Courtesy of Nebraska Athletics:
Michigan State Coach Tom Izzo
Opening Statement: “I guess I don’t even know where to start. I was handed sheet that said in the first half we were four for our first 24 shots in the first 14 minutes. I thought it was the worst half of basketball the A.J. (Hoggard) played and that is what we talked about at halftime. You always wait for moments when guys grow up. You grow up when you are able to say, ‘It is my fault.’ And as bad as I thought he played, he thought he played worse. The second half he was phenomenal. 14 assists, one turnover. The positive, even in the first half, we had some good shots, we just missed them. We were short on everything especially (Tyson) Walker, (Jaden) Akins and even (Joey) Hauser. I thought we settled for threes too much. The second half A.J. got downhill more. We didn’t get downhill at all the first half. We checked a little better. If there is a disappointment, we are just not guarding like a Michigan State team. The job Fred Hoiberg has done here is unbelievable when you look at the injuries he has had and how he has gotten so much out of (Keisei) Tominaga. The (Jamarques) Lawrence kid is going to be a hell of a player. We couldn’t guard him either. Really like (Derek) Walker. I thought we did a good job on (C.J.) Wilcher and (Sam) Griesel hurt us a little bit early. He has done a hell of a job to do what he has done here, and the way he has done it. We were paranoid about this game. We knew they were playing good. We knew they run great offense. Their defense has gotten better. We just had a hell of a second half. We made threes like Iowa made threes. I guess when that happens you win games.”
On bouncing back after a tough loss “What I learned most is that we all agreed that we were rushing shots, that we didn’t play well. It was fun to be in the huddle and have somebody say, ‘that was my fault.’ I know that sounds strange, but players don’t admit anything is their fault anymore. I think that is what will carry us forward. I think guys looked in the mirror. And I told them before we left the hotel today, ‘Look in the mirror because the mirror does not lie to you and figure out how hard you play and how hard you need to play and what you need to do.’ You come off the tragedy, you go to Michigan, you lose a tough game. You get up for Indiana, you come off that. You lose maybe the toughest game any coach has every lost. That Sunday was important. We met Sunday morning early and talked about a bunch of stuff, didn’t show any film, and Sunday afternoon we practiced hard. I saw a great attitude, and I was concerned we would run out of gas. How many times can you get up off the canvas. Concerned about all of those things. I give my team a lot of credit. They have been through it all in the last three weeks. That second half against a good and an incredible crowd. My first dealings here in Nebraska was 1995. I came with Nick Saban. My wife and I went out to dinner with some alumni. I had never seen so many nice people wishing us luck. Now they beat us the next day 53-3 or something, but this place is a special place. I just love the crowd. I love the enthusiasm. I love what Fred has done. This program is going to go. But in the meantime, we needed a win. We got a win.”
Catch Nebraska remarks here:
Nebraska Coach Fred Hoiberg
Opening statement
“That first half they (the crowd) gave us an unbelievable lift. We were flying around. I thought our contests were maybe as good as they have been all season and came out got a basket to start the second half, as Derrick (Walker) scored it to put us up 14. Obviously it unraveled from there. I give Michigan State credit. They made shots. I think they made their first five threes in the second half and they got comfortable and confident and that is how this game is. When you get comfortable, you get on a roll like that it is hard to stop. We have handled adversity beautifully all year. We really have, especially in this late stretch. Obviously that did not happen tonight. A lot of that had to do with them knocking down shots. I do not think our contests were as spirited in the second half obviously as they were in the first and then they hit some bombs at the end of the clock to really create separation. It is disheartening. It hurts. We have not felt that in that locker room in awhile and now how are we going to respond to that? We have responded well the last couple weeks to find a way to put solid performances behind us and move on to the next one. It is disappointing. It is a hurt locker room. We have to find a way to put it behind us. We are playing Iowa Sunday who it looks like they had an unbelievable performance tonight and what they did against Michigan State in their last one. We have to learn from the mistakes that were made. We played some pretty damn good basketball tonight for a good chunk of that game. I heard Tom (Izzo) say that in their Iowa game. They played 38 and a half minutes of probably their best basketball of the season. We played unfortunately 24 really good minutes of basketball and then when they got rolling it was hard to shut them off.”
On the scoring drought in the second half
“I thought we had some good looks that we did not knock down. We had too many turnovers in the second half and you have to find a way to get a quality shot up on the board. They capitalize off turnovers. Even though we got it handed to us the first time, we actually took pretty good care of the ball in East Lansing. Tonight 14 turnovers I think led to 20 points and then the second-chance points. That is really what kept them in the game in the first half I thought was the eight second-chance points and they were more physical than us. We talked about taking care of the glass and we would have a pretty damn good chance to win the game. They got comfortable and some of that was off our turnovers.”
On Jamarques Lawrence
“Jamarques got us off to a great start again. Very similar to what he did against Minnesota when he knocked down shots early in that game. I think he had nine early points in that game and then got himself to the free throw line and tonight he was confident in his shot. He rose up without any hesitation. The kid can really shoot the basketball and he can have stretches where he can go on a great run. He did that in the first half tonight. He is a good downhill driver. He can get himself to the rim. The kid has a heck of a future. He is one of the young guys that has really benefited from the adversity our team has faced. He has taken great advantage of it and shown that he is going to be a great player in this league and all the way through his future. He has a heck of a career in front of him. Playing behind Sam (Griesel) and playing behind Emmanuel (Bandoumel) in practice every day he will look back at that time as he moves on in his career and realize how great of an experience that was for him to play behind really good vets and really good leaders. That is going to benefit him greatly. We are going to need him as a leader on this team next year when we lose Sam (Griesel) and Emmanuel (Bandoumel) and Derrick (Walker) specifically and young guys are going to have to pick up the slack in that area but Jamarques has learned from some good ones.”
Michigan State Coach Tom Izzo
Opening Statement: “I guess I don’t even know where to start. I was handed sheet that said in the first half we were four for our first 24 shots in the first 14 minutes. I thought it was the worst half of basketball the A.J. (Hoggard) played and that is what we talked about at halftime. You always wait for moments when guys grow up. You grow up when you are able to say, ‘It is my fault.’ And as bad as I thought he played, he thought he played worse. The second half he was phenomenal. 14 assists, one turnover. The positive, even in the first half, we had some good shots, we just missed them. We were short on everything especially (Tyson) Walker, (Jaden) Akins and even (Joey) Hauser. I thought we settled for threes too much. The second half A.J. got downhill more. We didn’t get downhill at all the first half. We checked a little better. If there is a disappointment, we are just not guarding like a Michigan State team. The job Fred Hoiberg has done here is unbelievable when you look at the injuries he has had and how he has gotten so much out of (Keisei) Tominaga. The (Jamarques) Lawrence kid is going to be a hell of a player. We couldn’t guard him either. Really like (Derek) Walker. I thought we did a good job on (C.J.) Wilcher and (Sam) Griesel hurt us a little bit early. He has done a hell of a job to do what he has done here, and the way he has done it. We were paranoid about this game. We knew they were playing good. We knew they run great offense. Their defense has gotten better. We just had a hell of a second half. We made threes like Iowa made threes. I guess when that happens you win games.”
On bouncing back after a tough loss “What I learned most is that we all agreed that we were rushing shots, that we didn’t play well. It was fun to be in the huddle and have somebody say, ‘that was my fault.’ I know that sounds strange, but players don’t admit anything is their fault anymore. I think that is what will carry us forward. I think guys looked in the mirror. And I told them before we left the hotel today, ‘Look in the mirror because the mirror does not lie to you and figure out how hard you play and how hard you need to play and what you need to do.’ You come off the tragedy, you go to Michigan, you lose a tough game. You get up for Indiana, you come off that. You lose maybe the toughest game any coach has every lost. That Sunday was important. We met Sunday morning early and talked about a bunch of stuff, didn’t show any film, and Sunday afternoon we practiced hard. I saw a great attitude, and I was concerned we would run out of gas. How many times can you get up off the canvas. Concerned about all of those things. I give my team a lot of credit. They have been through it all in the last three weeks. That second half against a good and an incredible crowd. My first dealings here in Nebraska was 1995. I came with Nick Saban. My wife and I went out to dinner with some alumni. I had never seen so many nice people wishing us luck. Now they beat us the next day 53-3 or something, but this place is a special place. I just love the crowd. I love the enthusiasm. I love what Fred has done. This program is going to go. But in the meantime, we needed a win. We got a win.”
Catch Nebraska remarks here:
Nebraska Coach Fred Hoiberg
Opening statement
“That first half they (the crowd) gave us an unbelievable lift. We were flying around. I thought our contests were maybe as good as they have been all season and came out got a basket to start the second half, as Derrick (Walker) scored it to put us up 14. Obviously it unraveled from there. I give Michigan State credit. They made shots. I think they made their first five threes in the second half and they got comfortable and confident and that is how this game is. When you get comfortable, you get on a roll like that it is hard to stop. We have handled adversity beautifully all year. We really have, especially in this late stretch. Obviously that did not happen tonight. A lot of that had to do with them knocking down shots. I do not think our contests were as spirited in the second half obviously as they were in the first and then they hit some bombs at the end of the clock to really create separation. It is disheartening. It hurts. We have not felt that in that locker room in awhile and now how are we going to respond to that? We have responded well the last couple weeks to find a way to put solid performances behind us and move on to the next one. It is disappointing. It is a hurt locker room. We have to find a way to put it behind us. We are playing Iowa Sunday who it looks like they had an unbelievable performance tonight and what they did against Michigan State in their last one. We have to learn from the mistakes that were made. We played some pretty damn good basketball tonight for a good chunk of that game. I heard Tom (Izzo) say that in their Iowa game. They played 38 and a half minutes of probably their best basketball of the season. We played unfortunately 24 really good minutes of basketball and then when they got rolling it was hard to shut them off.”
On the scoring drought in the second half
“I thought we had some good looks that we did not knock down. We had too many turnovers in the second half and you have to find a way to get a quality shot up on the board. They capitalize off turnovers. Even though we got it handed to us the first time, we actually took pretty good care of the ball in East Lansing. Tonight 14 turnovers I think led to 20 points and then the second-chance points. That is really what kept them in the game in the first half I thought was the eight second-chance points and they were more physical than us. We talked about taking care of the glass and we would have a pretty damn good chance to win the game. They got comfortable and some of that was off our turnovers.”
On Jamarques Lawrence
“Jamarques got us off to a great start again. Very similar to what he did against Minnesota when he knocked down shots early in that game. I think he had nine early points in that game and then got himself to the free throw line and tonight he was confident in his shot. He rose up without any hesitation. The kid can really shoot the basketball and he can have stretches where he can go on a great run. He did that in the first half tonight. He is a good downhill driver. He can get himself to the rim. The kid has a heck of a future. He is one of the young guys that has really benefited from the adversity our team has faced. He has taken great advantage of it and shown that he is going to be a great player in this league and all the way through his future. He has a heck of a career in front of him. Playing behind Sam (Griesel) and playing behind Emmanuel (Bandoumel) in practice every day he will look back at that time as he moves on in his career and realize how great of an experience that was for him to play behind really good vets and really good leaders. That is going to benefit him greatly. We are going to need him as a leader on this team next year when we lose Sam (Griesel) and Emmanuel (Bandoumel) and Derrick (Walker) specifically and young guys are going to have to pick up the slack in that area but Jamarques has learned from some good ones.”
