Postgame Quotes: Indiana vs Michigan State
1/23/2020 11:30:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Indiana vs. Michigan State
Postgame Quotes
Jan. 23, 2020
Indiana Head Coach Archie Miller
COACH MILLER: Heck of a game. The environment in there is as good as it gets. Our fans right now, when we play a home game, man, it's second to none. And it's a great feeling because in this league it just seems like every single night it's almost impossible to find a way to pull through. But when you're at home it's very important.
And that was a big step for us tonight, being able to pull this one out.
I give Michigan State a lot of credit. They took a big punch early. And, as we knew they would, they came right back and sort of steam rolled the back six minutes, seven minutes of the first half.
And in the second half, our defense just wasn't as tough. We had a harder time on the ball screens. We didn't impact the ball as much. And when the ball gets zipped around with a team like that, they really stretched us from 3.
I give our guys credit, though. We found a way to gut it out. Struggled from the foul line again, which is disappointing. But we were able to make enough plays.
I thought Al Durham made some really big plays, not only the big 3 at the end of the half, but I thought his five points to finish the game in that back part of it with the break-away or the drive, and then he made a huge 3-pointer, I thought, that gave us a lot of momentum.
But the last play of the game, even Trayce, asking Trayce to switch a ball screen on Cassius Winston just so we didn't give up a pop 3, did a great job of just making him put the ball on the floor, so he didn't raise up on him and shoot a three. He just made him get inside the 3-point line, which is what we asked him to do. And then deflected ball or whatever it may have been.
And Jerome sort of took the anxiety out of the building with making two free throws -- most important two of the game went in.
Proud of our team. Very thankful we're playing at home this week. Can't do it without our crowd. And kind of sleep on this one, because we've got Maryland on Sunday. But proud of our guys.
Q. I know you have a lot of high expectations for Al coming into the season. What did you see in him today to make you decide to ride him down the stretch?
COACH MILLER: I thought he was comfortable on offense most of the game, and he made plays from the outside, made some really good shots. And I felt at the end of the game he was the most comfortable of having the aggressiveness to make a play to get to the basket and score.
We seemed to be bottled up a lot at the end of the clock here tonight, which is something we obviously have to get better at. But for Al, you know, he comes every day. He goes to work. Never says a peep. And to see a guy get rewarded with a couple go down like he had is always rewarding.
But definitely he was up to task and I thought he played a really nice game.
Q. I asked Al this, but the more experienced guys went through a lot of tough, close losses and obviously you had some injuries, too. But do you see maybe some carry-over of those experiences on a night like tonight, especially when Michigan State's giving you that big push early in the second half to not just kind of fall apart but to understand how to dig in push back?
COACH MILLER: We have good camaraderie as a team. We have good leadership right now. And we have some poise that in tough spots we can come back and hang in there. Obviously we're not perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but I think our team believes if we do what we need to do and play hard and compete we can beat anybody.
When you're at home you have to find a way to dig it out and use it to your advantage. But coming into the last 3:52 or whatever it may have been, very calm, poised group. And the guys that were in the huddle and even the guys that didn't play as much I thought were ready to go.
And we'll need the same effort on Sunday. Maryland's a great team. And we'll need different guys to step up and play. Some guys don't play as much certain days. Some guys have good games and bad games. But part of having a team in a long season is being able to count on each other night in, night out that you've got a good attitude and you're ready to play. I can't say enough good things about their attitude and their preparation and just being ready to play.
And I do think that the guys that were here last year, I think the guys that were here last year understand how hard it is to win. And you can't take it for granted. And you can't have any slippage when it comes to the daily process. I thought our guys have done a really nice job in the last month, win or lose, of just having a really good approach to the process.
It's hard, but if we would have lost tonight, can't be any different. You've got to be ready to go on the next one. And I think that's what we're going to try to do as we come into Maryland, is just put our head down and kind of keep trudging along this conference season. It's a very difficult league.
Q. You talked about the importance of rebounding, entering the game. An overall assessment from you of how your front court fared tonight? And if you know anything about Race Thompson, why he didn't come in in the second half with the injury?
COACH MILLER: There's no more important number to our team than rebounding. It's not just this game. This game carries a little bit more weight when you play them because of how good they are and the attention that they give you that you have to have when you're rebounding.
But I thought -- they only had five second shots and maybe part of it was their getting back. I don't know. But I thought our guys rebounded the ball really well for most of the game. We had very few long ones or hustle plays we didn't get. Maybe the start of the second half there was one flurry that we didn't do a good job. But for the most part we rebounded the ball pretty well.
Joey's second shot late in the game, I think he caught one, it was an air ball and he flipped it in. As big a play as you're going to make. Being able to get that type of effort on the glass is huge.
But it's huge for this team all year. This team has to rebound. With our size and to be successful how we have to play who we have, rebounding is essential. So that's that point.
Obviously I thought Race Thompson was unbelievably good in the game. He played his tail off on both ends of the floor -- his best game as a collegiate player. On the lob pass or whatever it was on the 50/50, landed on his lower back at some level. And it locked up and stiffened up on him to the point where he had a really hard time sort of moving around.
I don't think it's anything serious, but to say he's going to be sore here for a few days is probably the case. Whether he's available or not Sunday, I don't know. But what I'm hopeful is this isn't something that's -- hopefully it's more day-to-day.
Q. You mentioned about Trayce getting switched up on Cassius there. First off, what goes into the decision to decide to switch everything there?
COACH MILLER: Three beats you. Three beats you. And to be able to switch all ball screens, you take away hopefully the pick-and-pop. And we gave away some pick and pops in the game, just basically trying to keep the ball out of Cassius' hands and make other guys make some plays. And they did it through the course of the game, especially in the second half.
But the last play of the game, with 9 seconds you don't want to give up an easy pick and pop, so we switched it. Bottom line is you have to press up on the guard and you have to move. And you can't allow him to knock you back and shoot a 3.
I thought Trayce was aggressive on his switch. A good ball handler will attack you and he did. Once he got inside the 3-point line, at that point make a hard play and hopefully there's no 50/50 foul call and no and-1. But if they were going to tie it up, that's fine, but we didn't want to give up a pick-and-pop or a ball screen 3-point shot.
Q. What impressed you with what he was able to do there? I mean, he's a big guy.
COACH MILLER: Yes, he can move. Trayce can really move, when he motors and he wants to and he knows what he's doing in terms of being engaged on things, you won't see a big guy cover more ground or move like him. It's one of his great gifts.
So for him to be able to do that at the end of the game, we were fine with it. It's just I thought he executed. He executed. We've had some games that you can go back to against Arkansas where he switched, or even against Rutgers, where he switched and dropped. And he's more protective.
He wasn't protective. And he knew he couldn't be in this situation. So he did a good job executing. And his ability level, obviously he can do whatever you ask him to do.
Q. They were able to force you guys into a lot of late shot clocks there, especially in the second half. But to your guys' credit you didn't shoot a lot of 3s; you didn't really turn it over. Did you feel your guys were composed there in the half court?
COACH MILLER: I think so. We didn't do a good job with the play after the play. When plays broke down or our break didn't work, we got really stagnant and standing around. We didn't move the ball and we didn't cut or screen enough off the ball, and that bogged us down. But we didn't jack shots.
And I thought when guys did put the ball down, they were aggressive at least getting to the basket, and we had hopefully some assist-type plays and passes that were good.
But the late shot clock stuff kind of happens in this league; teams just don't let you score the first time. I think early in the game when we were cooking pretty good, we were in transition a lot. When we were in the half court, they're either going under or they're baiting you, not baiting you, but they're throwing all their marbles at keeping it out of the post.
Q. You mentioned that shot that Joey made on the Phinisee miss. He also had the basket right before that one. He had two early. How important has he been to sort of give this team a little bit more of a blue-collar approach?
COACH MILLER: I can't really put it in weight but it's not measurable what Joe's meant to us. His everyday approach is something, as a coach, you marvel at, the work ethic. And there's no fake work ethic. There's no -- I mean, he's at it every day.
He's given his absolute max on everything that he's doing. You never question his effort. And I said this the other night, I don't know who I said it to or when I said it, but he's improved -- for a first-year player in our system, learning what's going on with new players -- he's improved as much as any player I've been around from month-to-month.
If you look at October and November, early December to late December and now January to late January, I mean he has absolutely brought us production that it just means the world. To have that type of size, his ability level, he can score the ball. He moved tonight on ball screens as well as he has all year. But to say he hasn't impacted our team immensely would be an understatement.
And part of it is just his attitude and the way he works. He's an unbelievable kid. And that's why we wanted to bring him in when we had a chance to get him is he brings such a high-character level to the deal. And he was able to get, I guess, 14 and six tonight and he earned them all.
Indiana Players - Joey Brunk, Trayce Jackson-Davis, Aljami Durham
Q. Al, a shot to end the first half and another big one, how did the ball feel coming off your hands and to get the open looks, how big was that offensive setup to get that shot?
AL DURHAM: It was a read from that Robby had, I think from Trayce on the lob or me on the throw back, threw it back to me, but he threw it back. And I felt good. I've been practicing that shot all week. It felt good leaving my hands, felt good leaving my hands. And my guys got confidence in me. That's the biggest thing, really.
Q. Trayce, seemed like you were hedging those ball screens really hard the first half. How much was it the game plan to get the guards out of sorts?
TRAYCE JACKSON-DAVIS: Cassius Winston, having the ball in his hands we really tried to make an impact on them because when he gets downhill inside the key it's really hard to stop. So just trying to limit his going downhill is what we were really trying to do and help him stop making plays and going downhill, basically.
Q. Outscored Tillman and Bingham 26-14. Why were you impactful in those head-to-head matches tonight?
TRAYCE JACKSON-DAVIS: We played as hard as we could. In all honesty, we are going to give it our all every night. Play our hardest, basically that's all we can say.
Q. You just mentioned Cassius. You obviously got stuck -- not stuck but basically ended up on him on a switch on their last big possession. Basically take me through that play, was that the plan from the beginning where you were expecting to take him, what was it like keeping him from getting a look?
TRAYCE JACKSON-DAVIS: When we came out of the timeout, Coach called blue. Blue is our switch everything. And so I just didn't want him to shoot a 3. So I kind of baited him downhill and he took it, and I made a good play on the ball.
Q. Did you block it or was he throwing a lob?
TRAYCE JACKSON-DAVIS: He might have been throwing a lob but I still blocked it. I don't know.
Q. Joey, five top wins over top 25 wins over here -- why is this place tough to play in again?
JOEY BRUNK: We have great fans here at Indiana, and they were out early today, and they were rocking from the jump. And we love playing, love playing in front of them. And this is a great place to play basketball.
Q. Trayce, there were a couple times there where their guards would drop down and double team you. I know it's something that Coach talked about going into the Nebraska game. How did you adjust to that and in those stretches be able to still get to the bucket?
TRAYCE JACKSON-DAVIS: Just be patient with the ball. If they just get a little jump and go back to their man then I'll play it off of that. If they stay it's an easy kickout 3.
Q. Trayce, what is it about Joey that's allowed him to be so successful of late? And what do you think about him that's creating a fan favorite out of his play?
TRAYCE JACKSON-DAVIS: Just basically how hard he works on and off the court. He's in the gym constantly. He always wants to get better. And so basically -- and he's just an energy, he's an energy giver. He gives everyone energy. He tries to be a leader for our team and I think our guys are feeding off of that.
Q. For any of you, seemed like in the second half the rotation kind of shortened -- there wasn't a ton of subbing going on from Archie. How did that allow you to gel on the court? And what is that like compared to earlier in the season and when maybe substitutions were more frequent in the second half of games?
JOEY BRUNK: Honestly regardless of who we have out there in the rotation, there's a continual belief in everyone. And there's different rhythms to every game and tonight our rhythm might have been whatever, whatever that rotation was. And on Sunday the rhythm might be different; we might have a completely different rotation.
And night in, night out, it could be completely different. And we have guys on our team that are going to be ready whenever that moment starts.
Michigan State Head Coach Tom Izzo
Opening statement
"A lot of emotions in a game like this. Totally disgusted and disappointed with the start. 19-4 whatever we were down. I didn't think we guarded anyone early and I uncharacteristically stayed calm and tried to get Cassius (Winston) going which isn't easy. We thought that they were going to pound it inside and our bigs did not do a very good job. Xavier (Tillman) did but the other guys struggled with that. We're not very big, so that was a problem. Did a decent job on the board after that rough start, I think they had 3 or 4 offensive rebounds in the first few minutes. Then the second half, it was a good run before halftime and then they hit that big three. A kid that hits 12 percent last year hit a big three to go up. Shooting 12 percent. I tell my guys every day that Michigan State is a somebody and that people get up for you. A kid shooting 12 percent, 2 for 17 and he hits a big one. We made some critical turnovers, missed some layups and uncharacteristically missed some free-throws. Cassius played better the second half, in the end not great, but better. Feel bad for Xavier because that missed layup wasn't the one that bothered me at the buzzer, it was the two before that. We just didn't play good enough to win on the road."
What did you see on that last play? Was it tipped from behind by the defender?
"No, I just think he tried to get it up on the rim. I really don't know. I think he did a hell of a job, there were two guys coming at him, he got it up and had a wide-open layup. He just missed it. But Xavier played as well as anybody most of the game, except for those two missed layups and a few missed free-throws."
Things that happened at Purdue, are there things that you can take away from this game that you couldn't have from Purdue?
"Yeah, but Aaron Cassius and Xavier are not supposed to layoff of one or two shots. For Aaron (Henry) and Gabe (Brown) to get two rebounds in a game like this is a joke. We're just trying to hold our own as bigs and tell our wings to go grabble up some plays. So, I wasn't really happy with that. There was some fight in us the second half, but Cassius is a big part of that. He, struggled the first half. As I told him after, when he wanted to defend he did. So, there were parts that were disappointing, parts we need to come back to. I think we had a three-point lead and when we stopped them four times in a row and didn't score, we had a couple turnovers and a missed shot. Then that last shot, they missed a shot and it bounces to the free-throw line and I had two guys there standing and looking at it. They get it and then they hit that three to tie it. Those things, the second shots, you can't do that. So, our youth showed inside but our experienced guys, one played okay and one played a better second half but not very well the first."
How do you get Cassius in the right mindset and physicality to play?
"There are moments where things are tough for him. I think they made it tough for him. He's making plays, there's nothing to do with his defense. I think Cassius is going to have to get mad, get mad at the world, get mad at me. It's been a little bit of a struggle and I'm just trying to hang with him. It's a tough thing he's gone through and I don't know. I think they did a decent job on him defensively. They were out with the throwbacks, wide open. That's why we had so many wide-open shots, that's why Xavier had drives to the lane, that's why we had hits to the corner. In the second half it looked better but the big thing was in the first half defensively. We just didn't play very well."
Postgame Quotes
Jan. 23, 2020
Indiana Head Coach Archie Miller
COACH MILLER: Heck of a game. The environment in there is as good as it gets. Our fans right now, when we play a home game, man, it's second to none. And it's a great feeling because in this league it just seems like every single night it's almost impossible to find a way to pull through. But when you're at home it's very important.
And that was a big step for us tonight, being able to pull this one out.
I give Michigan State a lot of credit. They took a big punch early. And, as we knew they would, they came right back and sort of steam rolled the back six minutes, seven minutes of the first half.
And in the second half, our defense just wasn't as tough. We had a harder time on the ball screens. We didn't impact the ball as much. And when the ball gets zipped around with a team like that, they really stretched us from 3.
I give our guys credit, though. We found a way to gut it out. Struggled from the foul line again, which is disappointing. But we were able to make enough plays.
I thought Al Durham made some really big plays, not only the big 3 at the end of the half, but I thought his five points to finish the game in that back part of it with the break-away or the drive, and then he made a huge 3-pointer, I thought, that gave us a lot of momentum.
But the last play of the game, even Trayce, asking Trayce to switch a ball screen on Cassius Winston just so we didn't give up a pop 3, did a great job of just making him put the ball on the floor, so he didn't raise up on him and shoot a three. He just made him get inside the 3-point line, which is what we asked him to do. And then deflected ball or whatever it may have been.
And Jerome sort of took the anxiety out of the building with making two free throws -- most important two of the game went in.
Proud of our team. Very thankful we're playing at home this week. Can't do it without our crowd. And kind of sleep on this one, because we've got Maryland on Sunday. But proud of our guys.
Q. I know you have a lot of high expectations for Al coming into the season. What did you see in him today to make you decide to ride him down the stretch?
COACH MILLER: I thought he was comfortable on offense most of the game, and he made plays from the outside, made some really good shots. And I felt at the end of the game he was the most comfortable of having the aggressiveness to make a play to get to the basket and score.
We seemed to be bottled up a lot at the end of the clock here tonight, which is something we obviously have to get better at. But for Al, you know, he comes every day. He goes to work. Never says a peep. And to see a guy get rewarded with a couple go down like he had is always rewarding.
But definitely he was up to task and I thought he played a really nice game.
Q. I asked Al this, but the more experienced guys went through a lot of tough, close losses and obviously you had some injuries, too. But do you see maybe some carry-over of those experiences on a night like tonight, especially when Michigan State's giving you that big push early in the second half to not just kind of fall apart but to understand how to dig in push back?
COACH MILLER: We have good camaraderie as a team. We have good leadership right now. And we have some poise that in tough spots we can come back and hang in there. Obviously we're not perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but I think our team believes if we do what we need to do and play hard and compete we can beat anybody.
When you're at home you have to find a way to dig it out and use it to your advantage. But coming into the last 3:52 or whatever it may have been, very calm, poised group. And the guys that were in the huddle and even the guys that didn't play as much I thought were ready to go.
And we'll need the same effort on Sunday. Maryland's a great team. And we'll need different guys to step up and play. Some guys don't play as much certain days. Some guys have good games and bad games. But part of having a team in a long season is being able to count on each other night in, night out that you've got a good attitude and you're ready to play. I can't say enough good things about their attitude and their preparation and just being ready to play.
And I do think that the guys that were here last year, I think the guys that were here last year understand how hard it is to win. And you can't take it for granted. And you can't have any slippage when it comes to the daily process. I thought our guys have done a really nice job in the last month, win or lose, of just having a really good approach to the process.
It's hard, but if we would have lost tonight, can't be any different. You've got to be ready to go on the next one. And I think that's what we're going to try to do as we come into Maryland, is just put our head down and kind of keep trudging along this conference season. It's a very difficult league.
Q. You talked about the importance of rebounding, entering the game. An overall assessment from you of how your front court fared tonight? And if you know anything about Race Thompson, why he didn't come in in the second half with the injury?
COACH MILLER: There's no more important number to our team than rebounding. It's not just this game. This game carries a little bit more weight when you play them because of how good they are and the attention that they give you that you have to have when you're rebounding.
But I thought -- they only had five second shots and maybe part of it was their getting back. I don't know. But I thought our guys rebounded the ball really well for most of the game. We had very few long ones or hustle plays we didn't get. Maybe the start of the second half there was one flurry that we didn't do a good job. But for the most part we rebounded the ball pretty well.
Joey's second shot late in the game, I think he caught one, it was an air ball and he flipped it in. As big a play as you're going to make. Being able to get that type of effort on the glass is huge.
But it's huge for this team all year. This team has to rebound. With our size and to be successful how we have to play who we have, rebounding is essential. So that's that point.
Obviously I thought Race Thompson was unbelievably good in the game. He played his tail off on both ends of the floor -- his best game as a collegiate player. On the lob pass or whatever it was on the 50/50, landed on his lower back at some level. And it locked up and stiffened up on him to the point where he had a really hard time sort of moving around.
I don't think it's anything serious, but to say he's going to be sore here for a few days is probably the case. Whether he's available or not Sunday, I don't know. But what I'm hopeful is this isn't something that's -- hopefully it's more day-to-day.
Q. You mentioned about Trayce getting switched up on Cassius there. First off, what goes into the decision to decide to switch everything there?
COACH MILLER: Three beats you. Three beats you. And to be able to switch all ball screens, you take away hopefully the pick-and-pop. And we gave away some pick and pops in the game, just basically trying to keep the ball out of Cassius' hands and make other guys make some plays. And they did it through the course of the game, especially in the second half.
But the last play of the game, with 9 seconds you don't want to give up an easy pick and pop, so we switched it. Bottom line is you have to press up on the guard and you have to move. And you can't allow him to knock you back and shoot a 3.
I thought Trayce was aggressive on his switch. A good ball handler will attack you and he did. Once he got inside the 3-point line, at that point make a hard play and hopefully there's no 50/50 foul call and no and-1. But if they were going to tie it up, that's fine, but we didn't want to give up a pick-and-pop or a ball screen 3-point shot.
Q. What impressed you with what he was able to do there? I mean, he's a big guy.
COACH MILLER: Yes, he can move. Trayce can really move, when he motors and he wants to and he knows what he's doing in terms of being engaged on things, you won't see a big guy cover more ground or move like him. It's one of his great gifts.
So for him to be able to do that at the end of the game, we were fine with it. It's just I thought he executed. He executed. We've had some games that you can go back to against Arkansas where he switched, or even against Rutgers, where he switched and dropped. And he's more protective.
He wasn't protective. And he knew he couldn't be in this situation. So he did a good job executing. And his ability level, obviously he can do whatever you ask him to do.
Q. They were able to force you guys into a lot of late shot clocks there, especially in the second half. But to your guys' credit you didn't shoot a lot of 3s; you didn't really turn it over. Did you feel your guys were composed there in the half court?
COACH MILLER: I think so. We didn't do a good job with the play after the play. When plays broke down or our break didn't work, we got really stagnant and standing around. We didn't move the ball and we didn't cut or screen enough off the ball, and that bogged us down. But we didn't jack shots.
And I thought when guys did put the ball down, they were aggressive at least getting to the basket, and we had hopefully some assist-type plays and passes that were good.
But the late shot clock stuff kind of happens in this league; teams just don't let you score the first time. I think early in the game when we were cooking pretty good, we were in transition a lot. When we were in the half court, they're either going under or they're baiting you, not baiting you, but they're throwing all their marbles at keeping it out of the post.
Q. You mentioned that shot that Joey made on the Phinisee miss. He also had the basket right before that one. He had two early. How important has he been to sort of give this team a little bit more of a blue-collar approach?
COACH MILLER: I can't really put it in weight but it's not measurable what Joe's meant to us. His everyday approach is something, as a coach, you marvel at, the work ethic. And there's no fake work ethic. There's no -- I mean, he's at it every day.
He's given his absolute max on everything that he's doing. You never question his effort. And I said this the other night, I don't know who I said it to or when I said it, but he's improved -- for a first-year player in our system, learning what's going on with new players -- he's improved as much as any player I've been around from month-to-month.
If you look at October and November, early December to late December and now January to late January, I mean he has absolutely brought us production that it just means the world. To have that type of size, his ability level, he can score the ball. He moved tonight on ball screens as well as he has all year. But to say he hasn't impacted our team immensely would be an understatement.
And part of it is just his attitude and the way he works. He's an unbelievable kid. And that's why we wanted to bring him in when we had a chance to get him is he brings such a high-character level to the deal. And he was able to get, I guess, 14 and six tonight and he earned them all.
Indiana Players - Joey Brunk, Trayce Jackson-Davis, Aljami Durham
Q. Al, a shot to end the first half and another big one, how did the ball feel coming off your hands and to get the open looks, how big was that offensive setup to get that shot?
AL DURHAM: It was a read from that Robby had, I think from Trayce on the lob or me on the throw back, threw it back to me, but he threw it back. And I felt good. I've been practicing that shot all week. It felt good leaving my hands, felt good leaving my hands. And my guys got confidence in me. That's the biggest thing, really.
Q. Trayce, seemed like you were hedging those ball screens really hard the first half. How much was it the game plan to get the guards out of sorts?
TRAYCE JACKSON-DAVIS: Cassius Winston, having the ball in his hands we really tried to make an impact on them because when he gets downhill inside the key it's really hard to stop. So just trying to limit his going downhill is what we were really trying to do and help him stop making plays and going downhill, basically.
Q. Outscored Tillman and Bingham 26-14. Why were you impactful in those head-to-head matches tonight?
TRAYCE JACKSON-DAVIS: We played as hard as we could. In all honesty, we are going to give it our all every night. Play our hardest, basically that's all we can say.
Q. You just mentioned Cassius. You obviously got stuck -- not stuck but basically ended up on him on a switch on their last big possession. Basically take me through that play, was that the plan from the beginning where you were expecting to take him, what was it like keeping him from getting a look?
TRAYCE JACKSON-DAVIS: When we came out of the timeout, Coach called blue. Blue is our switch everything. And so I just didn't want him to shoot a 3. So I kind of baited him downhill and he took it, and I made a good play on the ball.
Q. Did you block it or was he throwing a lob?
TRAYCE JACKSON-DAVIS: He might have been throwing a lob but I still blocked it. I don't know.
Q. Joey, five top wins over top 25 wins over here -- why is this place tough to play in again?
JOEY BRUNK: We have great fans here at Indiana, and they were out early today, and they were rocking from the jump. And we love playing, love playing in front of them. And this is a great place to play basketball.
Q. Trayce, there were a couple times there where their guards would drop down and double team you. I know it's something that Coach talked about going into the Nebraska game. How did you adjust to that and in those stretches be able to still get to the bucket?
TRAYCE JACKSON-DAVIS: Just be patient with the ball. If they just get a little jump and go back to their man then I'll play it off of that. If they stay it's an easy kickout 3.
Q. Trayce, what is it about Joey that's allowed him to be so successful of late? And what do you think about him that's creating a fan favorite out of his play?
TRAYCE JACKSON-DAVIS: Just basically how hard he works on and off the court. He's in the gym constantly. He always wants to get better. And so basically -- and he's just an energy, he's an energy giver. He gives everyone energy. He tries to be a leader for our team and I think our guys are feeding off of that.
Q. For any of you, seemed like in the second half the rotation kind of shortened -- there wasn't a ton of subbing going on from Archie. How did that allow you to gel on the court? And what is that like compared to earlier in the season and when maybe substitutions were more frequent in the second half of games?
JOEY BRUNK: Honestly regardless of who we have out there in the rotation, there's a continual belief in everyone. And there's different rhythms to every game and tonight our rhythm might have been whatever, whatever that rotation was. And on Sunday the rhythm might be different; we might have a completely different rotation.
And night in, night out, it could be completely different. And we have guys on our team that are going to be ready whenever that moment starts.
Michigan State Head Coach Tom Izzo
Opening statement
"A lot of emotions in a game like this. Totally disgusted and disappointed with the start. 19-4 whatever we were down. I didn't think we guarded anyone early and I uncharacteristically stayed calm and tried to get Cassius (Winston) going which isn't easy. We thought that they were going to pound it inside and our bigs did not do a very good job. Xavier (Tillman) did but the other guys struggled with that. We're not very big, so that was a problem. Did a decent job on the board after that rough start, I think they had 3 or 4 offensive rebounds in the first few minutes. Then the second half, it was a good run before halftime and then they hit that big three. A kid that hits 12 percent last year hit a big three to go up. Shooting 12 percent. I tell my guys every day that Michigan State is a somebody and that people get up for you. A kid shooting 12 percent, 2 for 17 and he hits a big one. We made some critical turnovers, missed some layups and uncharacteristically missed some free-throws. Cassius played better the second half, in the end not great, but better. Feel bad for Xavier because that missed layup wasn't the one that bothered me at the buzzer, it was the two before that. We just didn't play good enough to win on the road."
What did you see on that last play? Was it tipped from behind by the defender?
"No, I just think he tried to get it up on the rim. I really don't know. I think he did a hell of a job, there were two guys coming at him, he got it up and had a wide-open layup. He just missed it. But Xavier played as well as anybody most of the game, except for those two missed layups and a few missed free-throws."
Things that happened at Purdue, are there things that you can take away from this game that you couldn't have from Purdue?
"Yeah, but Aaron Cassius and Xavier are not supposed to layoff of one or two shots. For Aaron (Henry) and Gabe (Brown) to get two rebounds in a game like this is a joke. We're just trying to hold our own as bigs and tell our wings to go grabble up some plays. So, I wasn't really happy with that. There was some fight in us the second half, but Cassius is a big part of that. He, struggled the first half. As I told him after, when he wanted to defend he did. So, there were parts that were disappointing, parts we need to come back to. I think we had a three-point lead and when we stopped them four times in a row and didn't score, we had a couple turnovers and a missed shot. Then that last shot, they missed a shot and it bounces to the free-throw line and I had two guys there standing and looking at it. They get it and then they hit that three to tie it. Those things, the second shots, you can't do that. So, our youth showed inside but our experienced guys, one played okay and one played a better second half but not very well the first."
How do you get Cassius in the right mindset and physicality to play?
"There are moments where things are tough for him. I think they made it tough for him. He's making plays, there's nothing to do with his defense. I think Cassius is going to have to get mad, get mad at the world, get mad at me. It's been a little bit of a struggle and I'm just trying to hang with him. It's a tough thing he's gone through and I don't know. I think they did a decent job on him defensively. They were out with the throwbacks, wide open. That's why we had so many wide-open shots, that's why Xavier had drives to the lane, that's why we had hits to the corner. In the second half it looked better but the big thing was in the first half defensively. We just didn't play very well."
Players Mentioned
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