mean, we've just got continue to get better in that.
On gaining confidence in his shooting going into Big Ten play...
Yeah, I mean especially as a shooter, just seeing that first one go in, it's just giving me the utmost confidence going into Big Ten play. Every shot counts. It's gonna be competitive, so we're just gonna be ready when the time comes.
Michigan State junior forward Coen Carr
On the team's second-half performance...
I think it was more us. I think lack of discipline in the second half, doing the things that we did in the first half and not the same pop we had in the first half.
On correcting the team's second-half mistakes...
Just making it an emphasis. Especially the four people that been here for a little minute, me, Jeremy (Fears), Jax (Jaxon Kohler), and Coop (Carson Cooper), just kind of pointing that out to everybody else that we can't have these second-half drop offs, especially coming into Big Ten play.
On the message to the team after the game and prepping for Saturday's game against Oakland...
Kind of the same thing. Second half drop off and also a little bit about the zone. I feel like we didn't attack the zone like we should have the few times they did run it and Oakland runs all zone. So, just putting an emphasis on that and being better with our zone play. Keeping the ball moving, getting the ball in the middle and just being aggressive too.
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Opening statement…Â
It's pretty good to have a little fun in this job once in a while. Players probably don't want you to. It was a pretty damn good first half. I didn't think it was elite. If (Jaxon) Kohler makes some layups, he had the best half of anybody who's played here, probably 20 and 11. I didn't think we were elite. I think we missed layups, and that's starting to bother me. We had a good first half, but in the second half, we didn't learn from the San Jose State game. We didn't take care of the ball. 15 turnovers, nine in the second half. We shot the ball pretty well early. Jeremy (Fears Jr.) missed four in a row, and they were all good shots, so I don't have a problem with that. I didn't think our bigs did as much as they needed to. 13 rebounds, nine rebounds, but offensively they did do the things they got to do. Too many missed layups. It's mind-boggling for me right now. We'll take the win. Out-rebounding them by 30 is big. I thought Tod's (Kowalczyk) team did not play very well early, but give them credit. Being down like that, they bounced back and played really well. Sonny Wilson, who came from Cassius' (Winston) school (Detroit Jesuit), we recruited him and looked at him. You normally see the things a guy can't do instead of what he can do. I thought he was phenomenal. He played under control and really well. I was disappointed how we guarded him on some of that. All in all, when you're up 25 or 30 points, it takes a real, self-driven human being to stay focused on the task at hand and realize you're trying to make yourself better and playing for games down the road. We still showed some immaturity. We've got to get better at that, and that's what we'll work on the next couple days. Oakland … we've never had an easy time with them. Give Toledo credit. They turned the ball over four times all night. Nice job on that. They shot well from the three and did a good job. They didn't quit when they could have, and they did a hell of a job. I do want to thank our crowd. Early game, I was a little worried, but when you look up and the corners are getting filled up, that speaks volumes about our program and our athletic department. Thank you fans. You did a better job in the second half than we did.
On Sophomore G Kur Teng's performance…Â
Yeah, I mean, Kur (Teng) played better. We kind of lost Divine (Ugochukwu) tonight. Like I said, it's a musical chair thing, but Kur played better, Jeremy (Fears Jr.) got him the ball at the right time in the right place. I thought we did a very good job. He was ready to shoot, made some big-time shots, and that was a plus. With Divine, we just got to get a little more out of him. I still want to get a little more out of Coen (Carr). As good as our bigs played, there's still a lot of room for improvement on layups and post moves. I was pleased with Kur. I think he did some really good things, and he made some shots. His defense is getting better.
On the layup issues of late…
We're not using the backboard. You get bumped down there. Jaxon (Kohler), on that one, missed two in a row that were point blank. Nobody's trying to miss those, but those do get depressing. It's been three games. There's no doubt in the Duke game it cost us. These two games, it almost cost us at Penn State, and it didn't cost us tonight. That'll be a good film session tonight for me to go back to the last three games and really view all the layups we missed and show them, because kids nowadays need the visual. They don't need the word of mouth. They need the visual.
On if having more days off coming up is a chance to work on some different things as a group… Yeah, the problem is I wanted to do a lot more when we came back from Penn State, but you back and you got Sunday, and Monday's the day before a game. I got assistants that are getting softer than I am. We have nobody that played that many minutes and should worry about rest. Let me do my job. You do your job. Your job is to prepare and get better at the things you're not better at. This is the time of year when you normally get a lot better. The problem is you don't have as much time as you used to. We got a game in a couple days, then we're off for a week, then once the Big Ten starts, it's constant. If they're tired, maybe I'll give them Christmas off.
On the message to the team after the game…
My message was that the coaches, myself, got to do a better job at halftime, but the captains got to do a better job. Players play the game. I'll take the blame for anything. I took the blame in the Duke game on some zone stuff, and as you saw tonight, we attacked the zone a lot better because we worked on it. That all falls on me. So I took the blame. They got to man up and take the blame for what they don't do. The captains got to get together and figure out, why are we letting these games slip away? Not that it slipped away. I mean, I know there's a human element. And every mother will say, well, we're 30 up coach. I'm never satisfied. 
They're right. I'm not. Because I'm looking to play games way beyond the game we just played. 
And that's where this program is. I don't need to win games. I need to win games and improve. 
And if you're not improving in winning games, then eventually it's gonna catch up with you. I told them I'm proud of the rebounding. Some of the rebounding, you get 18 offensive boards, you know why? You miss about 15 layups, and the ball comes back to you. 
So that's a little distorted stat for me right now. I didn't think we got to the line enough. I didn't think we were strong enough in there with the ball. 
We had a lot of balls. I mean, when you have Coen (Carr) get four turnovers, (Carson Cooper) Coop get three turnovers. Jaxon (Kohler) had one, Jesse (McCulloch) had two. 
Our big guys are turning the ball over because they're getting knocked it out of their hands, which means they gotta get tougher and stronger.
On scheduling games with mid-major programs…
 Yeah, it's funny. It's like what's happening in college football. We still have this dumb, I don't know what it is. Is it KenPom or one of those, so he'll be mad at me. Where you get points for how much you beat a team by and all these stat things. What I was mad at my team about is those two twins (Brennan and Colin Walton) and (Nick) Sanders. They deserve to play four minutes. What they've done for us on a scout team. People don't want you to do that. So I do think there's an obligation on us to give a kid a chance. (Sonny) Wilson, as good as he played, he showed a lot of people that he can play at a lot of places because he single-handedly kicked our butt tonight. I'm happy he's there. Tod (Kowalczyk) does a hell of a job with his offense. I think they've got to keep improving defense and rebounding. I was a little disappointed for him since he's a friend of mine. One time, twice, we almost hired him as a G.A. here back in the day, and I have great respect for him.  I didn't think his bigs did enough. They were playing really good, and I don't think it was all us. It was some of them. It's great to give those guys an opportunity, just like it's really good for us to give the Division II, being a Division II guy, but those days are now over because we have to do other things. It's going to be interesting in football and basketball when you saw what happened in college football, that everybody's going to be scheduling differently. Some teams are scheduling all home games, and you're not going to be able to do that anymore, which is good. I think it's good. If I was at their level, it's an honor to play those schools because those kids deserve a chance. Those coaches, too. That's why I was so impressed with our crowd. They got to play in front of, probably wasn't packed, but it was damn good. I'm happy for them for that.
On if Toledo was 'elite' protecting the basketball tonight…
Well, let me ask a dumb question here. What did you think? I mean, there was a ball on the ground in front of me at my table that Jeremy (Fears Jr.) was in the backcourt, and he was yelling at Kur (Teng) to get it. When you have time to yell at a guy to go get it, it probably means he isn't reacting very good. So, I was disappointed in that with us. And yet, I mean, listen, I can't say that. I always want to say, 'When I played…', but we never had that big a lead at Northern Michigan. In fact, usually we had the opposite. So, I don't know what it's like to be a player out there, but I know this: If those captains do a good enough job, they've all been through the wars, they've lost some tough games in the NCAA tournament, they've won some tough games, they should know that we have bigger fish to fry and that we have to improve if we're going to be a real contender or a pretender. And this is when you work on it. Right now. Right now, is when you're going to make some of those decisions and I didn't think we decided on that. I thought they were scrappier than we were. I thought we were not as smart as they were. We put the ball on the floor, we're spin dribbling in the middle of the lane. I mean those things are inexcusable and I didn't like it.
On the growth of redshirt freshman forward Jesse McCulloch…Â
I think Jesse was one of the guys we really talked about in the pregame. He was very efficient, and that's kind of what you want. He had a couple blocks also. Did they have him down for them? Yeah, three. He had some good rebounds. Took his time most of the time in there but getting that many rebounds is pretty good. So, I thought he's making some progress. We got to get Cam (Ward) back to where he was before he got hurt, and he took a little bit of a step, got six rebounds tonight. But we need Cam too because he's so athletic and we need that in our lineup. So, I don't know, maybe Jaxon (Kohler) and (Carson) Cooper are playing too many minutes, and we will figure that out. But we got a little tired there. That one stretch in the first half, went like 11 minutes without a true stop and we couldn't get Jaxon out (of the game). I think that sometimes if the tank goes dry, it's hard to replenish it, and he (Kohler) didn't seem the same after that. So maybe that's our fault.Â
On the message to the team about handling distractions over the holiday break…
That's the one good thing about Twitter. It really is the one good thing about Twitter. There's only one good thing, but that is the one good thing. There are so many distractions throughout the year. Christmas is no big deal. Christmas, we'll just get through it. I mean, Christmas is important, but Christmas compared to the other distractions they've got. I mean, I walk in the other day, and my staff is saying that it's an epidemic on Twitter about the missed layups we have. They said, 'The guys are reading that and commenting on it.' So, I would say this to our own fans: 'We're working on stuff.' You have the right to do whatever you want, but it's your team too. And if you think these kids can handle all the distractions, what's my double D's? Distractions and dirt bags. There's a lot of those out there. Christmas isn't one of them. In the good old days, it used to be, Jud (Heathcote) would give the speech about finals week, and that usually went up to the 21st (of December) and you had one game and then everyone went home, and he always gave the lecture about finals week, 'Make sure you finish.' Then the game, 'Make sure you finish.' Then when you go home, 'Make sure you're not shoplifting.' Those were the three things that, remember, athletes, I mean, it was all the time, it was an epidemic. Although now most of them can buy the store, so it's not as big a deal. So, there's been some things that have worked out better because of Twitter and because of NIL, and there's some things that work out worse, but I'm not worried about the distractions of Christmas. That's why we scheduled like we did. So, we're off on the 20th (of December) because I think it is important they get home, get to spend some time with their family. We used to go to the 22nd (of December) then you get home and you got two days. So, I think they realize, and we've talked to them about it all year. We're going to give you the time to be off, make sure you don't take it off before it starts. And thanks to Twitter, I think they're really understanding how many distractions there are, and that poor Christmas isn't one of them. He gets nervous when I get on a rampage. And so, I didn't mean, I hope I don't get condemned by people for saying that. Christmas is very important to me, very important to my players, but not the distraction.
On the play of graduate student Denham Wojcik…
Denham (Wojcik) deserves some (minutes) because he's Doug's (Wojcik) kid. We just want some stability there and it was getting hard. Denham (Wojcik), I mean, the one thing about our three guards, is those three guards, they're not very vocal people. Jeremy (Fears Jr) is, but the other three guys aren't very vocal at all. So, it's hard to be a quarterback if you go into a huddle and you can't call a play. And so, that's when we decided that we're going to play (Denham Wojcik) more to take some of that pressure off them. And if we got a guy that comes in, that's good. And so, then he comes in there and runs the show for a little bit, and now we've got to get Divine (Ugochukwu). We've got to get Kur (Teng). I think we're doing a decent job of getting Jordan (Scott) more time backing up Coen (Carr), and we get a little rotation, and that's what this break is for. We talked about it. Doug (Wojcik) and I sat down, like old times, and went over it the best we could. Did a decent job of it today, but not great. And, as happened last year, once Christmas comes, maybe that playing group's going to shrink a little bit, and that's not going to be determined by me. That's going to be determined by them.Â
On Brennan and Colin Walton and Nick Sanders…
You know what, guys, you guys don't, because you guys are getting soft. I opened practice up. You guys come at the end of practice; you don't watch it. You just come to practice. Those guys (Brennan and Colin Walton) have been so damn good that they were going to go to Central Michigan to just be a student. And I called them and said, 'That's crazy. You guys are two good athletes, great students, and why don't you come here and walk on and maybe in a year or two we'll see if we can help you whether you're good enough to play here.' I mean, when you think of guys like Colby Wollenman, I started him against Duke. Those kids, if you came and watched the practice, watched it instead of sitting up there on your phones and everything, no insult but it's truth, those guys can really shoot the ball and they're tougher than some of my guys. And Brennan (Walton), I think it was, I still have trouble, I'm going to put a dot on one of their heads, so I know who's who, because they are really identical in my humble opinion, probably not his parents, but Brennan's (Walton) been sick. He didn't even practice 'til today, which was his first practice. He went out there and knocked one in, but they're really, really, really good on our scout team. And so is (Nick) Sanders. That might not be as important to you guys, but it really is to me.
Toledo Head Coach Tod Kowalczyk
Opening Statement...
First of all, just wanted to take a moment to thank Tom Izzo for the opportunity to play in this game. I've known Coach my entire life, and with the new age of college basketball, everybody needs revenue to be able to play a game like this, where there's a short bus ride, we needed it. I begged him for this game. I begged him. With that being said, really disappointed on how we played in the first half. I thought we played starry-eyed, lacked composure, and lacked toughness. Maybe our guys gave too much respect to the opponent. They out-toughed us. They have 26 fast break points in the first half, and 12 or 14 offensive rebounds. Second half is rocket basketball. We gave up 10 fast break points and six offensive rebounds to them. We had 7 assists to 0 turnovers. I thought our guard play was good. Sonny Wilson had a great game, and so did Leroy, but certainly need more from a lot of guys right now. Overall, just disappointed that we didn't compete like I thought we were capable of. Second half was better, but too little, too late when you play against a team that's top 10 in the country. They're good. They're so good in transition. They're elite rebounders. They're deep. And when they make shots like they did tonight, they're hard to defend, and they made shots in the first half.
On efficiency and play of junior guard Sonny Wilson...
I knew that question was coming. Happy for Sonny. He's a Detroit guy. Pontiac guy, from Detroit Jesuit. Happy for him. He deserved to play well on a big stage and improve. He's a really good player. Happy for him, to answer your question. I know the direction of your question was, are you afraid of losing him because he played so well, and I'm never afraid of that. I want what's best for guys like Sonny Wilson because he's a team-first guy, and I thought his leadership tonight was outstanding. Need more leadership from some other guys. But his talk, when things weren't going well, was great. His talk at halftime was great. The talk of the other veteran guys was very poor. Leadership, extremely poor.
On changes made before second half...
The changes were just effort. We had three keys to this game, that's it. If you ask any one of our players or managers, they'll tell you what the three keys were. Number one, you've got to be tough when you play against Tom Izzo teams. You have got to be tough. We weren't tough in the first half. Number two, you'd better get back in transition. We had some guys laboring in transition. They had some post-players that flat out ran past out post players. Carr, just on the left wing, runs past Kyler Vanderjagt. That can't happen. And the third key, you've got to rebound the ball. They gave up 12 or 14 offensive rebounds in the first half. That's the game. So there wasn't any changes besides, hey, let's get back to what we talked about. Remind them about that. And to be honest with you, they were embarrassed at halftime. We should be for how we played in the first half.
On preparing for MSU's Jaxon Kohler and Carson Cooper after their development offensively...
I've got a ton of respect for both of them. Correct me if I'm wrong, but they're both four-year guys in this program. That showed tonight, and it showed that (Toledo junior center) Austin Parks hasn't played in a couple of years, right? He was a high major guy who went to Ohio State. They've gotten better, they developed, they stayed, and they played for a coaching staff that invested in them. It's like Sonny Wilson, who stayed for three years. That's what happens in good programs, and Toledo is a really good program. Coming into the season in conference wins, in the last five years, we're number three. Houston's one, Drake is two, and we're tied with Purdue for conference wins. We've won at a high level because most of our guys have gotten better, and those two post guys have gotten better. The fact that Kohler can step out and shoot the way he does. I think of all of Tom's really good teams, he's had a four-man who can step out and shoot. They're always going to be elite on defense. They're always going to be an elite rebounding team. But you go back to their National Championship team. Their four and five were skilled. They were skilled. (AJ) Granger, is that what his name was? (Andre) Hudson was four or five. I mean, they were skilled. All of his really good teams have had that. He has that this year. That's a luxury. That's a big-time luxury when you have post guys who can step out and shoot. We've had that in the past, and this year, not so much.
On rebounding and preparation for a team like MSU...
I'm not sure you prepare a team, like Toledo, physically. You show film. You drill it. But if we're going to be able to compete for a league championship, which I think this team can, we're going to have to rebound the ball much better. But they're elite at it. We can only emphasize so many things, and obviously, his (Izzo) number one thing for his entire career, they're going to be the toughest and rebound.
Biggest takeaways from game against Michigan State...
I think it's hard to really evaluate this game. If you look at our schedule, we have played some really good mid-major teams. You probably didn't see it, but we gave away a game last Saturday at Robert Morris, up 18 at halftime, and gave it away. Robert Morris is a good team, but we should have won that game. We lose at the buzzer to Oakland. You guys all know Oakland's a really good team. We leave a wide open three to win the game. We played Wright State on the road. We played Belmont. A lot of teams in our league haven't played anybody. We played a lot of really good mid-major teams, and you're throwing in a top 10 team in the country. I'll look at more of the other games than this one; it's hard to evaluate. No one in our league can rebound like Michigan State or run like Michigan State. But we have to get better, there's no question about it.
Michigan State redshirt sophomore guard Jeremy Fears Jr.Â
On the difference between first and second half...
Just really having to stay focused. The first half, we started out good, we got stops, a couple of mistakes, we messed up. Obviously, earlier we could've held them to a little less points in the first half, but other than that, the first half was pretty well. In the second half, just mental mistakes. We start fouling early. They got a couple of open threes that they made. Really just doing the job in the first and second half.
On Tom Izzo wanting more from his captains...
Just do our job. We all have a job to do and a role we bring to the table. Just making sure that we understand what we have to do and do it. You know, it's pretty simple. The second half, we can't let happen. That's a captain thing. All of us. Just making sure we clean up those things, and it matters.
Michigan State senior forward Jaxon Kohler
On keeping level of intensity between halves...
It shouldn't be. It shouldn't be difficult to keep that intensity. That's something that Coach teaches to us, and we've just got to execute it. It happened to us before against San Jose State. The first half, we were really good, and in the second half, we dropped. We've just got to be better as a team.
On turnovers in the team's past two games...
First, the turnovers, especially that much, should be unacceptable in our program. I think there's times in the game where we just have to slow down a little bit. There are times where the other team goes on a run, or coming out of the second half, especially after a really good first half, there are times where we can't force anything, and that leads to turnovers. We can't be too jumpy. Going into the second half, we really have to figure out what the vibe of the game feels like. What the defense is. What adjustments they made. We just have to figure that out instead of being too jumpy. Obviously, we want to be aggressive, but there's a balance between being aggressive and being reckless with turnovers.
Michigan State sophomore guard Kur Teng
On learning from the team's second-half mistakes...
It's a team effort. We kind of all did bad on that part, but I mean, coach is right. We gotta clean them up. I think we had 15 turnovers, but that's not acceptable.We've got to have 10 and under from here on out. So I mean, we've just got continue to get better in that.
On gaining confidence in his shooting going into Big Ten play...
Yeah, I mean especially as a shooter, just seeing that first one go in, it's just giving me the utmost confidence going into Big Ten play. Every shot counts. It's gonna be competitive, so we're just gonna be ready when the time comes.
Michigan State junior forward Coen Carr
On the team's second-half performance...
I think it was more us. I think lack of discipline in the second half, doing the things that we did in the first half and not the same pop we had in the first half.
On correcting the team's second-half mistakes...
Just making it an emphasis. Especially the four people that been here for a little minute, me, Jeremy (Fears), Jax (Jaxon Kohler), and Coop (Carson Cooper), just kind of pointing that out to everybody else that we can't have these second-half drop offs, especially coming into Big Ten play.
On the message to the team after the game and prepping for Saturday's game against Oakland...
Kind of the same thing. Second half drop off and also a little bit about the zone. I feel like we didn't attack the zone like we should have the few times they did run it and Oakland runs all zone. So, just putting an emphasis on that and being better with our zone play. Keeping the ball moving, getting the ball in the middle and just being aggressive too.
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