MSU head coach Tom Izzo
We needed the win. Don’t get me wrong. But they deserved to win. They outplayed us for two-thirds of the game…
It was the Northwestern we thought we’d see all year….that is a good, well-coached team.
For us, the defense let us down…Your defense is supposed to travel…we were poor in the first half…they made some incredible shots…To shoot like they did, 60 percent in the first half and 11 in the second is unbelievable.
That matchup zone they play is really effectively…
MSU crowd: I appreciate that. I would say NU fans…part of changing the culture is changing the fan base…this team deserves to have sellouts of their own.
How much was NU, how much was MSU in the second half: I don’t know if they got cold or got back to normal. Maybe they got tired with McIntosh out of there….That’s one of our pluses, we have some depth…Combination: our defense was better, their offense was worse.
Sexual assault investigation: I’m not going to talk about that. President Engler said as much as we can say about that. My focus is on my team…blah, blah, blah.
Follow up question: I will take any basketball questions. I appreciate the question.
Winning a game like this: There can’t be a much better comeback then the one we just had….This might be the greatest comeback…
Goins vs. Bridges in the second half: Goins can play a big, as well as a guard. That’s why we played him more than Bridges. We didn’t do a good job preparing for the zone…
Halftime speech: I didn’t go off. I must be getting old. I just told them I was disappointed with our defense. I said we were going to guard better and chop this thing down in five-minute increments. I’m ecstatic with the comeback. We showed character…Nobody at Michigan State has been down by 27 and won.
Why NU isn’t where it is: Playing in a facility like this is one of the reasons they haven’t had the season we thought they would. In fairness to Chris, that’s difficult.
How much of your time being pulled in different directions (because of investigation): It’s been challenging, but that speaks about those players…Likes what Steve Kerr did with a player-coached team. I’ve done it a lot of times.
Talking in huddles in second half: When we cut it down to 16 at the 14-something mark…We’re making progress, can’t get it back all at once…defense dropped off of Cassius for whatever reason…We were getting good shots, but we were locking down defensively…They were fired up…Some different guys were talking…It was Cassius, it was McQuaid…Jaren Jackson was really into it. It was good to see.
We needed the win. Don’t get me wrong. But they deserved to win. They outplayed us for two-thirds of the game…
It was the Northwestern we thought we’d see all year….that is a good, well-coached team.
For us, the defense let us down…Your defense is supposed to travel…we were poor in the first half…they made some incredible shots…To shoot like they did, 60 percent in the first half and 11 in the second is unbelievable.
That matchup zone they play is really effectively…
MSU crowd: I appreciate that. I would say NU fans…part of changing the culture is changing the fan base…this team deserves to have sellouts of their own.
How much was NU, how much was MSU in the second half: I don’t know if they got cold or got back to normal. Maybe they got tired with McIntosh out of there….That’s one of our pluses, we have some depth…Combination: our defense was better, their offense was worse.
Sexual assault investigation: I’m not going to talk about that. President Engler said as much as we can say about that. My focus is on my team…blah, blah, blah.
Follow up question: I will take any basketball questions. I appreciate the question.
Winning a game like this: There can’t be a much better comeback then the one we just had….This might be the greatest comeback…
Goins vs. Bridges in the second half: Goins can play a big, as well as a guard. That’s why we played him more than Bridges. We didn’t do a good job preparing for the zone…
Halftime speech: I didn’t go off. I must be getting old. I just told them I was disappointed with our defense. I said we were going to guard better and chop this thing down in five-minute increments. I’m ecstatic with the comeback. We showed character…Nobody at Michigan State has been down by 27 and won.
Why NU isn’t where it is: Playing in a facility like this is one of the reasons they haven’t had the season we thought they would. In fairness to Chris, that’s difficult.
How much of your time being pulled in different directions (because of investigation): It’s been challenging, but that speaks about those players…Likes what Steve Kerr did with a player-coached team. I’ve done it a lot of times.
Talking in huddles in second half: When we cut it down to 16 at the 14-something mark…We’re making progress, can’t get it back all at once…defense dropped off of Cassius for whatever reason…We were getting good shots, but we were locking down defensively…They were fired up…Some different guys were talking…It was Cassius, it was McQuaid…Jaren Jackson was really into it. It was good to see.
