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NCAA MEN'S REGIONAL SEMIFINALS AND FINALS: WASHINGTON D.C.

March 29, 2019

Washington D.C.

Michigan State - 80, LSU - 63

THE MODERATOR: We're joined by Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo and student-athletes Cassius Winston and Aaron Henry.

COACH IZZO: I'm really proud of these guys. I thought -- we were worried about two things and we harped on it. We put signs in the locker room. We put signs in the hotel rooms. We put signs in the hotel eating area -- cut out, rebound; cut out, rebound; cut out, rebound.

And our second big key was turnovers. We outrebounded them by seven. Even though we weren't quite as good in the second half. We had seven turnovers. For us that's like zero. And I thought that was the difference in the game.

Aaron Henry, our two freshmen, really came through -- Aaron and Gabe Brown. He might have had a career -- and I mean a career, the whole season. You had maybe as many points tonight. He did a hell of a job.

And of course Cassius is Cassius. He found ways to get some things done, get 17 points, get eight assists. And yet because I rode him, I think he tired a little bit, missed some shots at the second -- late in the half that normally he hits.

But really proud of this team taking the scouting report and adhering to it and figuring out what a team's strengths are. And I thought we attacked them very well.

It's a very good LSU team. Scary the way they can shoot the ball. You've got to love Tremont Waters. He made some big plays. And yet I thought, first half I thought we were unbelievable on the boards and that was the difference in the game.

THE MODERATOR: Questions for the student-athletes.

Q. Cassius Winston, your thoughts on Aaron Henry and Gabe Brown, two freshmen, really coming through, especially with McQuaid being in foul trouble, the way Gabe Brown came through and gave you that lift?
CASSIUS WINSTON: They were huge tonight. In a lot of ways they won the game. They were confident. They trusted in their abilities. They took their shots that they're supposed to, and they just stepped up in a big way.

Q. How do you think you're a matchup against Tremont Waters?
CASSIUS WINSTON: It went pretty well. He had a really good game, shot the ball really well. He's tough to guard when he's shooting the ball like that because he's so quick and gets to the basket. He shot the ball really well.

I think we did a good job as a team. He did his thing for them. He did his job for his team. But we did a good job as a unit, not letting them get rebounds, not letting them get out in transition, things like that.

Q. Aaron, how important was it for you to get off to that kind of start in this kind of atmosphere? And there was a play where you almost lost the ball, you sort of threw it up right before the clock went off. Does that typify a night when everything is working?
AARON HENRY: It was one of those nights where I thought the basket was huge. I'm glad that it was that way tonight. Just my teammates looking out for me and getting me the ball in certain positions. And Coach put me in great spots to score. It was all key tonight. It just wasn't on me. Thanks to my coach and my players for doing that for me.

Q. Cassius, the fact that they made like three big runs at you guys and you were able to hold them off, what does that say about your team as you move forward in this tournament?
CASSIUS WINSTON: I think it says how focused we were. We knew they were going to make a run. That's a really talented team. They have a lot of talented players and they've got the capability of making runs. We knew they would make multiple runs, just like we did. That's the nature of the tournament.

We just did our best to keep our composure and make a run of ourselves. Because like I said, they're a good team and we're a good team also.

Q. Cassius, they got it down to four points the start of the second half. You guys seemingly in an instant got it back to 15. What was the key to your guys' quick response there as a team?
CASSIUS WINSTON: I think we let them get to the glass a little bit too much. Once they dominate the rebound, they're a hard team to stop. Once we cleaned up on the glass a little bit better and got out in transition, made some easy things happen.

Q. How important, Winston, how important was your drive and kick game in the first half? You guys were getting the ball into the paint and kicking it out to the wings for open jumpers.
CASSIUS WINSTON: That was part of our game plan, just from the coaches watching the scouts and watching their games, they rallied to the ball a lot. So getting in the paint, creating all that chaos and then (indiscernible) for stops and kicking it out and having our guys ready to shoot, that was part of our game plan going into the game.

Q. Aaron, Coach talked yesterday about your mental toughness as a team. You guys were unfazed from the beginning started out with an 8-0 run. How were you guys so comfortable, on a big stage like this, especially you personally?
AARON HENRY: Through the season we've been through some games that have been kind of tough. And we've had some slow starts. Later in the season we put an emphasis on starting out well.

Just credit to Coach for realizing that we were starting out slow and just trying to make that adjustment for us. But in this game today, we've never been in this position before -- most of us haven't -- and we just wanted to get out on a good start and not get behind early because it's a huge game and it's a game of runs. So just getting on a good foot was the key.

Q. Aaron, you've been a couple times very complimentary and thankful to your coach. Would his approach be called tough love sometimes? And what's your relationship like with Coach Izzo?
AARON HENRY: Absolutely. Just not knowing who coach was and when he gets on you when you first get on campus, it's a little confusing when he talks to you sometimes the way he does. It's all love. And just outgoing to having a game like this, and the previous games I've had before where I'm progressing, it just shows me why he stayed on me.

I'll be forever grateful for what he's done for me and the love he's shown for me and the coaching he's done for me.

Q. Aaron, did you have a sense from the game plan coming in that this could potentially be a big scoring game for you in advance or did it just kind of happen organically once you got out on the court?
AARON HENRY: It kind of happened. Wasn't planning on it. Just staying in myself and trusting my game, and knowing the kind of player I am, and playing within myself was key. The game plan, where we had to jump stop with two feet and kick outs was there, and just following the scouting report and following the game plan is what I did.

Q. Curious after the attention that was on you guys, last weekend, that obviously you didn't invite. Was it important for you to have an on-court performance to kind of get away from that? What was the attention like for you and does having the performance like this help?
AARON HENRY: I mean, I don't think the attention bothered me at all. It's just people are going to have their opinion on a lot of things, and I know right from wrong. I know when somebody is trying to help me and when somebody is trying to coach me.

I came here to get coached and I came here to become the best player I can be. And all the attention was fine. I stayed within myself, trusted coach and trusted why I came here.

Q. Cassius, Coach Izzo said cut out, rebound was the mantra all week. What can you say about the team's defensive efforts and Nick and Xavier's defensive efforts in keeping the LSU bigs off the glass and keeping them at bay offensively?
CASSIUS WINSTON: That was our focus coming into the game, just cut outs, rebounds. We knew that was going to be our way to win the game. And those bigs did a great job. They were battling the whole night; they put bodies on people all night.

And our guards helped a little bit just cleaning up rebounds and stuff like that. Our runs came when we cleaned up the glass and didn't allow them to get the second-chance opportunities.

Q. Cassius, you've gotten tough love yourself from Coach over the years. What did you talk to Aaron about after that situation and the way he responded the last two games? And what does that say about him?
CASSIUS WINSTON: Just like I said, you've got to understand Coach. You've got to know how much he loves and cares for you. He wouldn't do that -- he wouldn't get on you like that if he didn't care about you. You've got to come to understand that.

If he didn't care about you he would let you mess up, let you be bad, and he'd just leave you alone. That's not the situation you want to be in. You know what I'm saying? You want to be coached and pushed. And he's got years and years of that working out for the best for players.

He's been pushing Henry all year. Been on him all year. And Henry started playing his best basketball towards the end of the year. I don't want to say that's a coincidence.

Q. Either player, it's been four years since Michigan State got this far. I know for some programs that's not a long time. For your program it kind of is. What does it mean to get back to this point?
CASSIUS WINSTON: It's huge, just like I said, we've been just taking advantage of opportunities all year. That's what we've been doing as a team. We haven't -- none of these guys really made it to this point before. So we're enjoying every moment of it. We're embracing it and it's an opportunity. You know what I'm saying?

We don't look at it like pressure, it's not the end of the world. It's an opportunity we're taking advantage of and we've been doing it all year.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you. Questions for Coach.

Q. What kind of sense did you have that this would be a Gabe Brown kind of game and not a Matt McQuaid kind of game because you went to him early?
COACH IZZO: Zero. I've got to admit, at the same time, I didn't think Matt and Kenny would shoot 2-for-11 in the first half, or I don't even know if they were that; I think they were 0-for-11. Gabe hit a couple.

Gabe's been working. He knows he can shoot it. We did have a game plan of the way they fund in to come to those two-foot stops, and inside/out 3s are the best 3s. And I've got to admit we hit some. And probably missed some too.

But we did have a surprise. Aaron was, I thought, phenomenal. And Gabe was -- I'm not kidding you, I think 15 points. I'm not sure he scored that this year. And everybody had to be ready because we had to step up with Arnie out.

And then Nick Ward, believe it or not, might have made the block of the game. They were in a comeback then. And I just thought our freshmen made some big plays.

In that stretch, you know, I almost called a timeout. I don't like to call timeouts because I was afraid against a team like this we'd need them, and those guys made some big plays. I told them at halftime: They're too explosive a team. They're going to have some runs. We've got to weather the storm and find a way.

And, boy, we had a spurt there, and I think he was right. We started rebounding, got our running game going. We can run. It's just a shame that we're short some bodies to run like that the whole game. And I still think we're a great running team. And we're going to have to keep doing that.

Q. How do you maintain and sustain a culture in which rebounding seemingly is important to scoring? It's kind of rare in basketball today.
COACH IZZO: It is. And it started because I might have had the worst team in captivity as far as offensively. And my old boss, Jed Heathcote, used to call me and say, hey, your best offense throw it at a basket and send four guys to get it. Then all of a sudden the Charlie Bells and Jason Richardson, who could jump out of the arena -- Zach Randolph, I just had some guys during that stretch that attack the boards.

Now, I'll tell you what, on film this team goes to the boards with a vengeance. I've never seen. It's violent on film. They are just going. I was so impressed. You saw some of it the second half.

I did think we did a great job the first half with cutting out. I thought we got tired that when Nick got hurt, Xavier and Kenny really struggled down the stretch because I think it was fatigue. But we've always been a good rebounding team. Maybe it is in the water. But we're not as good as we used to be. But tonight we rose up and probably made all those former guys proud. And I'm excited about that.

Q. Just talk about Aaron's performance. After everything, from over the week, last weekend, and for him to have the best game of his career, and obviously a spot like that, what does it say about him?
COACH IZZO: First of all, guys, I'm not going to answer any more questions about a five-second situation that as you can tell by them, it's almost borderline ridiculous. But you know what I do love, and maybe everybody should see because it's not anything about me, it's about the players.

And it's those players -- all great players -- all players that want to be great need to be pushed. And when a player responds, that is probably the greatest part of my job. And this kid has taken off. I mean, he was getting better. But now he's working on his shot, coming in more, doing this more, doing that more.

I'm really proud of him. I really am. I've always been proud of him. He'd be the first to tell you that he needs to be pushed. I mean, he was not recruited by the world, okay? And there were some reasons why.

And so, you know, I truly do appreciate Aaron Henry. I appreciate the fact that instead of moping and complaining like everybody else in the world he went to work. And that's why he's going to be a great player before he's done, I mean a great player.

Q. You guys are obviously going to play the winner of this next game. How much have you gotten to watch Duke and Virginia Tech and is there a team you feel you match up better against for next round?
COACH IZZO: Yeah, I'm sure we just match up with Zion by himself. Maybe we'll play him one on five. But I think both guys have done a great job. It's hard to play with a freshman like Mike has. And you look at that Virginia Tech team, and, you know, when he was at Marquette, I got to know Buzz pretty well. You talk about a tough cookie. Buzz is as tough and demanding. He gets after it, too.

And his teams play that way. His teams play hard defensively. What I've been impressed with this year a little bit like us is his offense is a lot better. He had a couple of years where they weren't as good offensively.

And I just think -- I don't know. I didn't think we'd win this game like we did. I didn't think Duke would struggle against Central Florida, and give Johnny credit for the way he did it. This tournament is what it is.

But it's pretty impressive, the teams that are still left. And I've watched both teams. That's what I do Sunday and Monday, I watch all three teams that we could play to make sure that we can add a few things, whether it be presses or zones or this or that.

But then I haven't watched them to know personnel, except during the year I'm a basketball junkie. So there's a game on, I'm watching it. If Duke's on, I'm watching it. If Virginia Tech's on, I'm watching it. So I've seen them a lot but watching them and watching them like I'll do tonight, whatever team wins, is two different things.

Q. I think I've got you with 10 Elite Eights. How does this one feel, and the way the script was different with the freshmen coming on strong? And McQuaid, did you have to do a few things with him sitting, was (indiscernible), he hit two big shots late to turn LSU away, the run away?
COACH IZZO: This has been the way my team has been. Somebody just steps up. When McQuaid went down, it was Kyle Ahrens. And then Kenny stepped up a little bit. And then when Josh went down, it was Kyle a little bit then and Aaron Henry a little bit more. And then McQuaid started playing better. And when Kyle went down, it's Gabe's turn.

I mean, it's been a rotation of M*A*S*H-unit people. But somebody's always stepped up. And I think Cassius deserves a lot of credit to that because he has to get the ball to people at different times. Our breaks a little different. One guy runs a little better than the other guy.

Cassius is my Tom Brady in a way because they keep changing receivers running backs and this and that, and he still just keeps winning. And Cassius has done this all year. He's the straw that stirs the drink. He's done an incredible job of doing things.

And I will say this, it wasn't a complete matchup. Cassius, we didn't want him on Waters just because to wear him down. They gave Waters some rest. We didn't give Cash much. And I thought McQuaid did a pretty good job. When he got in foul trouble we put Cash on him and he actually did a good job on him. He hit three long 3s. But I'm not sure I would have thought he was going to shoot those.

So Cassius Winston is becoming better defensively. He's very good offensively. He still got eight assists; he had a few turnovers, but some of those were fatigue turnovers as much as anything else.

And that team's good. I mean, unfortunately I've not talked enough about them. They have athletes at every position. They play hard. They're junkyard dogs. I love that team, to watch them. I didn't love them to have to play against them.

I just thought we got off to a good start and maybe some of their young guys weren't ready for that, but I think Tony's done a good job under a tough situation there, too.

Q. What can you tell us about Nick Ward and how was he reacting on the sideline?
COACH IZZO: Thank got they already took X-rays. Kudos to the medical staffs here and our own. There's no problem. It's not the same exact area. It's the same hand. It's unfortunately the left hand. But I think they're looking more like a bone bruise than anything else.

What does that mean in a day prep? I don't know. But I will say this. That block Nick had when they were making that run and then he Bill Russelled it; he blocked it and he got the ball, that was big for us.

And I thought Nick would need to have a big game, and some of the matchups were a little tough. But we're going to need Nick whoever we play, and hopefully he'll be able to come back. I don't know any more than that right now. I'm sure it's day to day. There's no break or serious injury. It's just how bad it's bruised, and on his shooting hand could create a few problems I guess.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you.

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