WATCH: Michigan State C Szymon Zapala Speaks on Spartan Debut
EAST LANSING, Mich. -- Michigan State center Szymon Zapala had a strong first game as a Spartan.
The transfer center totaled 9 points and eight rebounds in Michigan State's season-opening win over Monmouth on Monday.
Zapala got the start for the Spartans and served in his role well.
The 7-foot big man addressed the media after the game, discussing his experience in his first official game with Michigan State.
You can watch below:
Below is a partial transcript from Michigan State coach Tom Izzo's opening statement from his postgame press conference on Monday.
Izzo: "A year ago, we were 0-1, and now, we're 1-0, so I guess there's some positive things here. And actually, a lot of them I am reminded by my good friend Doug Herner who always says '[If] the ball doesn't go in the hole, nothing looks good.' I mean, the ball didn't go in the hold, and we had 23 assists and we shot 49%. So, there were some positives. One of our biggest fears was the way Jaden [Akins] had been shooting and playing, and Jaden looked like every bit the senior he should be, and he was. He took the ball to the basket. He got nine rebounds, 23 points, he had five assists, he had one turnover in 26 or 7 minutes. So, his running on the break is what we were complaining about. And he vowed he was going to do a better job. And he did do a better job. So, I was really happy for him. Some of our new guys, Frankie [Fidler], struggled a little bit, even missed some free throws, which he's dynamite at, but got 9 points. ... I thought our 3s that we had -- we took 18, I thought 15 of them were great shots, and Book [Xavier Booker] and [Frankie] Fiddler, and even Jaden was 1-for-4 from the 3. Tre Holloman has been shooting the ball really well. Now, he never got into the game because he was in foul trouble. I thought the guy that's been playing the best was Jaxon [Kohler], and he just struggled tonight. He just couldn't keep his hands on the ball, and I don't know why; he hasn't done that all summer. And maybe the couple of stars, you know, Coen [Carr], and I thought Jase Richardson for a freshman -- not only played well, but he played with a purpose. He he has a great basketball IQ, so when we were struggling there, we put him and Jeremy [Fears Jr.] together. I thought that really helped us. I thought that's when Akins played well and and Cohen, some at the 3, some at the 4, did some nice things. So we rebounded OK. Turnovers, we had 13, but we had 11 going in the last couple of minutes, playing a lot of people, that's something we have to get used to each other a little bit."
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