Photo by: Rey Del Rio/MSU Athletic Communications
Post-Game Quotes: USC
1/5/2026 11:18:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Michigan State Head Coach Tom Izzo
Opening Statement...
Different way it started. I've got to say first that I give Coen Carr a lot of credit. I don't think anyone ever would realize how difficult that is. Give USC credit. They tried to do something that I understood. I think we missed 3 or 4 of the first five shots, but boy, when he started just backing him in and getting his game, then he hit the mid-range, then he hit the three. It was big for Coen (Carr). He didn't quit playing defense. He didn't quit rebounding. In fact, he rebounded the ball better than he has been. It might be frustrating to some, but I was really proud of him and how he handled it and what he did. We've still got some work to do. We've got to get Jaxon (Kohler) the ball more, and Coop (Carson Cooper), too. We don't want to have seven shots inside, so they'll do a better job of that. What I said we needed to do is get back to defending, defending the three, and running. I thought Jermey got it out very well. We pushed the ball very well. Divine (Ugochukwu), considering how sick he was for five days, I thought bounced back and did a pretty good job. Kur (Teng) came in and did a pretty good job, and Jordan Scott. The big thing now is getting Cam (Ward) going because he makes some great plays. He just needs to play some minutes now, so we've got to get him a little more time. If we do that, we take another step forward. It's a quick turnaround again, concerned about that, but that's where our depth helps us.
On Carr's confidence after slow start...
I didn't tell him to keep shooting them. I told him at first, those are good shots, and then I just said, if they come off that far, just back them in. Which he did a much better job of. He got to the free-throw line. I said, 'You've got to do a good job on the offensive glass. Get some points that way. You still have got to play good defense.' No complaining, no nothing. You'd all have a hard time doing what he did tonight. I give him a lot of credit for what he did, how he did it, and it was a good lesson for some of our other guys, too. It's kind of neat that he ends up being the leading scorer. Wow. Jax (Kohler) did some good things and hit some good threes again. Jeremy (Fears) gives him some great passes. Jeremy had seven assists. He had one turnover that I didn't think was one. All in all, I thought Coen did what Coen needed to do. Yeah, some people might start playing him differently. He'll keep working on that shot. It'll get better. Tonight wasn't good early, but he found a way, and that's all that matters.
On categorizing tonight's game between a bounce back, payback, or another night in the Big Ten...
All three. We were disappointed on how we played out there last year. I think that's a really talented team. I watch them warm up and say, I just kept looking for magic. They're big, and they're athletic. They've got a nice team. They struggled the other night, and I'm sure he (Eric Musselman) wasn't happy with some guys, changed his lineup, but I give him respect for that. But, after that start, because it was kind of an ugly start, I thought we did a lot of good things in the second half. We kept building on it, and that was really good for us. We ended up holding them to 32% and 17% from three. It's really important for me to score a few more baskets and to shoot better from the field. We missed some threes, but some of those were his three or four early. 7 for 22, that's not ridiculous.
On ideal play from "Big 4" in the lineup and minutes moving forward...
The guy that I want to get more minutes for right now is Cam. Other than that, I think it's decent. I think you're going to see Coop, Coen, Jaxon, and Jermey up a little bit. Coop played 27, Jermey 28, Coen 24, Jax, 24 and a half. You know, maybe a minute or two more, but it'd be nice if we could keep guys like that, because I think you're going to see Cam Ward. I just have a real feel that he's going to break out here. Jesse was okay, too. Cam's kind of more ready to play right now. He gives us another dimension. At 6-8, he can guard a lot of people, he's athletic, he can rebound, keeps working on his shot. I really think he's going to be a positive influence since the hand. Remember now, before he hurt the hand, I think he had 18 and 9 against Arkansas. He was one of the better players on the floor. Hopefully, we can get him back.
On what is left for Cam's (Ward) development...
I think just being comfortable. He didn't practice for a week and a half when it happened (hand Injury). Then, he started practicing on and off, and it was taped and held heavily. Now, we've cut that down to almost nothing. I think he's more comfortable. One thing Cam can do is he can put the ball on the floor, and the injury hurt that a little bit. So what do I think he can do? I think he can do a lot more, plus I think he can run the court. We're going to get a lot more out of Cam. I really believe that. I think that's one of the most encouraging things about the night because I saw a couple of things. He made a couple of mistakes, too, and he knows it. He just needs reps. Fairness to him.
On evolution behind Jaxon's (Kohler) shooting and development...
Jaxon, I think, if you ask the players, is the hardest working guy I got. He maxes out on the number of shots a week. He's always practicing. There's never a bad practice for him. He's earned everything he's got, okay? Once in a while, like tonight, I thought a couple of times underneath, he was trying, but we've got to get him more shots. Jeremy's done a great job on any of those pick and pops. He's hitting him right where he needs to hit him. They appreciate that. A couple of things, I'd like to get 65 shots up a game, so we can get everybody more. Tonight, we had a lot of people taking shots. Kur (Teng) took eight. Divine (Ugochukwu) took six. Trey had a couple. Jesse had a couple. It was really stretched out. Jeremy, I thought, did a really nice job, too, at looking for his shot. He missed a couple wide open threes. He's been hitting those. I feel good about where we are because our defense, our toughness, and our rebounding looked like it was back. I didn't see that this past weekend.
On his conversation with Jeremy…
Believe it or not we're going out to dinner tonight and I think I asked him where he'd like to go, and I didn't agree with the place he wanted to go so I told him he was full of it and he kind of agreed with it. I'll be very honest with you, some things happened at Nebraska, as you all know, and I just don't want anything happening, I want a player celebrating with his teammates. I don't want him celebrating with somebody else. A couple times that seemed to happen tonight with a couple different players, so I was just trying to nip that in the bud. I don't want that, and I need, I need Jeremy to, the greatest captions and the greatest leaders and the greatest quarterbacks rally everybody on his team. And then they rally the fans. I'm cool with that. I don't need anybody coaching the other team, and I think at times, you know, Jaxon, he should get the ball more. But, the opponents do something to you too. We had two teams that just doubled him every time he looked at it so it was a little more difficult, but we're getting him the ball in different places. You know what, there's nothing more fun than when a player comes at me because that means, I right away say that SOB really cares, man. So, I'll chat with him for a while and he'll chat back, and I'll walk away laughing saying okay, we're making some progress. No big deal.
On Jeremy not lacking confidence after the Nebraska loss…
Well you saw Coen do it tonight at an unbelievable level because that was a great, Jeremy, he was upset with himself. That's a good thing too guys, that's a good thing, because when you're a competitive guy you should be upset with yourself. And if getting back on the horse, I mean that's why it's good to fail. That's why it's really good to fail once in a while, because then you check your old card and I can do that. And we're a society of 'everybody gets a trophy.' So when somebody fails, you know what, I didn't say anything to him either way, and the next day in practice I did. I think it's really good that people realize that 'you know what, I didn't play as well as I should've'. You know what 'I didn't coach as good as I should've'. Those are good things and we don't let that happen in our screwed up society right now. I was proud of Jeremy and how he bounced back. He was really upset with those two plays down there, but he did some other pretty good things. Him and I worked on his shot last night, he did a nice job. It was all good, all good. Good question, average answer.
On how much emphasis there was to defend without fouling…
It was the number one thing on the scouting report, number two, number three. It was the number one thing at halftime, it really was. I mean we made a big deal about that the whole time for two reasons. One, we tried to pack it in a little bit because we knew that Ausar kid is a good player and we were afraid of getting our bigs in foul trouble so kind of helped a lot of him. Saddi had the scouting report and Doug did such a good job with the defense. Those guys worked together and I thought did a hell of a job, and I thought we ran some pretty good stuff offensively too and got some chances. Defending without fouling, and not giving up three's that we've been giving up in the last four games was two of the emphasis. And, playing with a different toughness and aggressiveness because I thought we lost a little bit of that.
On if the team ran the fast break better…
No question. Running usually starts with defending and then rebounding. You know, you run better when you rebound the ball than you do when you take it out of the basket. I thought we put some things together. It's one more game, but it's the first Big Ten game at home to start this, now we have two more games at home. It's a good way to start it off.
On Jordan Scott's game…
Jordan Scott has been one of our unsung heroes for a freshman. He's done a lot of really good things. He's been close to starting, we just felt like we didn't want to put that pressure on him but he's been playing more minutes. Him and Cam are roommates, they're going to be a dynamic duo here for a while and I think you're going to see both of them. But Jordan, he's guarding pretty good, he's got a beautiful shot, and you know for a while there he was always short and going through the process of getting better as a freshman. I think he came back from Christmas a lot more confident and it's showing. We've been really happy with Jordan.
What did Paul Davis say to get booted tonight?
You know, I love Paul Davis. I really do. He's one of my favorite guys, he's always calling and doing things but what he said, you should never say anywhere in the world. That ticked me off. So, just because it's 20 years later, I'm going to have to call him tomorrow and tell him what I thought of it. And you know what he'll say? 'I screwed up, Coach. I'm sorry.' He kind of got after the official, and he was 150% wrong. For a guy like me to 150% agree with the official? It's almost illegal. I feel bad that Paul did that because he's been a guy that comes back a lot and we want to keep him coming back. He made a mistake, but he's been really good with our players, too. In the summer he comes up and helps work a guy out or just around. He's just, Jud Heathcote used to tell me that sooner or later the game makes fools of us all. Once in a while, the game makes fools of our fans. Definitely it's made a fool of me more than a couple times. I check myself once in a while where I get calls from guys and I'm going to have to call and tell him what I thought and the only good news is that he's been so good he's going to agree 100%. It was nothing, when I said he shouldn't have said it, he just shouldn't say what he said, but it wasn't, let's not get carried away. It wasn't something racial, it wasn't something sexual, it was just the wrong thing to say. I'll leave it at that.
A follow-up on Paul Davis...
The PD question, that was it? I don't want to discourage him either. I want to tell him he was wrong like I would my son, my daughter, like I would my players, like I would myself. But I don't want, I need Paul Davis here. Paul Davis is a very important part of this program because he went through tough times when he was here and he's really been a good advocate of telling kids how they have to deal with the process and that. So, all good with Paul, he just made a mistake tonight. The crowd tonight was great, the alumni Izzone, I guess we have another one this week so give our marketing people more, and more, and more credit. This just doesn't happen everywhere. We just take so many things for granted here. I walked out tonight and I go 'wow, where in the hell does this happen?' So thank God for all those people, thank God for Paul, be careful what you say, and appreciate you guys. See you on Thursday.
USC Head Coach Eric Musselman
Opening Statement...
We got our butts kicked two games in a row by two teams that are far superior. The injuries are, I mean, it's quite obvious now that without the three guys that we're severely undermanned. Turnovers, inability to play in front of sellouts. Give Michigan State credit, they played better than us and without Rodney's (Rice) 20 points, without Amarion's (Dickerson) defense and without Alijah (Arenas), it's too much, it's too much for us in the Big Ten. So go back to the drawing board and try to figure something else out.
On the team responding to back-to-back losses...
Well, I don't like how we responded tonight. From a talent standpoint without those guys, I don't know where we are. Obviously, getting even a shot for us is hard. So, we lack games off the bounce and we're turning over the ball. You can't turn the ball over on the road like we are. So, that's how you lose by 30 points in back-to-back games.
On Ezra Ausar's turnovers...
Yeah, I mean, that's 14 points at the other end. We have no floor spacing because nobody respects us as a shooting team. So, it's too much to overcome.
On his message to Ezra Ausar...
Well, I mean, nobody's guarding three other guys. So, again, if you take three players off Michigan State, there's no excuses, those guys are out, but, we built the team around two of them. So, it'd be like you're on your third string quarterback. I mean, our point guard play is problematic for us right now.
On Chad Baker-Mazara's season-low four points...
He's got to produce. I didn't think he played very well at all, tonight or at Michigan, and we need his scoring, or we have to look for somebody else.
On reevaluating after back-to-back losses...
We reevaluated after the last game and changed stuff. We're going to have to play over our talent level to win a game in the Big Ten. Losing by 30 points, that's where it's at.
On improving the team's defense...
If you look at our Michigan game, one guy hurt, we played their starters great, four of their five. I thought tonight when we executed the defensive game plan, I didn't think it was bad. Their transition offense is really good. I thought we gave up a couple, maybe three to four that we shouldn't have, but we got out rebounded by nine in both games. It wasn't too bad. It's the turnovers, lack of scoring and lack of shooting. You can't run offense when nobody's guarding people.
On Kam Woods' impact...
I mean, he does move the ball. But he's got to be somewhat of an offensive threat. I mean, he's 1-for-10 coming in tonight, 1-for-14 from the field. But he does move the ball, he does give us toughness. He's probably the one true point guard on the team that actually knows how to get guys in spots. So, keep going back to the drawing board.
On where he sees Jacob Cofie progressing next season...
He's got to play better for us than he has the last two games for sure. More aggressively.
On regrouping while still being on the road...
Yeah, we have another game. We'll see how we respond. It's unprecedented for this league to have a three-game road trip. We're the first one that I know that's done it and stayed on the road the whole time. So, you know, we'll see. We'll give them off tomorrow, and then see if we can regroup.
Junior Forward Coen Carr
On what his mindset is when he is missing shots…
Yeah, just next shot, every time. Next play, just keep moving on and try not to dwell on anything. But the way they were guarding me, it was easy to just fall into that and lose confidence and stuff like that. So, I just keep on finding different ways to score. Just kept moving.
On the created extra motivation when teams sag off defensively…
I mean, they played me like that last year, so I kind of figured how they were going to do it. I was just more prepared for this year.
On how he ranks his two-handed dunk over two USC defenders…
Now that one's good. I didn't really have any running room like I usually have, so it was like a little dunk. I actually didn't think Jaxon (Kohler) saw me at first, but then I tripped on my feet. I stumbled a little bit and I caught it, gathered myself, and went up. And then, yeah, he (USC defender) jumped, and I had to pump it over (him).
Redshirt-Sophomore Guard Jeremy Fears Jr.
On his mindset when he's struggling from the field…
Keep shooting. That's the mindset I have. I put in the work. I put in the time, why not? Everybody trusts me. I think it helps my game, helps my team, once you're aggressive you kind of have to respect that, and maybe kind of game plan and change what you do. Then it gets Jaxon (Kohler) open. Then it gets Coen (Carr) open layups. Then it gets Coop (Carson Cooper) lobs. Then it gets Divine (Ugochukwu), Kur (Teng), and Trey (Fort) open shots, so just kind of being aggressive opens everything.
On how he would characterize this game…
Obviously, they beat us at their home, which was our first loss in B1G play. So, it was big. They had people coming out, jumping around. So, I kind of remember that, obviously, they don't have the same players with how the portal works, but there was a little more fire. I didn't want to lose to them two years in a row to the same team. We're at home and just make sure we take care of business. At the same time in B1G play, we lost two nights ago, so just make sure we come out and do the job and get a win. And at the same time, another night in the B1G, it's going to be a dog fight. They've got talented players, and we had a game plan and a job to come out and execute it.
On balancing the highs and lows…
Definitely, I mean, that's what our community, our fans, everybody reacts when something goes wrong, but us as a group, they don't see the work and time we put in, and that our goal is still right there. We're still 3-1 in B1G. Everything happens night in and night out. Making sure we take our business and win our games.
Senior Forward Jaxon Kohler:
On the growth of freshman forward Jordan Scott…
Yeah, I would say the confidence is one thing because he plays with more confidence. He doesn't feel so much pressure to overdo stuff. Sometimes as a young player, as a freshman, and I can speak from experience, when you overthink it, you just try to over hustle and over think it, and you don't just play ball. I know for a fact that he's been film and working with the coaches to figure out coverages, and if this or that happens. So, he's doing a really good job of being matured, and going in, watching extra film, making sure that if in the game something happens, he doesn't have to wonder, "What do I do"? He says that instantly. I think that's why he's talking about confidence, because he's been putting in the work, he puts work in on the floor, but he puts more work into the small stuff like film. So, I shouldn't say it's a small part, because watching film is a really big part of it. That just shows that watching the film and doing the stuff that doesn't seem the most tiring, or the most physical, but when you're watching film, it takes you such a long way. If he keeps doing that, he's going to be a really good defender.
On the defense strategy heading into the game…
Before the game tonight and after the Nebraska game (1/2), we defensively have been going downwards. We've been struggling with that, letting teams shoot threes on us at a high percentage, and we need that to go down. There's a couple of things we need to fix, like turnovers and stuff, but playing better defense was the biggest thing for us going into this game. Making sure we do our job against them but making sure that we kind of put our foot down on the defensive part. And I feel like we did a really good job. We had a step in the right direction, but we need to keep growing on that. We need to keep going with our defensive principles and making sure that we keep getting better and better and better, because we have the ability, and we have the chance to.
Opening Statement...
Different way it started. I've got to say first that I give Coen Carr a lot of credit. I don't think anyone ever would realize how difficult that is. Give USC credit. They tried to do something that I understood. I think we missed 3 or 4 of the first five shots, but boy, when he started just backing him in and getting his game, then he hit the mid-range, then he hit the three. It was big for Coen (Carr). He didn't quit playing defense. He didn't quit rebounding. In fact, he rebounded the ball better than he has been. It might be frustrating to some, but I was really proud of him and how he handled it and what he did. We've still got some work to do. We've got to get Jaxon (Kohler) the ball more, and Coop (Carson Cooper), too. We don't want to have seven shots inside, so they'll do a better job of that. What I said we needed to do is get back to defending, defending the three, and running. I thought Jermey got it out very well. We pushed the ball very well. Divine (Ugochukwu), considering how sick he was for five days, I thought bounced back and did a pretty good job. Kur (Teng) came in and did a pretty good job, and Jordan Scott. The big thing now is getting Cam (Ward) going because he makes some great plays. He just needs to play some minutes now, so we've got to get him a little more time. If we do that, we take another step forward. It's a quick turnaround again, concerned about that, but that's where our depth helps us.
On Carr's confidence after slow start...
I didn't tell him to keep shooting them. I told him at first, those are good shots, and then I just said, if they come off that far, just back them in. Which he did a much better job of. He got to the free-throw line. I said, 'You've got to do a good job on the offensive glass. Get some points that way. You still have got to play good defense.' No complaining, no nothing. You'd all have a hard time doing what he did tonight. I give him a lot of credit for what he did, how he did it, and it was a good lesson for some of our other guys, too. It's kind of neat that he ends up being the leading scorer. Wow. Jax (Kohler) did some good things and hit some good threes again. Jeremy (Fears) gives him some great passes. Jeremy had seven assists. He had one turnover that I didn't think was one. All in all, I thought Coen did what Coen needed to do. Yeah, some people might start playing him differently. He'll keep working on that shot. It'll get better. Tonight wasn't good early, but he found a way, and that's all that matters.
On categorizing tonight's game between a bounce back, payback, or another night in the Big Ten...
All three. We were disappointed on how we played out there last year. I think that's a really talented team. I watch them warm up and say, I just kept looking for magic. They're big, and they're athletic. They've got a nice team. They struggled the other night, and I'm sure he (Eric Musselman) wasn't happy with some guys, changed his lineup, but I give him respect for that. But, after that start, because it was kind of an ugly start, I thought we did a lot of good things in the second half. We kept building on it, and that was really good for us. We ended up holding them to 32% and 17% from three. It's really important for me to score a few more baskets and to shoot better from the field. We missed some threes, but some of those were his three or four early. 7 for 22, that's not ridiculous.
On ideal play from "Big 4" in the lineup and minutes moving forward...
The guy that I want to get more minutes for right now is Cam. Other than that, I think it's decent. I think you're going to see Coop, Coen, Jaxon, and Jermey up a little bit. Coop played 27, Jermey 28, Coen 24, Jax, 24 and a half. You know, maybe a minute or two more, but it'd be nice if we could keep guys like that, because I think you're going to see Cam Ward. I just have a real feel that he's going to break out here. Jesse was okay, too. Cam's kind of more ready to play right now. He gives us another dimension. At 6-8, he can guard a lot of people, he's athletic, he can rebound, keeps working on his shot. I really think he's going to be a positive influence since the hand. Remember now, before he hurt the hand, I think he had 18 and 9 against Arkansas. He was one of the better players on the floor. Hopefully, we can get him back.
On what is left for Cam's (Ward) development...
I think just being comfortable. He didn't practice for a week and a half when it happened (hand Injury). Then, he started practicing on and off, and it was taped and held heavily. Now, we've cut that down to almost nothing. I think he's more comfortable. One thing Cam can do is he can put the ball on the floor, and the injury hurt that a little bit. So what do I think he can do? I think he can do a lot more, plus I think he can run the court. We're going to get a lot more out of Cam. I really believe that. I think that's one of the most encouraging things about the night because I saw a couple of things. He made a couple of mistakes, too, and he knows it. He just needs reps. Fairness to him.
On evolution behind Jaxon's (Kohler) shooting and development...
Jaxon, I think, if you ask the players, is the hardest working guy I got. He maxes out on the number of shots a week. He's always practicing. There's never a bad practice for him. He's earned everything he's got, okay? Once in a while, like tonight, I thought a couple of times underneath, he was trying, but we've got to get him more shots. Jeremy's done a great job on any of those pick and pops. He's hitting him right where he needs to hit him. They appreciate that. A couple of things, I'd like to get 65 shots up a game, so we can get everybody more. Tonight, we had a lot of people taking shots. Kur (Teng) took eight. Divine (Ugochukwu) took six. Trey had a couple. Jesse had a couple. It was really stretched out. Jeremy, I thought, did a really nice job, too, at looking for his shot. He missed a couple wide open threes. He's been hitting those. I feel good about where we are because our defense, our toughness, and our rebounding looked like it was back. I didn't see that this past weekend.
On his conversation with Jeremy…
Believe it or not we're going out to dinner tonight and I think I asked him where he'd like to go, and I didn't agree with the place he wanted to go so I told him he was full of it and he kind of agreed with it. I'll be very honest with you, some things happened at Nebraska, as you all know, and I just don't want anything happening, I want a player celebrating with his teammates. I don't want him celebrating with somebody else. A couple times that seemed to happen tonight with a couple different players, so I was just trying to nip that in the bud. I don't want that, and I need, I need Jeremy to, the greatest captions and the greatest leaders and the greatest quarterbacks rally everybody on his team. And then they rally the fans. I'm cool with that. I don't need anybody coaching the other team, and I think at times, you know, Jaxon, he should get the ball more. But, the opponents do something to you too. We had two teams that just doubled him every time he looked at it so it was a little more difficult, but we're getting him the ball in different places. You know what, there's nothing more fun than when a player comes at me because that means, I right away say that SOB really cares, man. So, I'll chat with him for a while and he'll chat back, and I'll walk away laughing saying okay, we're making some progress. No big deal.
On Jeremy not lacking confidence after the Nebraska loss…
Well you saw Coen do it tonight at an unbelievable level because that was a great, Jeremy, he was upset with himself. That's a good thing too guys, that's a good thing, because when you're a competitive guy you should be upset with yourself. And if getting back on the horse, I mean that's why it's good to fail. That's why it's really good to fail once in a while, because then you check your old card and I can do that. And we're a society of 'everybody gets a trophy.' So when somebody fails, you know what, I didn't say anything to him either way, and the next day in practice I did. I think it's really good that people realize that 'you know what, I didn't play as well as I should've'. You know what 'I didn't coach as good as I should've'. Those are good things and we don't let that happen in our screwed up society right now. I was proud of Jeremy and how he bounced back. He was really upset with those two plays down there, but he did some other pretty good things. Him and I worked on his shot last night, he did a nice job. It was all good, all good. Good question, average answer.
On how much emphasis there was to defend without fouling…
It was the number one thing on the scouting report, number two, number three. It was the number one thing at halftime, it really was. I mean we made a big deal about that the whole time for two reasons. One, we tried to pack it in a little bit because we knew that Ausar kid is a good player and we were afraid of getting our bigs in foul trouble so kind of helped a lot of him. Saddi had the scouting report and Doug did such a good job with the defense. Those guys worked together and I thought did a hell of a job, and I thought we ran some pretty good stuff offensively too and got some chances. Defending without fouling, and not giving up three's that we've been giving up in the last four games was two of the emphasis. And, playing with a different toughness and aggressiveness because I thought we lost a little bit of that.
On if the team ran the fast break better…
No question. Running usually starts with defending and then rebounding. You know, you run better when you rebound the ball than you do when you take it out of the basket. I thought we put some things together. It's one more game, but it's the first Big Ten game at home to start this, now we have two more games at home. It's a good way to start it off.
On Jordan Scott's game…
Jordan Scott has been one of our unsung heroes for a freshman. He's done a lot of really good things. He's been close to starting, we just felt like we didn't want to put that pressure on him but he's been playing more minutes. Him and Cam are roommates, they're going to be a dynamic duo here for a while and I think you're going to see both of them. But Jordan, he's guarding pretty good, he's got a beautiful shot, and you know for a while there he was always short and going through the process of getting better as a freshman. I think he came back from Christmas a lot more confident and it's showing. We've been really happy with Jordan.
What did Paul Davis say to get booted tonight?
You know, I love Paul Davis. I really do. He's one of my favorite guys, he's always calling and doing things but what he said, you should never say anywhere in the world. That ticked me off. So, just because it's 20 years later, I'm going to have to call him tomorrow and tell him what I thought of it. And you know what he'll say? 'I screwed up, Coach. I'm sorry.' He kind of got after the official, and he was 150% wrong. For a guy like me to 150% agree with the official? It's almost illegal. I feel bad that Paul did that because he's been a guy that comes back a lot and we want to keep him coming back. He made a mistake, but he's been really good with our players, too. In the summer he comes up and helps work a guy out or just around. He's just, Jud Heathcote used to tell me that sooner or later the game makes fools of us all. Once in a while, the game makes fools of our fans. Definitely it's made a fool of me more than a couple times. I check myself once in a while where I get calls from guys and I'm going to have to call and tell him what I thought and the only good news is that he's been so good he's going to agree 100%. It was nothing, when I said he shouldn't have said it, he just shouldn't say what he said, but it wasn't, let's not get carried away. It wasn't something racial, it wasn't something sexual, it was just the wrong thing to say. I'll leave it at that.
A follow-up on Paul Davis...
The PD question, that was it? I don't want to discourage him either. I want to tell him he was wrong like I would my son, my daughter, like I would my players, like I would myself. But I don't want, I need Paul Davis here. Paul Davis is a very important part of this program because he went through tough times when he was here and he's really been a good advocate of telling kids how they have to deal with the process and that. So, all good with Paul, he just made a mistake tonight. The crowd tonight was great, the alumni Izzone, I guess we have another one this week so give our marketing people more, and more, and more credit. This just doesn't happen everywhere. We just take so many things for granted here. I walked out tonight and I go 'wow, where in the hell does this happen?' So thank God for all those people, thank God for Paul, be careful what you say, and appreciate you guys. See you on Thursday.
USC Head Coach Eric Musselman
Opening Statement...
We got our butts kicked two games in a row by two teams that are far superior. The injuries are, I mean, it's quite obvious now that without the three guys that we're severely undermanned. Turnovers, inability to play in front of sellouts. Give Michigan State credit, they played better than us and without Rodney's (Rice) 20 points, without Amarion's (Dickerson) defense and without Alijah (Arenas), it's too much, it's too much for us in the Big Ten. So go back to the drawing board and try to figure something else out.
On the team responding to back-to-back losses...
Well, I don't like how we responded tonight. From a talent standpoint without those guys, I don't know where we are. Obviously, getting even a shot for us is hard. So, we lack games off the bounce and we're turning over the ball. You can't turn the ball over on the road like we are. So, that's how you lose by 30 points in back-to-back games.
On Ezra Ausar's turnovers...
Yeah, I mean, that's 14 points at the other end. We have no floor spacing because nobody respects us as a shooting team. So, it's too much to overcome.
On his message to Ezra Ausar...
Well, I mean, nobody's guarding three other guys. So, again, if you take three players off Michigan State, there's no excuses, those guys are out, but, we built the team around two of them. So, it'd be like you're on your third string quarterback. I mean, our point guard play is problematic for us right now.
On Chad Baker-Mazara's season-low four points...
He's got to produce. I didn't think he played very well at all, tonight or at Michigan, and we need his scoring, or we have to look for somebody else.
On reevaluating after back-to-back losses...
We reevaluated after the last game and changed stuff. We're going to have to play over our talent level to win a game in the Big Ten. Losing by 30 points, that's where it's at.
On improving the team's defense...
If you look at our Michigan game, one guy hurt, we played their starters great, four of their five. I thought tonight when we executed the defensive game plan, I didn't think it was bad. Their transition offense is really good. I thought we gave up a couple, maybe three to four that we shouldn't have, but we got out rebounded by nine in both games. It wasn't too bad. It's the turnovers, lack of scoring and lack of shooting. You can't run offense when nobody's guarding people.
On Kam Woods' impact...
I mean, he does move the ball. But he's got to be somewhat of an offensive threat. I mean, he's 1-for-10 coming in tonight, 1-for-14 from the field. But he does move the ball, he does give us toughness. He's probably the one true point guard on the team that actually knows how to get guys in spots. So, keep going back to the drawing board.
On where he sees Jacob Cofie progressing next season...
He's got to play better for us than he has the last two games for sure. More aggressively.
On regrouping while still being on the road...
Yeah, we have another game. We'll see how we respond. It's unprecedented for this league to have a three-game road trip. We're the first one that I know that's done it and stayed on the road the whole time. So, you know, we'll see. We'll give them off tomorrow, and then see if we can regroup.
Junior Forward Coen Carr
On what his mindset is when he is missing shots…
Yeah, just next shot, every time. Next play, just keep moving on and try not to dwell on anything. But the way they were guarding me, it was easy to just fall into that and lose confidence and stuff like that. So, I just keep on finding different ways to score. Just kept moving.
On the created extra motivation when teams sag off defensively…
I mean, they played me like that last year, so I kind of figured how they were going to do it. I was just more prepared for this year.
On how he ranks his two-handed dunk over two USC defenders…
Now that one's good. I didn't really have any running room like I usually have, so it was like a little dunk. I actually didn't think Jaxon (Kohler) saw me at first, but then I tripped on my feet. I stumbled a little bit and I caught it, gathered myself, and went up. And then, yeah, he (USC defender) jumped, and I had to pump it over (him).
Redshirt-Sophomore Guard Jeremy Fears Jr.
On his mindset when he's struggling from the field…
Keep shooting. That's the mindset I have. I put in the work. I put in the time, why not? Everybody trusts me. I think it helps my game, helps my team, once you're aggressive you kind of have to respect that, and maybe kind of game plan and change what you do. Then it gets Jaxon (Kohler) open. Then it gets Coen (Carr) open layups. Then it gets Coop (Carson Cooper) lobs. Then it gets Divine (Ugochukwu), Kur (Teng), and Trey (Fort) open shots, so just kind of being aggressive opens everything.
On how he would characterize this game…
Obviously, they beat us at their home, which was our first loss in B1G play. So, it was big. They had people coming out, jumping around. So, I kind of remember that, obviously, they don't have the same players with how the portal works, but there was a little more fire. I didn't want to lose to them two years in a row to the same team. We're at home and just make sure we take care of business. At the same time in B1G play, we lost two nights ago, so just make sure we come out and do the job and get a win. And at the same time, another night in the B1G, it's going to be a dog fight. They've got talented players, and we had a game plan and a job to come out and execute it.
On balancing the highs and lows…
Definitely, I mean, that's what our community, our fans, everybody reacts when something goes wrong, but us as a group, they don't see the work and time we put in, and that our goal is still right there. We're still 3-1 in B1G. Everything happens night in and night out. Making sure we take our business and win our games.
Senior Forward Jaxon Kohler:
On the growth of freshman forward Jordan Scott…
Yeah, I would say the confidence is one thing because he plays with more confidence. He doesn't feel so much pressure to overdo stuff. Sometimes as a young player, as a freshman, and I can speak from experience, when you overthink it, you just try to over hustle and over think it, and you don't just play ball. I know for a fact that he's been film and working with the coaches to figure out coverages, and if this or that happens. So, he's doing a really good job of being matured, and going in, watching extra film, making sure that if in the game something happens, he doesn't have to wonder, "What do I do"? He says that instantly. I think that's why he's talking about confidence, because he's been putting in the work, he puts work in on the floor, but he puts more work into the small stuff like film. So, I shouldn't say it's a small part, because watching film is a really big part of it. That just shows that watching the film and doing the stuff that doesn't seem the most tiring, or the most physical, but when you're watching film, it takes you such a long way. If he keeps doing that, he's going to be a really good defender.
On the defense strategy heading into the game…
Before the game tonight and after the Nebraska game (1/2), we defensively have been going downwards. We've been struggling with that, letting teams shoot threes on us at a high percentage, and we need that to go down. There's a couple of things we need to fix, like turnovers and stuff, but playing better defense was the biggest thing for us going into this game. Making sure we do our job against them but making sure that we kind of put our foot down on the defensive part. And I feel like we did a really good job. We had a step in the right direction, but we need to keep growing on that. We need to keep going with our defensive principles and making sure that we keep getting better and better and better, because we have the ability, and we have the chance to.
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