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NCAA MEN'S 1ST AND 2ND ROUNDS: DES MOINES

March 22, 2019

Des Moines, Iowa

THE MODERATOR: We welcome Matt McQuaid, Cassius Winston and Nick Ward. Questions for our student-athletes?

Q. For all of you playing a Big Ten team in the NCAA Tournament probably not something you guys were necessarily expecting. How is the prep different? How do you guys expect the game to go considering it's a team that you're more familiar with?
NICK WARD: To be honest, we played them earlier this year. So we do know a little bit about them and of course they're a Big Ten team. So it will be a little bit of a challenge, so we have to come out and play hard.

CASSIUS WINSTON: Like Nick said, we played them before. So we probably know their tendencies a little bit better and they probably know ours better and it's not going to come down to X's and O's. It's going to come down to who plays the hardest.

MATT McQUAID: Playing each other earlier in the season they're a different team now and they're good. We just gotta be ready.

Q. Nick, curious how you're conditioning? How do you feel it's coming along? Do you feel like you're making progress? Secondly, how are you doing in terms of catching entry passes? Has that part been an adjustment in your recovery?
NICK WARD: My condition has come along. I've made great strides. Last week wasn't the best. This week I'm starting to feel normal and stuff like that. As far as catching the ball it is a bit of a challenge. Catching hard entry passes was my thing for a while, but since it's on my left hand it has made it challenging. But it's something I have to get used to.

Q. Nick, for you personally and also for Kenny and X, going up against Jordan Murphy and Daniel Oturu, how do you think you match-up against their bigs?
NICK WARD: Well, you know, their bigs are very talented and rebound and work hard. That's something we all do. And we just the got to know their tendencies at the end of the day and box out. That's a big part of our game plan, you know. In order for us to win we're going to have to contain them on the boards and contain them as best we can.

Q. Matt and Cassius, Amir Coffey has been playing more of the point the last few games since you guys have played each other and he's put together a string of games where he's really put the team on his back and carried Minnesota to the tournament. From a defense standpoint, how do you make adjustments on a guy who has suddenly gotten hot or has become a lot more successful at finding his game?
CASSIUS WINSTON: I think this is a better question for Matt and those guys, the stoppers. Like I said, he's been playing really, really well and doing a lot for that team. You've got to watch the film, watch his tendency and just try to make it as uncomfortable as possible for him. He's a good player, so he's going to make things happen. But if you put him in uncomfortable situations you got a better chance.

MATT McQUAID: He's a big reason why they're playing so well and watching the film and executing the coach's game plan is the main thing in stopping a player like that and trusting each other on the court and having each other's back.

Q. Cassius, your coach yesterday was praising your leadership more than your play. He was saying it was as well as you've ever led. Can you talk about holding players accountable and being a buffer between the players and your coach?
CASSIUS WINSTON: Yes, I've grown a lot in that area, being more comfortable, being vocal, and like I said, my teammates, they trust me. So I wouldn't steer them the wrong way. Took a while to gain their trust and things like that. So I wouldn't steer my teammates the wrong way and Coach trusts me, too, to give 'em that message and stuff like that.

Q. You probably have heard the reaction that Coach got nationally for the moment yesterday on the floor with his passion coming out. Everybody who plays for him comes out and just says that he's one of the best leaders that you could possibly have. Explain to us why Coach Izzo's style works for you as a basketball player as you try to lead and grow in yourself?
NICK WARD: Well, you know, Coach, him yelling yesterday was a sign that he wants the best for you and he wants to push you to be the best you can be on and off court. That's something we harp on in this program and something we build around, just making players into young men.

CASSIUS WINSTON: Coach is filled with passion and emotion and love, you know, those are the main things that make him as great as he is. When he's getting after you or when he's yelling it's never out of harm. It's never out of hate. It's literally him wanting the best for you and him challenging you and pushing you the best you can be and it's worked for years and years and years. He's a great coach and even a better person. Him yelling, he is the first one to yell and he will be the first one to cry when something bad or good happens. It's all emotion and it's all him caring for you.

MATT McQUAID: Like they said, it's a lot of love and you feel that when you get here and talk to him. He's got a passion that's crazy for this game and we all had the same goal and that was to win the game yesterday and you could feel that in the huddle. We just wanted to win.

Q. Guys, question for all three of you, Cassius you spoke yesterday about needing to settle into the tournament, the confidence and the nerves and everything that comes along with this tournament. Talk about where are you now compared to where you were 26 hours ago, nerveswise.
NICK WARD: I feel like this isn't our first rodeo. We know what to expect, you know, and we're experienced guys, you know. We got two juniors and a senior up here. I feel like our mindset was just to win the game yesterday. That's the whole mindset of the tournament is to survive and advance.

CASSIUS WINSTON: Like I said, the first game is always going to be difficult, just the rhythm of it, the pace of it, the referees, all the type of stuff you've got to adjust to and I feel like now we got that out of the way we can focus on the game of basketball, focus on our opponent at hand.

MATT McQUAID: We had to take it one game at a time; and like Cassius said, everything is important and now we just got to get ready for a good Minnesota team.

THE MODERATOR: Thanks, gentlemen. Best of luck tomorrow.

Welcome head coach of the Michigan Wolverines, Tom Izzo. At this time we will have an opening statement.

TOM IZZO: We are excited to be here. I don't know if I'm as excited to play another Big Ten team. We just did it for 20 games and we just did it for three in the Big Ten tournament, but that's the way the schedule it. Everybody asked me is it easier to prepare for a team, we were two completely different teams than we were a month and a half ago. We didn't have Kenny Goins in that game. We did have Kyle Ahrens. We had Nick Ward full go and he played very well on the other side of the coin. Amir Coffey wasn't a shadow of the player he is right now, and Gabe Kalscheur is playing much, much better. Murphy and Oturu are playing better. We have only played once. It was a long time ago and the prep feels brand new. I'm proud of where we are. I'm excited for Richard because he went through hell there in early part of the Big Ten season with some injuries of his own and he got that team back playing and they're playing as good as anybody in the league. That was proven in the Big Ten tournament.

Q. Tom, you have long said since you started you wanted to build a program and earn respect. Richard Pitino just said every time he's coached against you he's learned something and there is no coach in America that he has more respect for. Your program has it, but so do you. As an elder statesman in the game are you able to appreciate that appreciation and respect?
TOM IZZO: What a kind way of saying you old man, elder statesman. That's pretty good. I gotta remember that. Richard, hey, same boat, I remember going against his dad and learning things from him. But I have watched his career because it's not easy to do what he did at his age and kinda go through the tough times of the job, but he's survived them. I think that's the greatest part. You know, he's not only survived them, but he's got his team playing the best its playing. Who doesn't love a kid like Murphy? If you're me you definitely love him because he can be rebound with anybody in the world. He's set some records. He's a tough kid, yet a humble kid. I recruited Amir Coffey. I know how good he is. Unfortunately, for us he might be playing at the best level. It's great to go against people that, you know, players that you admire and a young coach who is coming into it and setting these standards that he's set coming off the canvas like they did early on when they struggled a little bit early on and now playing their best basketball. So hats off to him, too.

Q. Given the make-up of Minnesota's roster, why has Gabe Kalscheur as a freshman developed into such a match-up problem for a lot of teams?
TOM IZZO: Because it's hard. Who do you guard him with? You've gotta guard. Amir Coffey has become a point forward and Amir Coffey and Dupree McBrayer, if there is one thing that's changed on this team they're getting into the paint a lot, and they can see over people, 6'7", 6'5", they're athletic, long. They shoot good enough, but they can get into that paint and look over people and if you get into the paint you gotta help at all, they've got two true Big Ten big men that are rebounding the ball. They're physical down there. So I just think in general, Gabe Kalscheur, if you double down, he's a spot-up shooter. If he penetrates the guards are big enough to find him. He moves pretty well without the ball. I watched him in AAU tournaments and the kid can flat out shoot it. He had 17 against us the first time, but you can just see everybody is becoming better because those freshmen become sophomores at this time.

Q. I know that you were real close with the late Flip Saunders and you have had talks with Ryan. Has he's gone through a tough year? Are you speaking to him and are they late night conversations like you had with Flip?
TOM IZZO: Not as late as with Flip. He used to watch what was that, QVC, or whatever it was, I think he bought cheap watches and cheap coats there. Flip was a special guy. I got to know Ryan early on through Flip and when he played at Minnesota. I'm so impressed with what Ryan has done. I talked to him the day he was being offered the job. I was up in Minnesota earlier in the year. We scrimmaged Gonzaga and spent some time with him over at the hotel. It's a sad deal, a really sad deal, because not only one of the great coaches in the profession but one of the great guys. I remember going up there for the funeral and the coaches that flew in, Popovich, Doc Rivers, they had games that night and they flew up. That's respect beyond respect. With Ryan, I watched the first night what he won his first game and got his little shower and everything, and I said how was that? He said, I had my suit on. I said, trust me. Enjoy it. Hope it happens a lot because it never happens enough!

He's doing a great job. It's not easy to do what he did. I see that team. I read some of the comments by some of those players, and if he can hang on I think he's going to be a star in that league before he is done. I really do.

Q. What are some of the challenges associated with defending someone like Jordan Murphy and how big of a challenge has he been over the years?
TOM IZZO: God, he's a rebounding machine, you know, and I love rebounders. Every time we play him at the end of the game, I guess I secretively would be trying to get him to transfer immediately because I love the kid. He's humble, he's got no ego, he doesn't talk it, he just is does it. Who doesn't love a kid like that? What he's done a better job of is putting the ball on the floor a lot better. He never used to be able to shoot the ball over his left shoulder. He was a right hander who shot it over his right shoulder which was weird. I think he's developing and his game. I think Richard and he both deserve credit for that. But he is a lot different and I think a better player than the one we faced a month and a half, two months ago, whenever it was.

Q. I know there was a lot not to like yesterday but in terms of, it was a win and you're moving on. So what did you like in terms of items or moments or observations that you saw that can help the team however far the rest of this tournament run goes?
TOM IZZO: Well, I liked the way that we sucked it up, you know, I mean, it was a tough week with the three games and the travel. A lot of people have to do something like this, but it was hard. I think Kenny Goins, you know, he played like 39, 40 minutes in those games in Chicago and had to play a ton of minutes last night and I thought struggled a little bit. But I thought Cassius is feeling better. The toe is better. The knee is better. Still got fatigued a little bit, but I think healthwise he's better and Xavier came on.

I think a big key for us right now, because we need a lift, too, is getting Nick back. Nick came back when he probably wasn't ready to come back. It wasn't anything that was going to damage his hand. I just mean physically ready and conditioning. He got the approval to go and it was like playing. Nick has played very well against Minnesota and I was hoping to get him a few more minutes last night. When you play those smaller teams they got guys that can pick and pop and shoot threes or put the ball on the floor. Now we're getting back into more traditional teams and I'm hoping to get Nick in there more and get a real rotation so Kenny and X get a little more rest. On the perimeter we are what we are. There might even be times we can move Kenny around to different positions. So we'll see. I liked the competitiveness. I liked the fact that we dealt with some adversity and handled it. I like the fact that Cassius really took over the game again like a good point guard should. Matt McQuaid hit a couple big shots. Aaron Henry made the big post move and a couple of free throws and I had to love the fact that you go 26 for 27 or 25 for, whatever we did from the free throw line. It was a couple years ago when we were a disaster. So I think our coaches and our players deserve a lot of credit. They've worked on it. They made all their free throws and Kenny apologized to them for missing that one and didn't bother me any.

Q. Tom, you talked about Kenny playing a lot of minutes. I believe he's 4 for the last 18 from three over his last three games. He said yesterday that his shot felt flat. What are you seeing from a fatigue standpoint or mechanically about his shot?
TOM IZZO: I think there are two things when your shot is a little flat means you're not getting enough lift with your legs, but I also think people are playing him different and without Nick in there you can press up on the perimeter because you don't have to worry as much down low. So a combination of things. Kenny still found a way to get 9 rebounds and do some things and that stretch for him, what he did was one of the reasons we won the Big Ten in the Big Ten tournament. I think just being here a day and getting through that first game, last night's walkthrough, today's walkthrough there is a little bit more of a freshness to this team. I think we will be ready to go. We're going to have to be because they're playing their best basketball of the season.

Q. Tom, you always talked about player-coached team being better than a coach-coached team, what does it mean for you that Cassius can project your message and help the young guys?
TOM IZZO: Cassius has grown a lot. I always kid him because his freshman year wasn't a walk in the park or all roses either, but who's was? It's amazing the calls you get at this time of year from former players and everybody, freshman, that's why you're called a freshman. You don't know anything. You have no idea what it takes to win because you've never been at this level. So I always believed that leadership, and I think Matt McQuaid and Cassius Winston have done a phenomenal job. My whole thing with him is let's take your defense to another level and your leadership to another level and he keeps answering the bell, you know?

I get proud of people when I see a change, especially change in an area that maybe as a lot of people say, well that's his personality. I've always said, you gotta change your personality, too, if you want to be a great or elite player. I think Cassius is really working on that. So I'm proud of him for that. He came in to a huddle one time when he made some mistakes and a couple of turnovers and that 7-8 point lead went down to minus 1 for us. When people take blame that is such a beautiful thing nowadays. He's just turning into a good leader, a great player, and able to do some things because he is the even keeled guy on my team. You know, there is nobody like Cassius. He's learning how to use that to his advantage.

Q. Your thoughts on the Big Ten going 6-0 so far at March Madness. What does that say about the conference and the toughness?
TOM IZZO: It's one of the rare times in my whole life that I ever pull from my in-state rival for a little bit. I have to do it because I don't think the Big Ten sometimes gets the respect it deserves, you know? I said all year I thought ours was the best conference top to bottom and you can argue that a million different ways and there is no way to prove it. One way to prove it is to just keep winning and when I see all those Big Ten teams winning, I just watched Iowa before I came here and I had my Hawkeye jersey on, especially when you've been in the league as long as I have and I'm the guy who has been here the most years. It's not only part of my job, part of my obligation. I do feel my school is Michigan State, but I have a sense of ownership for the Big Ten, too, and I think it's been great. That's the only part that's disappointing, that we gotta face each other in the second weekend, at least us and Minnesota do. But I hope the league keeps winning.

Q. Tom, I know you've talked about how Minnesota is different than the first time you played 'em. What about you guys? You were coming off a losing streak and busting out. How different is your team since then?
TOM IZZO: It is different. Kenny is back and he wasn't there but for a couple of minutes of that game. Kyle is not there and he played in that game and maybe the biggest difference was I think Nick had 22 or 20 points. And Nick is pretty good defensively, especially on a good post player. Now, I think a guy like Murphy or Oturu are both better at putting the ball on the floor than they were early. We're both different. If they shoot the ball like they did yesterday, that makes them a lot different than they've been all year, you know? They've been a low 30s shooting team from the three and they're just shooting the ball better right now or at least did yesterday. Like all of us, everybody is a little inconsistent, you know? They played so well a couple of games. Then they played a game or two that they weren't as good in and we've done the same thing.

I thought it was a big win for them yesterday. I thought, I know how good Louisville is. We played against them and I thought pretty much Minnesota dominated them, definitely over half the game.

Q. I was in between you and Bob yesterday when you guys were talking about the exchange with Henry. Were you surprised at all by the national reaction? I guess those of us who are around the program more often were less surprised by what happened.
TOM IZZO: You know, it's funny. I learned in the last couple of years about sound bytes, and there is a 10-second sound byte in a two-year relationship. I just think that people don't understand that coaches, at least this coach, relies on relationships with his players. I think more than any coach in the country. That's an egotistical or selfish statement or self proclaimed. But I think it's been earned. The number of players that called me last night that had already called Aaron, and that thing was, I won't say it was nothing, it was nothing. The 10 seconds, you gotta appreciate that there is a year and a half of recruiting. There is a year that he's been there now. There is hours and hours and hours spent on what did you want to accomplish? What do you need to do to accomplish that? What do you need to do to help our team win? If you don't do those things what do you think my job is? So a little bit surprised. This day and age doesn't. To me it was ridiculous the way it blew up. I would publicly thank the many, many people that just saw it as ridiculous. People reacted. It's nothing to do with anything with me, with Aaron. I was thinking of benching him, but I decided I'm going to start him anyway and we're going to move on. He's a great kid. That has improved so much, but for us to be a championship team for us to move on he's got to continue to improve even more. He understands that. I understand that. My players understand that. I hate to say it, that's all that really matters to me.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you very much, Coach.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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