Press Conference Quotes

Head Coach Tom Izzo

Opening statement…
It's an exciting time. The one thing I told my team upstairs — and some of you were there — is that it's fun and a little sad every time I watch it now. We used to be one of those teams sitting on the edge of our seats, cheering, yelling, screaming and excited that we got into the tournament. I hope our fans and our players realize that it's still an accomplishment — a big accomplishment — and it's fun to feel that way.
I don't know a lot about North Dakota State yet. I know they were 27-7 and won both the regular season and the conference tournament. I don't know the head coach, Dave Richman, but he's had 11 seasons there and this is his fourth NCAA Tournament appearance at different schools, so he has some experience. They have four players scoring in double figures, led by a guard, Damari Wheeler-Thomas, at 14.5 points per game. They shoot a lot of threes — 25 or 26 a game. They have a kid named, a guard who played for DJ (Dwayne Stephens) at Western Michigan and transferred there. They have a first-team all-league player in Carson (Smith). As I said, the team averages about 80 points a game and allows only 69, so they've got to be pretty good defensively. I think they pressure a little bit. They average about 8.5 steals a game. As always when you go into these tournaments, you've got to know your competition but worry more about your team. That's kind of what we practiced today. We tried to iron out a few things that we thought we didn't do a good job of in the last game. I re-watched the game a million times. There were some things we did do a good job of. UCLA played awfully well. As we learned the next day when they played Purdue — and (Donovan) Dent didn't even play, I think he played nine minutes — they gave Purdue a game until the end. So we got beat by a good team. We didn't play our best. That's what you hope to be doing at tournament time.
But I'm really excited about this. It's one game at a time. It's Thursday. We're in Buffalo. I have no idea what time the game will be. Sometimes you like playing on Friday instead of Thursday because you get a little rest if you go a little deeper in the tournament. One advantage of not going deep in the tournament is we should be ready to go by Thursday and play a game and then watch it all unfold like we do every year.

On discussing not looking ahead…
I don't think it'll be a problem at all, number one. Number two, I actually appreciate their honesty. I'm disappointed in the fact that seniors should know better. I guess I knew when we played UCLA here it was coming off those two tough road games. UCLA had played well right after that when they beat Illinois and won five out of six. I know Mick (Cronin) well enough. I know the kind of practices he had the next two days. I know how good they are defensively. Getting their guard back healthy and changing the lineup to go small ball created some issues. When you watch the game, they made some threes. We cut it to five three different times and they hit a three all three times. I give credit to them. But our focus better be on one thing and that's North Dakota State. As we all know, we've been part of a 15-2 game before, so I have some apprehension. Yet I'm excited that we're semi-close enough that a lot of our fans will be able to get there. I think we'll make sure they're focused. If that did happen, it's partially the coach's fault. We've got to make sure it doesn't happen.

On if having a big watch party is reminding people of the significance of making the NCAA Tournament…
I don't know if I'm reminding them. I just feel we should celebrate it with the people who have all been a big part of what we're doing. As always, I bring my student secretaries, I bring my managers, I bring you guys. The president and athletic director want to be there. That's pretty cool when you've got all that in your school and your city. I do want to remind people not to forget because it's (not) easy. This is our 28th NCAA Tournament appearance in a row. Streaks are made to be broken and it's hard to maintain that kind of deal. Jeremy (Fears Jr.) said to me two, three years ago when we were one of the last teams picked that it was stressful. When you're one of the last ones picked it seems like you're the last group. When you know you're going to get in, here we are in the first group. I hope our fans, more than anybody, don't take it for granted because taking things for granted is always a recipe for disaster, whether it's a player, a coach or a fan base.

On takeaways from last year's run that can help this year…
That's why those two guys better have been uneasy tonight if they were looking ahead. But I don't believe they did that. I think we got beat by a team that played better than us. There's got to be 100 percent focus because that's just the way it is now. It's been proven a one seed can lose to a 16. The parity is so much different now with these crazy rules are. You have to focus on the first team and that's what we'll do. We will prepare for all three teams because that's what we do. The deal is here to win the weekend. That's what I learned, what I do, and what I copied. You've got to win the first one before you get to the second one, but with those quick turnarounds, I think that's one of the things that has helped us over the years. It's a little harder this year from the standpoint of when it's a Friday game, you can take Monday and work on all three teams. When it's a Thursday game you've got to leave Tuesday, so Monday is pretty much your last real practice. Once you go on the road it gets a little crazy.

On sharing the moment with his granddaughter…
Lucky. That's how I reflect on it – lucky. Family, friends, media – I've known a lot of you guys for a lot of years. That's one advantage of being in the same place. There are disadvantages, but the advantages are you do get to share it with people you know and like. A lot of people don't get to do that. So I feel blessed. I'm lucky I get to do it. And when you have a granddaughter, that's even more special. Someday when I'm gone, there will probably be a picture of me and her sitting there and that'll be cool for her memory-making moments – one chapter in her book someday.

On if already playing teams in their region helps when preparing…
If you look at a team like UConn, we played them the second game of the year in an exhibition. UCLA, we just played. And Duke. Teams have injuries, different lineups, freshmen become sophomores. It helps with the X's and O's part of it. It doesn't help with the Jimmy's and Joe's as much. You've got to understand what they're doing and their tendencies. I feel really good about quick turnarounds. That's one thing we've done a pretty good job with over the years I've been here. If you ever ran into a team like UCLA again, it's not really an advantage because it's the same for them, but it makes it easier to prep.

On if the phrase "distractions and dirtbags" heightens during this time of the year…
I think it makes it easier for the players to lock in. I think it makes it easier for the distractions and dirtbags to lock in. Your players you can usually convince them. The outside noise is different. From the transfer portal to money, there are so many things now. It's always in the tournament you get more cousins than you ever thought you had, and more uncles and brothers. I think my team is mature enough to handle it, but yes, the stakes go up and people come crawling out of the woodwork.

On memories of his kids on Selection Sunday when they were younger…
I do remember when Raquel (his daughter, Raquel Izzo-McDonald) was little because she more or less lived here. When Steven (Izzo) came along, we have a great picture upstairs of Kelvin Torbert with Steven sitting on his knee when he was four. Back then some of the selection shows we had in my basement. It wasn't quite as big of a deal. But it was always great to have your kids – and now your grandkids – involved in it because they know the other side of the job. They know what it takes to get here. The days they didn't get a chance to see us and all the things like that. I don't remember one specific time. I just remember they were always there. It's been a blessing for me that my family, my kids stayed around. Everybody has a different way of looking at it, but I always say celebrate the incredible things that happen to you in your life. It's not the same if you don't have your kids with you. I feel fortunate in that respect. I like our way, personally.

On the game prep during this time of year…
What I did last night and this morning was go through the film and look at all the things I think are important – ball-screen defense, transition defense, rebounding, press breakers, going against zone, going against man. You have to do all those things because you don't know what someone will bring on you. Today we covered a lot of those things. Tomorrow, we'll have an early morning meeting and that will be all on North Dakota State. With a quick turnaround that's the way it has to be. I feel good that we know what we're doing as a staff. That's one thing age brings is experience. Getting it through to a 20-year-old is sometimes challenging in itself. The great part of knowing what you're doing is you have to convince them to trust you in what you're telling them. We had a couple things happen the other day where I didn't think we did as good a job. I blamed the kid after the game, but in the meetings I blamed my staff and myself because it is our job to get it through to them. You can do it by hugging and kissing like people want nowadays or you can do it by chewing their ass. You've got to figure out what you got to do, but you better get it through to them. The little things are why you win and lose games. In the NCAA Tournament most games are tight. Free throws are going to matter. Situations matter. Out-of-bounds plays matter. Sometimes players have to go through it themselves, or I have to find ways to convince them. I tell them stories, I've hired guys on my staff who went through it, and I'll make phone calls. By tomorrow some of those guys will be getting calls from former players who experienced it. I'm not that good. I try to get help from every single person I can because getting through to these guys, with all the distractions and dirtbags out there, is challenging and really important.

Senior Center Carson Cooper

On if he likes the draw the team received…
I mean, I think we knew 3 seed with how Purdue is playing, and then winning it (Big Ten Tournament), we kind of knew how that was going to bump down to a 3 (seed). But I think either way we were excited about being a 2 or a 3 (seed), but I like our side of the bracket. Possibly seeing Duke again, UConn again, and possibly Ohio State, I think. North Dakota State is a good team. They make a lot of shots. So, it'll be a good matchup, but I think a good reason for us.

On if he has scouted North Dakota State yet…
No, I mean, we just did more of a logistics prep and stuff like that. But I mean, I've kind of seen them play here and there around the year.

On the advantage of matching up against a previous opponent again…
Yeah, I think it is an advantage a little bit. I think that they're probably saying the same thing about us as well. So, it goes both ways. But you kind of know how you can go back on film. And I think even for coaches, prep wise, and that's like not looking ahead past the first couple of rounds or anything. But them kind of understanding what we and do better than when we played them the first time, and kind of understanding personnel already and just to be kind of building off that to another level. I think it kind of makes it easier on us and the coaches.

On the emotions of going through the selection show process for the final time…
I think also, like we think back two years ago where we're sitting there not really knowing if we're going to make it or not, and we're in the last region. So, we're just thinking about that, and it is an honor to still be playing this time of year. I think for us as seniors, coming in the top 3 seeds back-to-back years is something we can take pride in and continue to kind of grow off of, especially off an early exit in the Big Ten Tournament, kind of understand how we can bounce back from that and kind of use that learning experience as a positive for us. Having the extra day or two of rest and understand how that's going to help us kind of catapult into where we're going to play our best basketball.

On what he's looking forward to in his final NCAA Tournament appearance…
I think for me, I think both of us (Carson Cooper & Jaxon Kohler) are playing our best basketball, so it's understanding how we can impact waiting, and how we can impact it now at the high stage. During the year, I think we've kind of showed our highs and lows, and now we can really kind of unleash our full potential, and hopefully we play flawless basketball.

On if the selection show still sparks excitement after going through it four times now…
I think so. Saadi (Washington) said something good in our film meeting we had earlier. He's just saying, coming from a mid-major level, really buy in and just embrace your name out there, embrace kind of sitting there stress-free. Once you see it coming up, it's something that we're only going to be able to do four times, and now, in the future, we're going to be doing that as alumni and seeing Michigan State alum. It's a whole different feeling now. But really taking that in and I think it's really cool to understand how you're feeling and kind of hold it in and remember it for the future.

On what the team learned from the Big Ten Tournament…
We can't look past anybody, I think, especially at the Big Ten Tournament. I think that one of the things that we might have done is look too far ahead and look about, especially, I think losing to Michigan right away, we're thinking we want to meet those guys again. We weren't putting all of our eggs in one basket about the game that we had in front of us. So, I think for now at the end of the tournament, that's going to be to the 10th degree now because you're going to be playing against more desperate teams. Everybody's more desperate now. I mean, everybody's good. So, it's really not looking ahead. It's understanding your first weekend, winning that first game and winning that second game is the most important thing.

Senior forward Jaxon Kohler

On managing the emotions of wanting to get out there quickly after losing in the Big Ten Tournament…
Yeah. I think the way things ended in the Big Ten Tournament, we want to get out there as fast as possible, and kind of get back on the court and make sure that we're all in sync, and kind of learning from our mistakes from last game. There's a time where we take this in and celebrate, but at the same time, we have to be mature about this and make sure we don't get too overexcited and not lose focus of the main mission.

On the advantage of matching up against a previous opponent again…
Honestly, it kind of gives you, UConn for example, we played them preseason, and we hadn't quite figured out all of our things yet, but who wouldn't love to get a chance to go against teams that you didn't win against before. Who wouldn't want that chance? Like Coop (Carson Cooper) said, we're not looking ahead like that, but an opportunity like that, we wouldn't want to miss that.

On the emotions of going through the selection show process for the final time…
I think that although there is a certain pressure of the last one and done, we treat this as the same way we treated this the last four years – this is the most important stretch for us. Whether being a freshman or being a senior, we need everybody to play. And although there is pressure, like this is the last one for us, it can kind of get you a little bit, but at the same time, we're excited about where we're at, and we'll be excited to get back on the court. Although we didn't do great in the Big Ten Tournament, we figured out what we didn't do right, and we'll be excited to get back out there and kind of prove ourselves.

On what he's looking forward to in his final NCAA Tournament appearance…
We're playing our best basketball. We had some highs and lows, but also, this is the time where we have to show the new guys and the young guys what this is like. And I remember being a freshman and sophomore going to this tournament being really nervous and having all that pressure, but I think it's really important that we kind of slow this down for the young guys so that as the next years go by, when we're not with them, they can be comfortable going into the years ahead of them. Or the next couple of years, they can be comfortable and not super pressured because we were there to kind of help them through this because, we obviously want to keep Izzo's streak going, and that's part of our jobs as captains, is making sure that we can hold everybody, the entire team, to the standards we have.

On what he would tell his freshman self…
Let all of the outside noise outside. At the end of the day, you're playing a basketball game against another really good team, and you can't listen to or put pressure on yourself from all the outside noise. You've got to keep it within the team and the coach, and everything else, you just have to block out because the moment you let that in is where your self-pressure starts to get to you.

On if the selection show still sparks excitement after going through it four times now…
Although we still have a lot of season left ahead of us, we had to make sure we that we take a second and kind of take in what we've accomplished, seeing our name up there, it really kind of hits you. The type of season we had and all the hard work we put in since the summer, that's what kind of gets me, is when I see the name pop up there. It kind of reminds me of everything that we've done in the summer. From the last game of last year, in the summer, in the fall, everything that we've done and that's where our name's at, but we had to make sure that we're mature about this, and we're making sure that we're focused on playing basketball and not looking back.

On what the team learned from the Big Ten Tournament…
I completely agree with Coop (Carson Cooper), and another thing that I feel like we learned is that we have to make sure that we really understand the sense of urgency from the other team, because if we underestimate that in any way, they can get the jump on us. And we had to make sure that when we enter the building, that the other team can sense that we want it more than them. And I think with UCLA, it's like Coop (Carson Cooper) said – our minds weren't necessarily in that game and we might have been looking too far ahead, or thinking about down the road instead of being in that game on that night.

Michigan State University Athletics

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Carson Cooper

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