INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. — No. 7 Michigan State downed No. 23 Oregon, 74-64 in Friday’s Big Ten Tournament quarterfinals.
The Spartans once again were able to lean on their strengths — defense, rebounding and now, shooting.
Michigan State is finding success from the field at the right time. It shot 46.3% overall and 46.7% from deep (7-15) on Friday, with three of its triples coming from its leading scorer on the day, freshman guard Jase Richardson.
The Spartans did shoot an abysmal 58.6% from the free-throw line, a struggle they will need to clean up in order to find more postseason success.
Below is a transcript from Michigan State coach Tom Izzo‘s postgame press conference:
Opening statement: “I’m proud of our guys. These guys did a lot, a senior and a sophomore that have to do a lot. I thought the team in general, we were so good defensively, again, first half, but the turnovers cost us. That team shot 56%, and I thought we did a hell of a job in the first half. In the second half, we just came out and turned it over five times and gave them some layups, and there were turnovers for touchdowns. I think when Mariucci was here, he thought it was a football game. I felt like after we settled down, we really did a hell of a job. Then the last thing that hurt us is something that hasn’t hurt us all year, and that is, we missed a lot of free throws, and that’s uncharacteristic of us. In general, Jeremy [Fears Jr.] did a hell of a job on. The Shelstad kid — the [Jackson] Shelstad kid is really good. Jase did a hell of a job on [TJ] Bamba. These kids are really good players. We had over half our team trying to guard him. All in all, defense wins, and our defense was really good, but our offense wasn’t bad today.
Q. Jase forever hadn’t taken more than eight shots in a game, and even on a night where he struggles, his recognition, his role has changed, and he’s got to take 13, and you’re going to ride with him whatever goes. How significant is that as you go into this tournament?
Izzo: “I think what I’m proudest about him is that he’s embraced the process. He didn’t get frustrated. He has a very good — like, he came into the bench in the first half and said, I missed a couple shots, I took a couple bad shots. Who in the hell says that this day and age? I don’t think there’s such a thing as a bad shot for most of these guys. He just has that very cerebral, very intelligent way of looking at the game. Talking to me about back-door plays and things that he thinks could work. He’s just very efficient and very intelligent, and I think he — he knows he’s got to do some things when we get stagnant. He talks to me about moving the ball more. I talked to him tonight, when he said I’m not shooting well, I said, let me worry about that. You just keep doing your job.”
Q. Tom, you have a team you like and a team that’s playing well, and it’s March. How much fun are you having right now?
Izzo: “You know, I am having fun. I think that’s hard to say at this time of year because you’re playing for so much, but these guys have been great for me. I think I’ve made some adjustments for them. It’s been good. We had a walk-through last night, and I think the word fun has been part of it, and I think it’s because of the players and my assistants and our managers, just the whole group has been fun. They all feel like our motto’s been to be different, be different. Things have either been or things are going around, and they are very together. Jeremy Fears tonight, I thought, played one of his best games, missed a couple layups and this and that. But he got Jase the ball, he guarded very well all but a couple times. So he’s growing. No doubt Jase is. Tre, who’s been phenomenal, he didn’t have quite as good a game, and neither did Jaxon, but part of that is them. That is a good team. That team is going to make some noise in the NCAA Tournament, if you ask me.”
Q. A lot of talk about the league’s changes in terms of composition and travel and things like that, but on the court, it feels like it’s faster, maybe higher scoring than it’s ever been. Curious from your perspective how you’ve seen the shift and what you think it looks like going forward on the floor.
Izzo: “I’ve been in the Big Ten for 29 years without — probably 20 years without addition of a couple, then we added a couple more, and then more and more. The league’s always been tough. I talked to Gene Keady. I talked to Clem Haskins last week. For some reason, I think our league doesn’t get enough credit. We talk about having eight, nine teams in. It’s not our fault that we’re beating the hell out of each other, and then who you play makes a big difference. Some of these NET — I’m just not a big fan of these things. What I’m a fan of is eyeball to eyeball.”
That’s what I like about football a little better, is they have people on those committee that’s are former players or coaches, and they look at how good the team is. We played some really good teams. When I think down the stretch of Michigan and Purdue and Illinois. I mean, they’re getting better and better. Let everybody else go play UCLA or Michigan, and the beat goes on. Then our teams that haven’t been — I mean, the job Chris Collins did this year is phenomenal. Go play that team. And when you’re playing in the Big Ten, you’re playing in front of sell-outs every single night, and that’s hard too. I don’t know if it’s changed that much. We added four good teams. Sadly for me, I’m not in favor — I hate to go against the Big Ten, but not everybody getting in. I’m in favor of coaches, and I think I’m the only one left on the planet. I don’t like when people don’t get in for one reason or another because of a coin flip. So I’m hoping that we can do something with that. All in all, this league deserves a lot of teams in, and there’s some teams that will do well. I know we haven’t won the Final Four in 20 years, 25 years, 22 years, whatever it is. I don’t think that’s the only measuring stick. This conference is really good with some really good coaches and really good players and really, really, really good fans. I’m glad I haven’t left. I love it in this league.”
Q. Your guys hit 7 of 15 from long range. A lot of that was Jase, but how did you feel about the looks and your guys’ ability to knock down those shots while leading Oregon to just 4 of 19?
Izzo: Jase missed some good ones too. That was him telling me that, not me telling him that. I thought Jaden missed a couple, one right before the half. I mean, that’s money for him, the one in the corner. Tre wasn’t quite the same today, but he’ll bounce back. He’s been shooting the ball really well. It’s nice to see Jaxon hit a 3 early. We’ve got to make some 3s. Tonight we made how many, seven? We’ve been making five and four, and now we made nine, nine, nine seven, and we’re shooting a higher percentage. If our 3-point shooting could join in with our defense and our rebounding and then we could do a little better job on those turnovers for touchdowns, we’ve got a chance to be a really good team instead of a very good team.”
Q. You mentioned earlier about the conference newcomers. Is it something special as a tenured Big Ten member to kind of beat up on one of the conference newcomers?
Izzo: “There was no beat up. Were you drinking, or were you seeing a different game? We had one stretch where we got ahead of them, but I mean, that was a dogfight. Let me tell you something, that is a good team. Let me tell you something else too, they are adjusting, as we adjust sometimes. They’ve had to come here three, four times now. They just played a game at 9:00 in the morning. I know he won’t make any excuse, he’s too good a coach, but I’ll make some for him. I don’t know how I would fare in that. By the way, UCLA and USC beat the hell out of us. So, I wouldn’t say we beat the hell out of anybody. What we have is, we have a lot of good teams in this league. By the way, Oregon did beat Alabama, didn’t they? Make sure you judge the whole thing, not just the part. I think they went through a tough time there in a stretch. And what nobody understands yet is the schedule and the way it is, and who you could play and who you could play twice. And when you play them, it makes a big difference. We’re all adjusting to that. We’re not an NBA team. Even though everyone wants us to be a pro outfit, we’re not. We go to school, and we’ve got to do other things. If you’re from Oregon, I’d be willing to make you a side bet. I guess that’s against NCAA rules. Oh, there are no rules anymore, so it doesn’t matter. But I bet you that they make some noise in the tournament.”
Q. You talked about your motto of being different. How is this unit? How is your unit this year different than the ones from the past couple of years? Can you describe that for me?
Izzo: “First of all, I love the Big Ten Network. I love what you do on The Journey. Second of all. Second of all, that’s not insulting other teams. It’s just for some reason, this team came together at the time it wasn’t a super, super star, and people had seen that see we did not as well as we like to do. I did see that we’re in the second game a couple times. We’re in the Sweet 16 once. It’s just not our standards. So I had to take a good look at myself first, my staff, we talked about it. The being different is, we’re going to play a lot of people because we have a group that — we’ll see how they end up. As it’s happening, some guys are playing a few more minutes, some guys a few less, but we’re still playing a lot of people. I think it’s one of the reasons we’ve been injury free all year, so there’s been some pluses to it. It’s just been fun. It’s fun. When you’re coaching guys and everybody’s playing, it’s fun. But they have to know there are some guys that are going to play more than others, especially as you get into this. They’ve embraced it. They’ve been selfless. They pull for one another. When somebody — when I’m getting on somebody in the huddle, the other guys are pulling for him. Come to think of it, nobody’s pulling for me. That’s got to change too. But that’s what’s going on with this team, and it’s pretty cool.”
Q. Tom, you finished up seven in rebounds, but with 12 minutes to go, it was 26-12. The importance of that, and also holding Shelstad to 2 points for most of the game.
Izzo: “Yeah, our rebounding has been good for a lot of years, but it’s been pretty good this year without what I consider — we don’t have big wings. Coen is really starting to help that, but he plays some at the 4, some at the 3. There’s a mentality, you know, and the mentality is — this is where I love my former guys. They all get on my players about that, being tougher, rebounding. I don’t know, it’s not like I love rebounding, but it’s a way of actually measuring your heart, your toughness, your pursuit of the ball, and it’s been pretty good. If we were up that much, I wish I would have known that. I would have enjoyed that for a couple seconds on the bench. All in all, guys, if you ever see a tournament with eight teams that are playing today, and I think any one of the eight can go somewhere in the NCAA Tournament, enjoy the day because this is as good a day of basketball as I’ve seen, and I’ve been in this thing for every one of the Big Ten tournaments. A lot of good teams. Unfortunately, we’re going to have to play one of the two in Wisconsin and Maryland — or UCLA. I’m sorry. One beat us, and the other one, we beat, but they had an injured player. So we know that they’re going to be dogfights too. Enjoy the night. Get to St. Elmo’s, have something on me.”
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