Michigan State Head Coach Tom Izzo
On Steve Pikiell and the Rutgers basketball program: "I've been a
Steve Pikiell fan since the day he came into the league. I really appreciate where this program is going. It's good for the Big Ten, it's good for us. The fans tonight were awesome. He's building something, and I hope all the fans and I hope the media take light of it because it's a competitive team."
On Rutgers' size/youth: "Plaxico Burress was in our locker room tonight and I told him it looked like the old Giants. They looked like some linebackers out there. Some of those freshmen, Mathis and Harper. They got some good young kids so the first thing is I'd like to give credit to them."
On Michigan State's recent schedule: "I want to give credit to my team. We're on a four games in eight days, traveling all over the world, stretch without our key defensive player, Matt McQuaid, who plays 31 minutes a game."
On tonight's game: "I thought our guys competed tonight. I thought they blitzed us early a little bit. But I thought we shot pretty well. We went into the game, as everybody follows us, we averaged 100 turnovers a game in the last four games, and that was a key. We only had two at half time and seven for the game. That was one big goal. We wanted to defend without fouling, they got to the free throw line 16 times. We had 16 fouls. We've been averaging 23. That was two big goals. We felt like we had to out-rebound them even though they were big, and we did that. We accomplished what we wanted to accomplish. It wasn't pretty because they can play and they are good."
On facing Rutgers last year versus tonight: "Last year, to me, they played hard and weren't as good. And even though we won more than last year, and last year we might've had a really good team too, I just felt like the energy in this building, in this place, it was awesome."
On what it would mean to the Big Ten if Rutgers "becomes good": I think it'd be great, and if it happens four or five years from now when I get the hell out of this job it would be even better. That's one thing I always do, when you've been in the league as long as I have, when the teams that were on the bottom. I say were with them because they're not a bottom team. I watched them play Miami. They're a team that's got to learn how to win. They won one big game and it's hard to come back, talk about tough travel. I don't know what time they got back but then they had a one-day prep and that's tough. And it's tougher for a younger team that hasn't done the things. But this guy here is a hell of a coach and a class person, so I think they're definitely on the way up. I really appreciated the way their fans got on me a little bit and then at the end were great about it. This place is starting to come as they get facilities now and they got the right guy, I could tell you that."
On his conversation with Pikiell after the game: "I said, 'I know you're disappointed and you didn't play as good as I thought you played the other night, to be very honest with you, I know you had a great start. But look what you've done to this place.' I came here when it was just you guys (the media) and who the hell wants the media to watch a game, no insult intended. You had a damn good crowd, there was kind of a buzz even around the hotel. I watched their game the other night. They played good against a pretty good team. I just told him to hang in there and his program is on the rise. It's not looking to be good down the road. They're going to win some games here and I think they're going to win some games on the road because he reminds me of some of my teams I had early in my career. Tougher than nails, looks like a bunch of football players that can play. Personally, I love that and I think that helps you win on the road some, too."
On tonight's win: "Put it this way, this was a big win for us. Coming on the road, under the circumstances we've been under, and playing against a good quality tough team. I consider this not a 'win, get out of here.' I consider this we beat a good team and a good program in a tough place to play."
On Geo Baker: "We put Josh Langford on him and instead of guarding him with a point we guarded him with a bigger two-man. Josh, I thought, did a pretty good job on him. He's got that step-back going left shot that is really effective and I don't know if he didn't take as many because of us or because of him. You got to understand, I got two guards in there that are out. I'll bet you a couple of his guys are really tired too. They had to expend everything they could expend to win the other night and maybe Baker's legs weren't all there either. He didn't look to me as good as I've seen him. I'm a big Baker fan."
On playing a packed schedule: "I'm still questioning these Big Ten games this early, personally. Nothing bad, it just makes it so hard to fit games into your schedule. This is brutal for our guys. I think [Pikiell's] quick turnaround, winning a big game after building this program up, they didn't even get a chance to tell him 'well now you've got to get back down to earth,' so that probably hurt them a little bit."
https://scarletknights.com/news/2018/11/30/mens-basketball-edged-by-no-9-8-michigan-state.aspx
