Post-Game Quotes: UCLA

Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo

Opening Statement...
I don't know. I brought my best friend Steve Mariucci and you can see why I like football better than basketball. Now we go to Wisconsin and we can't make a shot and they can't miss one. We come here and we can't miss a shot and they can't make one. Then, Ohio State, Wisconsin goes to Ohio State, and they can't make a three. It's, my sport is harder than yours, harder to coach. I just want you to know that I told you. But, I thought, it happened what needed to happen. I thought my seniors, Coop (Carson Cooper) and Jaxon (Kohler), were really good early. I thought Jordan (Scott) and Jeremy (Fears) were really good early. I thought Coen (Carr), and that's what we have to be. My four guys have to be good, and they were really good. They were really good, they did a lot of really good things, mostly defensively. I felt for Mick (Cronin), his team is a lot better than that. I guess he upgraded that to a flagrant, too. That's the first time I saw a coach do it. But, that sounds like Mick so he'll get that straightened out. Maybe on the negative side to get through it first, 14 turnovers, and seven of them by our bigs. But we had a lot of guys hurt. Denham had hurt his shoulder a little bit, that's why he didn't play. That was a little hard because I put Jeremy in more minutes, but I think he's going to be fine. We got a little bit more; Cam Ward did a few things, Kur Teng hit a couple of threes and that really helped us. All in all, it was a big win. 21 assists on 29 baskets. The ball was really moving the first half. I think we got a little selfish second half. Went inside and it was like a black hole, it never came out and that wasn't good. In general, that was maybe as good as we've played on both ends of the court, both offense and defense. Questions? I'll take them.

On the motto of defend, rebound, run…
When you defend properly, you don't get people out of penetration, you have a better chance to rebound the ball because your bigs aren't out of position. If you get that, we can get it out in Jeremy's hands and he can get that break going. Jordan got a three, Coen had a couple of dunks. It was the way we have to play, everybody has a style. Some people are just shooting threes, some people are walking the ball up, ours is to defend, rebound, and run. It's worked most years, but when we don't defend as well, and we don't rebound as well, we don't run as well. It kind of goes hand in hand.

On other teams pushing Jeremy and Coen to shoot from farther out…
I thought Jeremy might've played one of his best games. The reason is he seemed so under control. He didn't take bad shots, he made the shots, good shots. I'm still waiting for him to take over a game when they switch defenses. We had some lineups in there that were different and he needs to run our team a little bit. That's the only thing I'm asking of him more. I am asking that of him. He's made great progress, he really has. I'm happy for Coen because it's tough when you don't make shots and he didn't get to the line but he did get 16 points. Only three rebounds but he shot with a high percentage, and even the misses look good. I think it'll help both guys. One game where we don't get carried away, we need to have that on a regular basis.

On how Jeremy/Coen shooting from outside help Jaxon Kohler and Carson Cooper inside…
That's the one thing we talked about to Jaxon last night after our meeting. He gets so wound up, I told him if he had RPMs like a car he'd be at a billion. Sometimes he just gets himself going and if he would relax in there and realize, yes, people are going to double you. When they double you, get it out, you move the ball around and other guys get wide open shots. Sooner or later, they're going to have to quit doubling you. I think he learned something too tonight. That got it out good. We had some great cross court passes and moved the ball. Jeremy made some great plays and got it out. We played better but that wasn't the UCLA team that I watched on film. There are a lot better than that. Did we make them a little better, I bet you great guards at Michigan State are a lot better than they were tonight. Did we make them that way or was it one of those nights. Sometimes it's a combination, and tonight I think it was a combination. That's the hard thing, when you're a team from out there and you come out here it's like going those five-day deals. They're tough, and I think it hit them a little harder today. The guy that I think is really going to help them is Skyy Clark. He's a really good player and he's been out for over a month. This is only his second game back, and when he comes back, and when their schedule gets a little more friendly, I think they will be a pain in the butt because he's a good coach and they're a good team.

On what the key was tonight (scoring stretches)...
They hit two three's I think because we had four turnovers in the last four or five minutes. I mean that was the best we could play. They do have enough shooters, they have as many shooters as some of these other teams that have lit us up lately, Minnesota and Wisconsin. I tell my team, it's just about a choice that you want to make and it's about an attitude. It just shows the difference, you look at our game and the Wisconsin game. Wisconsin down at Ohio State. These swings are enormous and I don't know why but I'll try to keep ours. I think we had done a pretty good job of until that one stretch. We had a stretch and now a big game on Sunday against a team that is playing awfully well right now.

On being in control after the first half…
When they hit the first shot of the game, a tough shot, then a kid banked one in. And then you kind of sit there on the bench and say, 'Oh, boy'. You know? But it is important we get off to a good start. But I'd much rather get off to a good finish. And that's what I kept telling my guys, and we just got to keep looking through it. But some of those starts, in those two games are really poor. We can't do that. So, hopefully this will be a good teaching thing tomorrow, probably have a day off, but maybe we can look at a little film and see what we did right. And hopefully get a little better. That's the name of the game. Now in this stretch, you got to go win games, but you got to get better each game.

On Jordan Scott playing point guard…
You know, I'm not ready to give that position yet, but I did, I did like it, that we said we're going to live with that a little bit. It's good for him to handle the ball. It's good. Jordan Scott has been phenomenal. You know? He really has... He does it defensively. He does it offensively, and, I mean, he's getting better... And the thing is, he's so unentitled. So, he's one of my favorite human beings, because there's no entitlement to Jordan Scott, and because of that, I think he's going to get better and better.

On adding Jordan Scott's ability on offense to the starting five…
He's, you know, he's an energy bunny. I mean, he really is. He has a sense of purpose and a sense of urgency that is far beyond his years. And that really helps, too, you know? We are going to go as far as our big four take us. I mean, Jordan will help. Cam's going to help. Kur's [Teng] starting to come around a little bit, but it's those four that have been through the wars, and those four that have, they've only got, as I told, [Carson] Coop and Jaxon [Kohler], only got two home games left. You know, and that's the funny part about sports. Everybody waits to get done, and when you're almost done, they say, 'Where in the hell did it go?' We're going to keep riding them now, they are the ones you got to ride, because they're the ones with experience, they're the ones that have done a good job for us over the years, and right now, they're getting better, and that's what's really important to me, because we weren't getting better there for a while.

On Carson Cooper's performance at the free-throw line…
Coop's been phenomenal from the line. You know, and even more so lately and that is important. The saddest part is Jaxon might be as good of a free throw shooter on my team; he just doesn't get there. And that's, that's another one of the negatives, you know? We've got some things we got to get better at, and that's one of them. We got to get Jaxon fouled. But a lot of times, when people are doubling them, all the time, but we're going to get better if we hit shots, they aren't going to be able to double them, because we're going to get the ball out, get it moving, and we'll do a better job of that. But, yeah, I'm proud of Coop, you know, he was an average free throw shooter his first two years, and he got pretty good last year. He's been phenomenal this year. And then the missed free throw at Nebraska. I don't think nothing of it, he missed one. I made him miss the second one. So that's no big deal.

On Carson Cooper's decision making late in the shot clock…
Yeah, yeah, I think he hit Coen. Then Coen hit Cam for a dunk on that one, I think. We think the guy that really could take two more steps is Coen, because he's so not only athletic, but he's smart, he's in phenomenal shape, and he can slash, and he can do things like that, but sometimes he just hasn't been doing. So, making some shots, he's worked on it so hard this year. And, God, I was happy for him, you know, but we did have some guys that made some good plays, getting the ball out. We had sometimes, we put the ball in the post, and we wanted to let it hatch. It was like a black hole that never came out, and then they just swarmed us, and turned us over, and so that's why we had so many turnovers. We did some really good things. We did some bonehead things. We will have to work on the bonehead. Increase the good ones.

On the team's three-point defense…
Well, that was threatening. You know, I'll be honest with you. We threatened our guys on that. I mean, we given... We were one of the leaders in the country. And then, all of a sudden, we went on a three-game stretch where we couldn't hurt anybody. So, we put a lot into that the last three days, and to their credit, I think, we did a pretty good job, because I didn't think they had a ton open threes, but I'd have to look at the film to figure it out. But, you know, they look tired to me, UCLA did in the first half, and I think sometimes these trips that are NBA people are used to. College people aren't used to them, and I don't know if that's true or not, but I just felt like maybe if your legs go, then your shot goes, but I thought, give us credit, we defended it a lot better than we did the last three games.

On Kur Teng's growing confidence…
You know, I brought in, Kur, Denham, those five guys. I said, Kur and Cam, you know, we need them to step up three steps. The other guys need to survive. And I think Kur's making surprise. He works on it morning, noon, and night. We get Cam going a little bit more each day, you know, as he can really help us, because he just gives us a dimension that we don't have with those things, gives us an athlete that can cover a lot of people. So, we'll keep working on it, but we weren't as bad as those couple of games. We might not be as good as hitting 14 3s and holding them to 30% or 32%. But, as long as we keep progressing, this will give us something to study some film on, talk to our players about, hopefully, get better, you know. At the end, I will say this, I thought our fans, and the student section did a great job. You know, sometimes when a player comes back, they're real jerks, and I tried to put it out there, that I didn't want that, and really, our people did a phenomenal, phenomenal job of that, and he deserved it. Because, like I said, there's a lot of people that leave places, and it's a mess. His wasn't. It was done the right way. His parents came in, you know, unlike this poaching and tampering that we got, that thing was solid as a rock, and I appreciated that about him and about his mom and dad. And the way Mick handled it. So, give them credit. Give our fans credit, you know? Somebody said, well, they were calling for him at the end. And I thought it was... not good, but some people told me after that they were doing that in a good way. I don't know if that's true or false, but I hope it was, because, kid's a hell of a kid, and he deserved the best. His parents were here, and they were great.

Michigan State freshman forward Jordan Scott

On what is working for the team...
I think the start was definitely a lot better. We started off hitting shots and getting stops. I think that really helped us set the tone. I think we just carried the momentum with us.

On his first three made and how it helps the team...
Just seeing the ball go in. I think when the wings are hitting it, it takes a lot of pressure off the bigs, makes them guard a little different, makes them have to close out more. I think just put them in your rotations. We were just having to move the ball and get everybody going a little bit tonight.

On the team's the halftime message...
We need to put together two halves with the other 40 minutes and that the game wasn't over yet. They could easily come back. We just need to keep our foot on the gas and just keep it going.

Michigan State junior forward Coen Carr

On if he gets the same rush from a dunk as a block...
Yeah, for sure. Sometimes I like blocking shots more to be honest. I've always been a no-side defender, chase down, that's always been my thing.

On getting more block opportunities throughout the season...
It's more like opportunistic, you know, it's more opportunity. Sometimes you get a block off being late to help, and you kind of got to make a play at the rim. So, if you're early then you're not really in a position to make a block. So, it's just whenever the opportunity presents itself, you take it.

On his teammates making shots and how it helps the inside guys...
Just more space, I had more space in the paint. Jaxon's (Kohler) on every day, and if everybody's hitting the outside shot, I feel like it's kind of hard to stop us for sure.

Michigan State redshirt sophomore guard Jeremy Fears Jr.

On difference between tonight and last few games...
I think our defense. Also, a little bit of our effort. We were winning some of the 50-50 balls, some of the loose balls, offensive rebounds, and depending on when you get those in the games, they're game-changing moments. Shout out to Coop (Carson Cooper), Jax (Jaxon Kohler), and Coen (Carr). Trey (Fort) had a big offensive rebound and hit a three off of it. Those guys really did the dirty work. They started it for us.

On successful shooting night from three...
A lot of gym work, a lot of gym time. I've been hunting it, and I put the time in for sure. Kur (Teng) hit a lot. Jordan (Scott) hit a couple. Coen hit a couple. Just understand that we put the time in. We shoot every day before, after, early mornings, and late nights. Just keep shooting. Some days we might hit five as a team, some days you could get hot like tonight and hit 14. We put the work in. We put the time in. We trust all of the guys to take and make shots.

On playing against Xavier Booker after being his teammate last year...
It was crazy. I love Book (Xavier Booker). I actually talked to him when he first got here. We have a little Snapchat streak, so we talk almost every day. That's definitely my guy. I love him. It's different seeing him in another jersey and whatnot, but I call and talk to him a lot still to this day. We still have that vibe. We recruited him to come here, and then for two years, we lived together. That's definitely my brother forever. I'm happy for him. I'll probably call him tomorrow.

Michigan State senior center Carson Cooper

On the hard foul that led to an altercation...
Yeah, I thought I had an open lane. I didn't think anything special was going to happen. When it did happen, I wasn't expecting it, and I got a little outside of myself. I'll give credit to my guys for keeping me composed and everything. I wasn't going to do anything. Everybody knows I'm a pretty composed guy. At the end of the day, I think it's a learning opportunity for both of us. Knowing the situation, I think if it were to be a one or two-point game, it might be a different situation.

On shoes (former player) Jase Richardson provided for the team...
I think they're pretty sweet. We're 1-0 in the Jase (Richardson) shoes. My guess is he went through our equipment guy and figured something out. That's part of the family in this program. Guys always want to help out. Jase comes here for a year, and now he's already sending his shoes and stuff. He's like a vet. I mean, it's super cool for sure, though.

UCLA Head Coach Mick Cronin

On what he would characterize his team's performance…
Well, we just got thoroughly outplayed. Michigan State coming off a loss on the road, and they get guys who've been in their program, and people that have a lot of pride in their program. And I thought that was their best game they've played all year. 14 for 27 from three? They don't shoot it like that. So, not a surprise that we took their best shot, not a surprise at all.

On his lineups…
I have 37 different lineups, so who starts is irrelevant. I have multiple lineups. I tried to sub five guys at one time, but the fifth guy was so not into the game, but he didn't sub in. But I tried to sub five of them in at a time.

On what he said to Steven Jamerson II following the altercation with Carson Cooper…
True toughness is how you compete and how you go to work every day. Steve's a good kid. He made a bad decision. If you want to be a tough guy, you need to do it during the game. For a block out or for a rebound. So, I was thoroughly disappointed. Guy was defenseless in the air. I know Steve was trying to block the shot, but the game's a 25-point game. You don't do that.

On if he feels his team is still fighting…
Can't score, can't win. Real simple. Not going to come in here and score 56 and win. That's two games in a row.

On if he believes his team has the talent to compete with the upper echelons of the conference…
I'll leave you to that, I just keep coaching my team. Ultimately, it's how you play. So, you're asking to play up to your capabilities. Obviously, right now, we've got some guys that are patently, blatantly, I should say, guys who are playing below their capabilities, outside of Tyler Bilodeau.

On if he believes his team can make a late season run…
I believe in giving maximum effort, and what I see is Michigan State diving on the floor, Jaxon Kohler, up 27 (points) going for a loose ball that he had no chance to get. So, I don't think we play hard enough, and I've told you this all year, not physical enough to be in the upper part of this league. We're just not physical enough. We don't play hard.

UCLA Junior Forward Xaiver Booker
On the emotions at being back at the Breslin Center…
I mean, the emotions, they were definitely there, especially just sharing all the memories I had here, especially on my team. It definitely felt good to be out there again, especially feeling the love from the fans too. I mean, they're chanting "put Booker in". So that was huge. I mean, definitely have a lot of love for Spartan nation. The whole coaching staff and teammates, everything like that.

On what Tom Izzo means to him to this day…
I mean, he means a lot. I mean, he's always been there for me. He's always pushed me to my limit, and I'm just grateful for that, definitely for someone who cares about me still to this day, even though I'm not in the program anymore means a lot.

On the biggest lesson he learned here at Michigan State…
Just continue to always work hard. There's definitely someone who's always going to work hard, so you had to always work hard, and just believe in yourself. Have faith and be confident.

On his assessment of this year's Michigan State team…
I mean, they're a hell of a team. I mean, defense is their main thing. They are a very good defensive team. They hit shots today, so when they hit shots, they're a very dangerous team, offensively and defensively.

Michigan State University Athletics

Related News

Players Mentioned

Xavier Booker

Coen Carr

Carson Cooper

Jeremy Fears Jr.

Jaxon Kohler

Jase Richardson

Jordan Scott

Kur Teng

Cam Ward

Related Videos