Post-Game Quotes: Purdue

Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo

Opening statement…
Well… games take a lot out of you.  It was a hell of a game. It was, like (Gene) Keady and (Jud) Heathcote. I mean, both teams only got 48 shots up.  They shot 51. We shot 58, which is odd. There weren't a lot of rebounds to be had when you shoot that well. Uncharacteristically, we shot poorly from the free throw line, but 20 assists on 28 baskets, eight turnovers, those are ingredients that help you win games. And I thought that so many of our guys, I mean, our bench was 14-for-21 and did an unbelievable job. Frankie Fidler came back and did some things.  Tre Holloman was dynamite, and (Carson Cooper) Coop, and Coen (Carr). Coen Carr did a yeoman's job and our starters-, we did a hell of a job on (Braden) Smith, because he's a hell of a player. And we didn't do a hell of a job on Kaufman (Trey Kaufman-Renn), but he's even a better player. And we tried to double a little bit. He made some good shots and good plays, but in general, rebounded him by a couple…the turnovers are a big thing.  We had 10 steals, they had four. Understand this, this team has owned us, they really have. The last few years, they've owned us and it's because they're well coached. They've got a good team, the guys were classy after the game and I felt like these two programs kind of mirror each other in a lot of ways. I felt fortunate and good to win a game like that.  

On the steals made during the game and guarding Purdue…
Yeah, the steals were big because they led to some things. We haven't had that in a while. They did a good job of taking away outlets. They did a real good job, Matt (Painter) has always done that and he's been good, but I thought Jeremy (Fears) handled it well, and our two point guards, for 12 assists, one turnover against the team like that.  That's really important, but Frankie's play was a spurt. Jase Richardson kept us in there early, and they wore down a little bit.  I think we wore down a little bit, but for (Jaxon) Kohler and (Szymon) Zapala to go 8-for-10, that was big, and every guy that played gave us something.

On guarding Purdue's Braden Smith…
I thought Jeremy (Fears) did a hell of a job. He really dogged him the best he could, and there were some turnovers that he had that aren't characteristic.  I mean, Smith is… I mean, pound for pound, he might be the best player in the country, pound for pound. He got 17, but we made him earn every one of them, but he had some turnovers, and I think some of it was us, some of it was the help. I thought we flew around defensively, pretty well.  And when we did start doubling the post, we came out of it and rotated well. So I don't know what caused it, but fast break baskets mean a lot, and yet I got some against us. We got some today.  

On Coen's dunks…
The dunk, which one? You mean the one that Jase (Richardson) threw off, the guy's hand? That was planned. Yeah, Coen.  I mean he's just…I mean he's getting better and better. He's 4-for-4 tonight. He's making his free throws, had 4 rebounds.  I'd like to see him rebound a little better. He did have two turnovers, but he also had a couple of really nice passes that got us going too. One of them was a big time play later in the game, so he's just starting to do more and more and more, and I'm really excited for that.  

On individual accomplishments during the game…
Yeah, it's a little different. Now, Renn [Trey Kaufman-Renn] is a hell of a player and don't kid yourself.  But I thought we did do some good things. Jeremy threw a couple of great ones and then Tre threw a couple good ones and then that one Jase threw at the end too. But I always tell my guys it's not fair when you throw lobs to Coen because, hell, I could throw a lob to Coen and he could dunk it. It doesn't even have to be close to perfect, but Jase threw a hell of a lob to him, he penetrated in and, that's another guy, man.  I mean, you know, he's 2-for-3 from the 3, 4-for-4, gets 12 points, 3 assists, no turnovers efficiently as the day as long, so those were big plays early when we weren't shooting as well.

On coming back from being down at the start of the first half…
 Well, I think a little bit resurgence, but I think we got a lot of that because of the steals. We still aren't running as good off off rebounds and definitely not enough to make baskets, but they do a good job. They jam your…they got a jammer, they got a guy that they just put on your outlet guy, and we have to make sure we caught it, so that slows us down a little bit, but I think the turnovers caused the break to go, but Coen was open on another one, he just missed the run, and then he missed another lob dunk. I don't know, sometimes he's up so high, I think he's wondering who in the hell's below him, you know? I expect him to get some lobs.  I expect him to run the lane. That's why we've been looking at different guys and, where we had Frankie at the three Coen, we thought was the better three, even though he doesn't shoot it as well, but he can get out on that break and that's kind of some adjustments we made.

On Purdue's Fletcher Loyer and how the team played offensively…
It's huge, because Foster Loyer- not Foster Loyer. That was our guy, but Fletcher is a hell of a player too.  I mean, he can shoot it. He's got a great change of speed. I thought we did a pretty good job on him. The one guy that probably didn't play as well for us offensively, unfortunately, was Jaden (Akins), but give him credit, he did a hell of a job defensively on some of those guys.  So that's what I said, everybody gave us something and that's what good teams do, you know, and on certain nights, tonight was a couple of other guys nights, but everybody shot the ball. I mean, I say, Jaden, I mean he was 3 for 8, it wasn't like but he just missed a couple of wide-open shots that I think he normally hits, he missed a couple of free throws that I think he normally makes. We're going to have to correct that because the free throw shooting 2 of the last 3 games has gone down a little bit, so you can bet your… that it's going to get addressed.

On the improvement of junior forward Trey Kaufman-Renn…
You all know about the video they did on the coaches for me. I told Painter when I got out there, I said, "Where's my letter jacket?" There were three Purdue guys that were on my list. I didn't give them the list, but they found Gene (Keady) and Bruce (Weber), and that's the respect I have for that program. The job he's done with Kaufman-Renn is unbelievable because, as you say, last year he was just another player that just subbed in once in a while, and he's taken his game to a whole 'nother level. He redshirted his first year, kind of did it the way some people do it. I will pull for him now harder than anybody because I just love the way he's done it. I love his demeanor. He's really a good player. We put a lot into him. Boy, he can go right as good as anybody. The first time he double-dropped and went left. I think that kid is getting better every day. We did a decent job on Fletcher and Braden, and maybe that was a big part of the game. We kept throwing people at them, too. We just kept throwing people at them. Those two guys are really good players that started as freshmen and have come up through the program. As I said, yeah, we got them tonight, but they've owned us in the last couple of years. Deservingly so.

On having alumni come back to games…
It just goes back to what I said all along. Tyson's (Tyson Walker) parents flew in from New York for this game, and I keep saying it, I'll challenge anybody that we have some of the neatest things. And I had those guys in the locker room after, and I said, 'Some of you guys will be gone this year, some next year, some the year after. Remember not to forget where you came from.' They were happier behind the bench. They were happier in the locker room, some of my players. And Tyson's mom and dad said, hey, we might come back for the last one. I am the most fortunate human being in America that I have that kind of culture in that kind of situation. And so what did it mean? It meant a lot. Tyson and Joey (Hauser) were at practice. Malik (Hall) came in late, came in the locker room after the game. It meant a lot. Meant a lot to the players.

On the short turnaround before the next game…
Like Robbie Hummel said to me after the game, this is a gauntlet. But the quick turnaround, we're going to have a staff meeting right now to figure out what we're gonna do with our players. Do I kidnap them for a day and just put them in my house and relax and try to go to school online? What do we do? I mean, it's the second two-day turnaround, and it's the second one on the road. It is hard. When you get home at 1:30 in the morning, you don't just go to sleep after these games. And then you got to start the next morning. So I got a couple coaches that I got a little sick. It's a tough time, but what an exciting time, what an opportunity for us. We have an opportunity of a lifetime, and tomorrow I'll talk about the next opponent, but George (Perles) will turn over in his grave because it ain't even going to be the two-hour, not the 24-hour, not the 18-hour. This is the two-hour enjoyment, so don't ruin my two hours. I'm gonna take the two hours.

On if the lineups are by feel…
Doug (Wojcik) and I talk every day about it. It's hard, but it's starting to separate a little bit. Jaden and Jase, he's just been as solid as a rock, and he's even getting better defensively. I don't know if he rebounded much today. That's the next thing we're going to do. He's a good rebounding guard. He really is. I talked to Frankie just this week, just two days ago that night. He was a little bummed out, didn't play as much and went over some things with him. Tre Holloman probably deserves as much as anybody. I didn't take him out of the starting lineup, but I took him out of the starting lineup. And I went to him, I talked to him, I told him why. He's been absolutely phenomenal with Jase and with Jeremy, and I think he's playing some of his best basketball. He had a couple of days of practice that was phenomenal. That's unselfish. That's doing what's best for the team. He's been the captain that he is. We voted for our captain. I picked one. And I picked him, rightfully so.

Purdue head coach Matt Painter

On Purdue's turnovers...
Yeah, that really hurt us, obviously. Tough to scheme and walk through, four on three breaks and the three on two breaks, and the lobs. Had to do a better job of taking care of the basketball, even though we didn't have an egregious number of turnovers, they were timely turnovers. They (MSU) turned them into points, and we messed up some ball screen defense stuff, that was on me. They (MSU) did a good job of getting some flip up lobs, and you can't go on the road and give up 10 dunks, and that's what they did. Our main focus was to keep them out of the paint, and not let the ball get in there, and that's exactly what they (MSU) did. But that's easier said than done, hats off to them.

On the defensive pressure on Braden Smith...
When they (opposing teams) get aggressive, Braden has to get the ball out of his hands, and that's exactly what he did. At times people do that at times they don't, and we just got to do a better job of when they get aggressive, not overdoing it, and not over dribbling. You have to give them credit. I thought their bigs, it takes some work, you know, their bigs kept re-screening it and doing it multiple times just to try and drag those bigs out, and try to create a pocket, or try to create somebody diving or somebody from behind with it. But you know, I thought they (the bigs) were active, he's always got a good definition with his bigs. They're physical, they rebound, he runs them in and out right there and keeps them fresh. But like, you know, kind of look at the numbers, (Frankie) Fiddler and (Szymon) Zapala and the guys, you know, like they impacted the game, they were part of the game. Obviously Coen Carr and (Carson) Cooper get those lob dunks and they did a good job also, but hats off to them, they were better than us tonight.

On sitting Braden Smith for a period in the game...
Yeah, just getting him a break. Obviously, he was just frustrated right there, just try to kind of try to settle him down and try to make a push there's late in the game.

On the ball screen defense leading to lobs...
Yeah, not about the half-court lobs but just not staying into the basketball. If you don't have any pressure on the ball, then you pull your low man over and you stop that lob, now you have to have pressure on the basketball. Either you get it from the big there, or you get it from the guard. Sometimes both, right? Now you pull your low man to stop that. But then you hope you have enough pressure with it, or you can just skip it over. Then if they get away from you and you don't stay into the basketball right there, now he's a free passer, and then that's how he got lobs and passes out there. To me, that was on me because we didn't drill that enough, and that's not a lot of stuff, they don't get it a lot. Tonight, they got it a lot. They found something and they stuck with it.

On how many of Coen Carrs dunks were 'game changers'...
Yeah, that was a big game changer, we were up 26-20. It's hard to know which dunk, right? The one if were talking about in the first half, like that, right there, we had a little bit of a lead and you want to go into the half with some momentum, and you want to start the second half and play well. These guys have always been great at the start of the second half, and that's what it felt like. I thought even with what happened, and they made that push and made that run in the first half, if we could come into the first media time out in the second half and be the same way, I thought we could be okay. This is going to go down to the wire type of game, but we didn't, and they took control of the game right then and there, and we had to do a better job. We had to execute better, we had to be better defensively, and we weren't.

On keeping his team levelheaded coming off three consecutive losses...
Right, yeah, you don't get emotional about it as a coach, like you talk about practical things. We started practicing in June, so that we didn't start this last week. You're working on things from June until now, then you have people that are returning that are in your program. So, they understand, like what we work on and what we teach, and we can't get off of it, but good teams get you off of it. A lot of times when you hear a coach talk and his reaction and how you speak is my team didn't do this, my team didn't do that. Well, a big part of it is the other team, and you have got to give them credit. They played better than us, but the turnovers for us, and that's something you guys know you have covered us. Like we can't just have the live ball turnovers that we've had here, and we don't have a huge number, right? But we just have to be better. That's got to be a start for us, and then like I said earlier, we've got to do a better job of just handling actions and defending some things but also coaching-wise. We got to give our guys a better chance, and it's been an adjustment for us across the board. We don't have rim protection. When it gets there, it's not good. We've got to keep it out of there, so we've got to do a better job as a staff. I can't help them when they turn it over and get in transition, like I have nothing for them. You've got to take care of the basketball.

On why he put Will Berg in the game...
Yeah, just to have a bigger body. I thought he did a good job, and then we went from an offensive standpoint and tried to put shooter around Trey (Kaufman-Renn) in the second half, so I didn't play him or Raleigh (Burgess) in that second half. But you see the punch that Cam (Camden Heide) gives us when you know, he looks to shoot, he's got to be ready to shoot the basketball. I thought he passed up on about three threes that he should have taken. Obviously he goes two for three, I thought he should have taken three more threes that he had open right there because that offensive kind of match-up for us with Trey at the five and we put a lot of people that can shoot out there, that really puts people in binds.

On Tom Izzo's Big Ten wins record...
Oh, it's unbelievable, I think they cut me off in the video, which is probably a smart decision to cut me off, but I compared it to Joe DiMaggio's 56 game hit streak, and obviously it still stands. For me it's a lot different, he recruited me; I'm 54, so that means he's old, hen he was an assistant here, so I've known him for a really long time, and he's done it the right way. He's worked it. It's hard, man, like battling everybody else in competition, but also battling your own people. I think people don't understand that. The people that support you, you battle also, because when you raise your expectations and you go to eight Final Fours and 10 Big Ten Championships, like people expect that. Like as a coach, what people expect from you is your best year. And we all know he's really good, right? If you can't handle that, then you shouldn't coach. Treat people the right way, work hard, do the best that you can, but understand it's a game of basketball, right? But he's been able to take that and change a lot of people's lives through opportunities. It's still, besides maybe like the Army or Navy, it's still somebody getting a scholarship has changed more lives than anything out there. Somebody getting that opportunity to start their life and having an advantage, and sports can help you so much, but you also have to have discipline in life. You've got to have it. He obviously has a discipline and he's own people, but he cares about them, and that's something we always talk about. We don't yell at people that we don't care about, and he's the epitome of that, and he deserves everything coming his way.

Michigan State sophomore forward Coen Carr

On the guards taking care of the ball and pulling away in the second half…
I mean it was great, you know, we've been talking about that a lot, you know, taking care of the ball. Coach (Izzo) says whenever we have under 10 turnovers we're hard to beat, so we just have to go out there and take care of the ball and our guards did that today.

On thinking about the Michigan game coming up…
We're gonna enjoy this win and when we wake up tomorrow, we'll start that.

On the run MSU went on in the first half and how it flipped the game…
Yeah, I mean, you know, we came up there.  Our defense wasn't where it needed to be at a certain time, so we just kind of had to bear down and get stops and it definitely helped us with our transitions. We were able to go to get lobs and get easy buckets and that definitely made the game a lot easier.

On playing in transition well and if that's when they are at their best…
Oh yeah most definitely, whenever we get on that break, you know, we feel like there's not many teams that can stop us.

On if he surprises himself with how high he's able to jump…
Not really, I'm pretty used to it now.

Michigan State freshman guard Jase Richardson

On carrying momentum with just two days before the next game...
Yeah, I think it definitely is (easier). You play a game and then it's a quick transition to the next one, so you've definitely got to build on momentum, get into practice and be locked in.

On getting their offense going...
I think them having their five man in a drop on those help sides, I feel like that really got us good looks for our bigs. When we were hitting threes we started hitting shots there, and then just in transition I think transition was really our biggest thing tonight.

On his dunk that got a run going...
It felt good. You can throw it up to someone like Coen Carr and it does a lot, it ignites everybody and then we went on a run from there.

Michigan State senior forward Frankie Fidler

On his three early in the second half providing energy...
I think it provided us a lot, it was a big three and a big stretch when I was in there.

On what becomes important to the team at this time of the year...
The little things, attention to detail on everything, like tonight we didn't shoot our free throws well tonight and that's going to win us games later on down the year. Just the little things, coming into practice and having maximum focus and carrying that over to games is going to be important.

On limiting turnovers...
I think that less turnovers means more shots for us. We have a lot of good players, so if we're getting more shots, that's a good thing for us. Coach (Izzo) preaches to us every day to keep the turnovers down and I think it's starting to click.

Michigan State University Athletics

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Players Mentioned

Coen Carr

Carson Cooper

Frankie Fidler

Tre Holloman

Jase Richardson

Tyson Walker

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