Everything Tom Izzo said after Michigan State's loss at Michigan
Coming off a big win over Purdue, Michigan State men's basketball hoped to build a little momentum to begin March on their road trip to Ann Arbor.
Unfortunately for the Spartans, it was the Wolverines who brought grit and intensity to the game, which resulted in an 87-70 defeat for Michigan State. Following the loss, MSU head coach Tom Izzo met with the media to discuss the Spartans' short-comings.
On poor defense:
“I thought we were really good offensively the first five minutes, and yet [Michigan] went 9 out of 10. We were poor defensively. It didn’t seem like we guarded anybody. Our number one key was to stop dribble penetration.”
“Things happen in these games. [Terrance] Williams has hit six threes the whole Big Ten season, and he goes 3-for-3.”
“Our bigs didn’t do a very good job. Marcus and Julius – I don’t mean in the post either, I’m talking about on the ball-screens. That was our big problem. [Michigan] drove the ball, and when they drove the ball they miss and they get their own rebound, or they kick out for those open threes that Williams hit in the corner. That was the No. 1 key on our scouting report – dribble penetration.”
On AJ Hoggard:
“We did not guard dribble penetration at all. Some of it was our ball-screen defense, some of it was we tried to play AJ. He’s been out since Saturday, and we probably shouldn’t have played him, but we tried a little bit. He’s been sick.”
“Tyson wore down, got hurt a little bit with his knee. And, like I said, that was my fault on AJ. I knew on Saturday he was as sick as a dog, and then Sunday and Monday. Last night, he felt a little better but he hadn’t practiced a second. So, that probably didn’t help either. We weren’t sure what he was going to do. We thought maybe he had COVID but, as I said, we tested him and he didn’t.”
On defending ball-screens, minus Hoggard:
“Our guards gave up some stuff, but there were some things we were doing on the ball-screens [against Purdue] that we just did the opposite [tonight]. I don’t know why that was, so I’ll have to look at the film and see. We definitely missed [Hoggard] defensively. He’s probably our best defender. But, even when he played in the first half a couple minutes, he was dying. He’s got the tonsils really bad – he tried to go.”
On Max Christie running point more often:
“That puts more pressure on Max, to come off ball screens and that. Plus, it eliminates some of our break because he just doesn’t know those things yet.”
“[Because of uncertainty surrounding Hoggard] we couldn’t get Max enough reps.”
On Michigan:
“They played better than us. Shot better than us. Moved the ball better than us. We were supposed to double-down in the post some after halftime, and we didn’t do it. The better team won today.”
On disappointing performance after big Purdue win:
“It’s been a storyline. The lack of leadership disappoints me, in our juniors and seniors. They just did not – I mean, I’m confused how Malik can play one way and then he plays another way. We got something out of Jaden Akins. We got something out of Mady. All Mady did was play hard, give him credit. That was the first time I saw Julius play like that – laying on the floor, he doesn’t get up, they hit a three. We made some mistakes early. They took advantage of it, they made some shots, give them credit. I thought Phil {Martelli] did a great job with them and as I said, the better team won.”
“I want them to just play harder. Because, I’m not going to get out of them what I need out of them, I just need them to play harder. You know, Mady just played harder, that’s all. So, it will be a, you know, [we’ve] been there before – disappointment. But, I don’t know. I don’t know how you come off a game like Saturday, and then come down to your rival and…”
“Like I said, in the first five minutes I thought we played pretty well. The ball was moving, we were running our break, and then all of a sudden we didn’t do any of it.”
“We’re not going to fix our leadership right now. What we’re going to do is try to figure out how to do a little better job on those ball screens. And so, we’re going to have to look at it as coaches too, and we’re going to have to take some blame for that. Guys just looked confused. We’re going under some ball-screens that, that’s not at all what we did for three days.”
On difference in Hunter Dickinson, this game vs. game in East Lansing:
“I felt like we didn’t push him out as far. He just kept backing us in, and he made a lot of shots. He made some of those shots, and at our place he missed some of those shots.”
“As much as the game was lost there, the game was lost with the penetration and the lack of guarding ball-screens, if you ask me. So, you know, you pick your poisons on what you want to do with some of them. We actually, probably, did a decent job on [Eli] Brooks – he goes 4-for-11. Houstan gets seven shots up.”
On free throws:
“We’ve been shooting so good from the free throw line – leading this league – and the last two games we’re not even shooting 50 percent. So, those things hurt you too.”
On challenge of Big Ten schedule:
“Even the top two teams have lost four or five games. It’s been a weird year. It’s been weird how kids are up and they’re down – consistency has been our problem, but I think consistency has been a lot team’s problem. [Michigan] won a big game against Purdue, and then go lose at home to Ohio State. We’ve done the same thing. I think a lot of teams are doing that, and it is disappointing.”
“Did anybody watch the Nebraska game against Penn State? I thought Nebraska looked like the best team in the league that night. I told my staff that if Nebraska plays like that, I thought they had a chance [against Ohio State]. But, that’s the way it goes. We know Ohio State, just coming off that big win over Indiana in overtime, and then they go to Maryland and they [lose]. We’ve all got the same problem.”
“So, we’ll do better. I am disappointed. Disappointed by the way we played, and yet, I don’t know how much AJ had to do with some of that. We just didn’t move the ball very well offensively, and we’re going to have to correct that. But, as much as I said that to my team after, at one time [Michigan] was shooting 60 percent from the field and 60-some from the three. So, we did a hell of a job. They ended up 58 and 58, [from the floor and from three]. That’s a big difference. As crazy as it sounds, we weren’t very good, but we shot 46 [percent from the field] and 31 [percent from three]. Only had 10 turnover, we should celebrate that, but we did not play well enough in any area to win the game. They did, they deserve to win.”
