Postgame Notes| Coach Chambers Quotes | Penn State Student-Athletes Quotes | MSU Head Coach Tom Izzo Quotes
Michigan State Basketball
Head Coach Tom Izzo Postgame Press Conference
vs. Penn State – January 13, 2019
Opening statement:
"I give Penn State a lot of credit. They played well. That looked like a playoff football game. I think they were physical and I don't think we responded well. We really didn't. We had our moments when we were pretty good, the pressure bothered us. Nick (Ward) was pretty good early, but then he got in foul trouble. McQuaid was pretty good late. I hate to say it but I'm giving him credit for the whole season. I told (Cassius Winston) that was one of the worst games I've seen him play and as somebody said about somebody it brings you back to pedestrian-like. So, maybe we're all talking too much about how good we are but we're not getting good. And when he doesn't play well we're not good at all. We just got a lead on them. We made some shots, they made missed some shots that I think they could have made. The turnovers were a joke. The bright spots was I think we rebounded the ball very very well. Thought our bigs played physical and our guards played soft. The biggest disappointment was the ball movement and the turnovers, were not very good at all. It was a win and it was a very good win on the road. I watched Penn State play Nebraska and Should've probably win that game. They're not that far off. (Mike) Watkins can play, I just think those players missed some shots early that I've seen them make, those guards. Especially the young kids. And (Lamar) Stevens is a handful, (Mike) Watkins is a handful, (Josh) Reaves is a good player and he's got to get a little confidence back. I still think they can win a lot of games and that will make it better. But we have to play better. We've been so worried about how much we practice because we've got guys hurt and what we do. So we rested them and I think they continued that rest right through this weekend.
Q: Tom is this a moment where (Cassius Winston) is struggling and it highlights how important Josh (Langford) is and how important not having Kyle (Ahrens) really are.
A: Aaron (Henry) and Gabe (Brown) are going to be fine and they did an okey job but not Josh and not right now and they're going to have to do a better job. I thought that when we caught the ball on the wing we didn't even look in. Our whole game plan was to run Watkins and if we didn't get it over the top then we thought we could get him when the court was spread and we just didn't look to throw the ball in there at all so I was very disappointed in that. A couple things have to happen. If Josh and Kyle are back then and (Cassius Winston) had that kind of game then that's un-Cassius-like in two years and he sure as hell deserves a hall pass but can't give many of them if we want to be a real good team.
Q: Can you talk a little bit about the freshman and how they responded, especially early? It seemed like the played better in the first half.
A: I would agree with that. You would think they would be nervous but I think I think as soon as they get tired they quit focusing and don't do the things they needed to do and for a guy like Aaron Henry who can jump out of the earth to get, I think he had a grand total of two rebounds, one offensive, is a shame, because that's an effort related stat that a freshman shouldn't have. He should mess up his shot and screw up some assignments but he has to go to the basket and get a rebound, he shouldn't mess that up so I was disappointed in that.
Q: Do you sense the problem with Cassius Winston today were probable, or the score, or what it was?
A: I mean you're going to have to ask him. Sure isn't a lack of discipline. Like I said, he had a human game and he has been pretty unhuman if you look at the way he's played and he still bounced back. He got two or three buckets late but just didn't seem himself. In some way maybe he's missing those guys on the wings too. We're going to have to get better with those freshman until we get those guys back, if we get them back, might not be for a while. I don't have any idea. Can't make excuses but Aaron (Henry) and Gabe (Brown) have to get a lot better, especially Aaron. He's capable of doing more and he's got to do more.
Q: What about Foster (Loyer)? You were able to get him in with Cassius in front of the point. Did you like what you saw?
A: Yea he did a pretty good job. He made some good plays, some nice passes and shots. I think that was one of his better games. Again, it's hard to evaluate him because at times I had three freshmen in there at the same time. Those aren't Duke's freshman. It's just a fact of life. That makes it hard on your point guard. When you've got two freshman in there that really aren't doing the things they need to do sometimes and it's not always their fault, it makes it a little more difficult. I thought that, considering, one time we had him in there at all time and we tried to get (Matt) McQuaid) back in, I thought Foster played pretty well. Pretty good job defensively, he took a couple charges.
Q: Both those guys defensively, I'm wondering what you saw. First time you've had to rely on Gabe (Brown) defensively, it seemed like you were pretty good in that first half stretch where you took control.
A: I thought he did do a good job defensively. Where we really got caught is on our weak side which is where, you know young guys, the only thing they did in high school was guard their man, there was not weak side. There was no getting over screens the right way. So I thought when they ran those flare screens we got a little screwed up but I thought Gabe was a little more engaged. My thing with Aaron was since we recruited him, he gets casual. And when you get casual in this league, you're going to get your bell rung. There were a couple plays where he did and he didn't get over a screen and they got a wide open three. Those are just effort related things. Those things really upset me.
Q: You mention the bigs, it's tough for the other guys to get rebounds when Kenny (Goins) and Nick (Ward) are rebounded like they were.
A: Yeah, and as you saw there were a couple of long rebounds and a couple that hit the floor and our guards should get those. I would say yeah but Matt McQuaid shouldn't have goose eggs. We did a decent job. We didn't go to the offensive boards either. We thought that was a weakness for (Penn State). We thought we could get some offensive rebounds and we had 11, they had about the same so. We had 19 assists on 25 baskets that's better than I thought but we also had 17 turnovers. There were so many of them. Scouting report we talked about number five, Wheeler that he comes up from behind and he did it three times that game. That's just a lack of paying attention. That's just disappointing.
Q: Coaches sometimes get criticized for when a player has two fouls, you sit him because you fear the third and it's not always because you don't trust the player, you sometimes don't trust the call…
A: We do a lot of talk radio shows and listen to all those intelligent people tell me what to do all the time. So the only reason I left him in was because I wanted to see if he could play with two but I don't know I didn't like the call. Did you like the call? But I didn't like that (Cassius Winston) just took it in there, there's no reason to. We were going to get him out at the next stoppage. If you had any guts at all the next time you're on those shows, you'll tell people that, okey, we did it your way and that way isn't so good either and see what they think. I can't play without Cassius and playing him with three fouls then I have a tentative Cassius. It's a good question I appreciate it.
Q: What was the key to Nick Ward being successful in the paint today?
A: I don't know if he was real successful. He scored some baskets. He's very good down there, we didn't give him the ball. That was the least amount of touches he's had. Just about everytime he touched it he scored or got a shot off but he didn't get a lot of touches and I blame that on our coach. He didn't get those wing guys to get it in their enough and that's on me. I thought there were some openings and we didn't do it but Nick is a load in there and I thought he rebounded the best he rebounded all year against a very good player in Mike Watkins so that was encouraging.
Closing: Hey, hang in there with Penn State. I really think that they have some good players. It's time, with Watkins coming back, they're going to get better and better. Him missing for a while was hard. Hopefully they will.