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NCAA MEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP: FINAL FOUR

April 6, 2019

Minneapolis, Minnesota

Texas Tech - 61, Michigan State - 51

THE MODERATOR: We're joined by Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo and student-athletes Cassius Winston and Matt McQuaid. Spartan locker room is now open. We'll ask Coach Izzo to make an opening statement, please, and we'll take questions first for the student-athletes.

TOM IZZO: First of all, I want to give a lot of credit to Texas Tech. On our National Championship rings, there's a PPTPW -- Players Play, Tough Players Win. Very seldom in my career have we kind of got out beat up, and tonight was one of those nights.

I was concerned about the turnovers. I thought we could hurt them inside, put a lot of pressure on Cassius. I mean, they played really good defense. I didn't think we played very good offense, and I think that falls on my shoulders, not theirs. We just kind of got stagnant and didn't move things. I thought it really hurt us in the first half when Aaron Henry and Nick Ward, we planned on punching it in, and they both got in foul trouble, and that kind of really, really hurt us. We gave up some defensive things.

But it doesn't diminish on the incredible season these guys have had. Probably in a day I'll be able to sit back and look at the incredible journey and the incredible run. It's just disappointing in some way. I've heard Chris talk about how he built his team, and I guess somewhere there's a compliment to us that he kind of believes in the same philosophy, which I think is true for any sport. We always talk about defense wins championships. We didn't defend so bad until the last five, six, seven minutes, and then we kind of fell apart.

So incredible run, hat's off to a very, very good Texas Tech team and very well coached. They hurt us tonight and deserved to win the game.

Q. Matt, for you as a senior, there's been times in that locker room after the end of a season where there was blood left in the turnip, but you guys gave everything you have. Is there comfort in knowing this team literally left it all on the court?
MATT MCQUAID: Yeah, a little. We wanted to win. We wanted to win a championship. That was our goal. We just didn't shoot good. Texas Tech played really good, and we just couldn't get the win.

Q. Cassius, they seemed to make -- you never really got comfortable today. What were they doing that made you not be able to get comfortable tonight?
CASSIUS WINSTON: They did a good job of full rotating. They switched really well, made it hard to get into the post and things like that. Kept you on the sidelines. Their defense is really, really good, forced you into some tough situations to make plays.

Q. Cassius, you looked at their film all week. Was the defense even more difficult than you expected once you encountered it on the court? Or how was it similar or different than what you saw on film?
CASSIUS WINSTON: It was right about what we expected. We were prepared. They were good at it. They got their hands on a lot of balls. We could have been a lot better, though. I think part of it was us being casual with the basketball or not being strong enough, not executing well enough. We could have did a better job on that part, but their defense was really good also.

Q. Matt, you had to expend a lot of energy on defense after Aaron's second foul. Can you talk about that and how it affected your offense? Was it a cramp? And what you saw on that last three from the wing.
MATT MCQUAID: Yeah, there's no real excuse for being tired in this game. You know, it's the Final Four. Coach always says play like there's no tomorrow. There is no tomorrow now. I can't be using tired as an excuse. I cramped up a little, but I felt like I got back in there, and I was good. I mean, I just -- we just lost.

Q. I was wondering what you guys tried to do differently once Texas Tech lost Tariq Owens.
MATT MCQUAID: I mean, he's a really good shot blocker. We tried to go inside more and just keep attacking, but we didn't change a lot. We just kept to our game.

CASSIUS WINSTON: Yeah, we stuck to our game plan. We were allowed to help a little bit more on defense because of the lobs and things. We still tried to go inside and wear them down a little bit more in there.

THE MODERATOR: If you have a question for the student-athletes, please raise your hand.

Q. When you checked out of the game, Izzo had a few words for you. What kind of things did he say, if you don't mind me asking, as those final seconds were counting down? And any additional words he had for you since then?
THE MODERATOR: That was for who?

Q. Matt.
MATT MCQUAID: He just hugged me and just said, "I'm sorry," and I told him, "I'm sorry," and we just hugged. I got a special relationship with Coach. One thing I'm going to miss the most is, when I get done working out during the day, just going up before class or after class, I come work out, and I go up to his office and talk to him for like five minutes, and we just talk about family or what I need to get better at. We go over stats or film or something. We just -- I love Coach, and he's done so much for me and helped me so much. I know he's got my back, and I've got his back for the rest of our life.

THE MODERATOR: Is there a final question for Matt or Cassius? If you have one, please raise your hand. With that, we'd like to thank Matt and Cassius for coming down to the main interview room. They're going to head to the Michigan State locker room, which should be open for a few more minutes.

Q. Coach, when you hear Matt just mention those kind words about you, what does that make you feel?
TOM IZZO: I think any coach, the relationships they have, their years last four, but the relationships hopefully last 20, 30, 40. Matt will play some basketball yet. He's got a couple of opportunities in some things. The kid gave me everything. Like I said, I coined the phrase with him and Josh Langford, some kids like it, some kids love it, and some kids live it. He's a guy that lived it, you know.

The sad part is that cramp came right on that three-point shot on the wing and air balled it, but he still wanted to get back in there, and we needed him in there. Whoever asked the question, it was true. He had to switch off on both those guys, Mooney for a while and then, of course, Culver because with Aaron out of there, it was a problem in that first half. I thought he did a hell of a job.

We had some problems with our bigs on the ball screens, and Matt was left by himself a few times. So he'll go down as one of the all-time great guys and hardest workers that I've ever coached.

Q. Tom, just wondering at what point in that game did you feel like you were going to have a lot of trouble with this Texas Tech team?
TOM IZZO: It was early. I didn't like the fact that I didn't think we posted them up like I wanted to. I thought we could go inside. Give him credit, he -- Odiase, I think it is, he played him more minutes than he's been playing lately. He's been playing a smaller lineup. But it was the subs that hurt us. Our subs hurt us a little defensively, and their subs hurt us a little bit offensively.

I was concerned early. In fact, to be honest with you, I was ecstatic at halftime. I said, we're two down the way we played. I thought we had seven turnovers. We gave them the ball a couple times, meaning they just took it from us. We didn't shoot it very well, but they didn't shoot it very well either.

I thought we had a real chance at halftime, but I was worried early in the game. It just didn't seem like we had what it takes to compete against a team like that, which is a little disappointing.

Then again, what you've got to understand about that team too, I think they have four grad seniors, and that's a tough, rugged team, and Chris did an unbelievable job with them, putting them together. I really like his team.

Q. Tom, you're always a representative of your league in the Big Ten. I'm just curious, how would you respond to folks who have comments about the league now that the drought for the title is going on 20 years next season?
TOM IZZO: Yeah, I think that's a fair comment. I don't think it's fair -- I think throughout this year our league top to bottom was the best, but I'm going to be prejudiced to our league. Somebody else will be prejudiced to theirs. The Big Ten -- you know, you look at some things, like I said, we played 24 conference games this year. We played 20 against in the regular season, the most of any conference playing. We play in front of the most people.

And we didn't get it done. I feel like I'm part of that issue, so I'll put on my big boy pants and say, yeah, you've been here eight times, you've won one, so that's part of the problem.

But I'm going to keep knocking on the door. One of these days it's going to open. And I also think for our league, you know, Matt Painter was an eyelash away. I thought Mike Krzyzewski said it well. Everybody wants everybody to change what they do. If one free throw goes in or one free throw goes out, if -- I mean, you look at Virginia, and I'm really happy for Tony, one of the all-time great guys. Actually happier for his dad. I hope he gets to the games. But he just won two games that were almost miracle wins. I heard John Calipari say it, he lost one to Kansas on a bizarre shot, and he lost one the other night when he had a lead.

So I look at the tournament is what it's all about. I understand that. But if you ask me, it's like winning the Big Ten Tournament Championship. I put a lot more into the 20 games. I put a lot more into how this season went. One of these days, we've got enough teams knocking on the door, we're going to find a way to win one. I was hoping to do that for Jim Delany before he gets out. So maybe we've got one more chance.

Q. Coach, a little over two minutes to go, it looked like you'd recaptured the momentum. You were down double digits. You cut it to one. Then there was a timeout, I think it was back up to three at that point, but it looked like you had the momentum in your favor. What did you talk about in that timeout, and how were they able to recapture the momentum back?
TOM IZZO: We gave up a couple of ball screenplays that, gosh, we've just never done. The guys that were in there, they gave up a couple of plays, and they made some great shots. I thought Aaron Henry, our whole thing tonight was take no more than two dribbles in there. They collapse so well, and kick out. And we just didn't follow, we didn't do a very good job of that.

But Aaron Henry, my freshman, on that last play kicked that one to Matt McQuaid, and he had a wide-open shot, and it just didn't fall. That's the nature of basketball. I talk more about we've got to be strong on the defensive end. We looked like we were fatiguing. Give them some credit on that too. Culver hit one, but, God, Mooney hit two shots, one with a guy right in his face and one, I don't know, shot it from right over here, I think. I didn't even get to see it, it was so far out.

That's how you win games, you know. You make plays. They made some plays. We didn't make some plays. We missed some shots. Hurt to have McQuaid out of there, even for a couple minutes. But they -- listen, they earned it. They deserved it. Give my guys credit. We didn't quit, and we came back, but it wasn't really a game that I felt we were ever out of, but it wasn't really a game, to answer the question, whoever asked it before, that I felt comfortable in it. Just the way, the nature they played, it was impressive.

THE MODERATOR: That's all the time we have. We want to thank Coach Izzo for coming down to the main interview room. Congrats on a great season, great run through the tournament.

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