BIG TEN CONFERENCE MEN'S BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT

March 11, 2022

Tom Izzo

Marcus Bingham, Jr.

Tyson Walker

Gainbridge Fieldhouse

Michigan State Spartans

Postgame Press Conference

Michigan State - 69, Wisconsin - 63

MODERATOR: We are joined by Michigan State Head Coach Tom Izzo, Tyson Walker and Marcus Bingham, Jr.

Coach, the floor is yours.

COACH TOM IZZO: I love Indianapolis and I love March, how's that? A lot of credit goes to these guys. I mean, we all know it was an interesting year, but I thought to do what we did, meaning play the defense that I thought we played, not turn the ball over after five-four early ones, start going inside to my big guy who finally stayed inside was very important, and point guard play between him and A.J. I think they had one turnover, he had zero. He had seven assists. Then we just had some guys that sprayed in there. Joey Hauser made some big plays. I thought early on Julius Marble kept us alive. Max Christie did a hell of a job defensively and made some plays, and Gabe had a couple key rebounds. I mean, it was nothing -- offensively, it was something that probably would make Dick Bennett and Bo Ryan proud. It was typical Michigan State-Wisconsin, first guy to 50 wins.

And I've got so much respect for Gard, the job he's done with a team that nobody predicted. That's a really good basketball team. And I give us credit because I thought we did a decent on Johnny and he is something special, but I'm sure his injury, when he went down there last week and probably didn't get to practice much had something to do with it.

So all in all, I'm just excited that we won a game, get a chance to advance and maybe starting to do some of the things we hadn't done, like check better and not turn the ball over.

Q. Question for Marcus. You've been really good on the boards the past three games. Seemed like something clicked in that Maryland game on Sunday at home. What was it for you that made that turn around?

MARCUS BINGHAM, JR.: Just getting challenged by my coaches, getting back to the norm. I think for like the last 10 games or stuff I was slacking in some of them areas, so I just wanted to get it back right.

Q. Marcus, that stretch where you had, I think, 11 straight points, are you kind of maybe feeling the senior itch or the light come on to kind of elevate things, particularly the offensive rebounding in that stretch as well?

MARCUS BINGHAM, JR.: Yeah, going into halftime we didn't have any offensive rebounds and then Coach challenged me at halftime, so they're just coming out with the energy and then try to prove him right. And then the team did a hell of a job playing defense and getting stops and rebounds, so when we got stops, that all tied into it.

Q. Tyson, those last two shots you hit, you've talked to us a few times about coming here and part of this was to play in big time games and big environments. You're in a pro arena here and that second one may have been one of the loudest moments of the night. Can you kind of walk us through what you were feeling in that moment?

TYSON WALKER: As I said before just everybody has a big need to take those shots, and when I came off, I had that shot a couple times and I rushed it. So when I came off this time, I was just patient and followed through and everything. It felt good. The clenching fist, it's just like me being like happy really, just happy for that moment.

Q. Another one for Tyson. Tyson, yesterday we were up here talking about turnovers at the end of that Maryland game. What was last night and this morning like focusing on that and then turning on seven turnovers today?

TYSON WALKER: We just know they're a team that doesn't turn the ball over, so that would be a big part of winning the game and so we just wanted to take care of the ball as best we could. We had a couple turnovers early, then we kind of focused in on it and then we didn't have that many after that.

Q. This question's for either of you. Can you talk a little bit about the efforts from the team to slow down Johnny Davis, particularly Max?

TYSON WALKER: We just wanted -- every time he caught the ball, we just wanted to be in our gaps, have six eyes on him, make it tough for him, because he's a heck of a player. He can make tough shots. Every shot he took we wanted to be contested and we didn't want nothing easy for him.

Q. Tyson, you a couple times have had either game-winning shots or big shots at the end of games this season. I think one time you're like, I've taken that shot a million times, I knew it was going in. And another times you said, Right when I was about to take that shot, I knew it was happening.

Do you love that moment, do you live for it? Because tonight you had two more of those.

TYSON WALKER: It's part of the reason why I came here, to take those shots. Coach -- Coach, in those moments, he tells me go get the ball. So just having him having my back like that just makes it easier and just knowing like I can make most of the shots I can take if I just lock in and focus on it.

Q. Marcus, you mentioned that at points this season you've had your effort questioned as a reason for why you wouldn't be able to stay on the floor. 22 minutes tonight, the most that you've played in over two months.

What does it mean to you to be able to stay on the floor and be there for your teammates in tournament time?

MARCUS BINGHAM, JR.: A lot. My teammates have my back throughout the whole time. Even if they feel I was doing something wrong, they had my back, clapping their hands and telling me I'm good and stuff like that. So when the team camaraderie is like that, that makes everything easier.

Q. Tom, you mentioned a little bit in the opening, but when you look at obviously the big game Marcus had and Tyson's big shots, when you look at that box score and see how much you got from so many guys, there were stretches when Joey made big shots, you know, some of the plays that Max made, I mean, what does it mean to see now you're getting so much from so many guys, I think, when it matters most?

COACH TOM IZZO: It's very true. I thought Julius was good early when we couldn't get anything out of Marquee. As you said, Max did some good things. Gabe got some big rebounds. Everybody did something different. Jaden Akins came in there and played pretty good defense. It was a lot of guys. And.

A couple guys struggled a little bit tonight. Maliq struggled. For Maliq, he's one of our best players. But all in all, I love the job A.J. did. A.J. really did a lot of good things. As you said, we sprinkled it around, everybody did some good things.

But Mark, you know, Mark deserves some credit, you know. There was a come to the big fella meeting at halftime with me and DJ. I mean, if he would just keep his tail in that post some, he's really an effective player. And it helps him get some more rebounds because if you're outside, you don't get them.

So we encouraged him to stay in there and he did a hell of a job, deserves a lot of credit.

Q. Tom, again, is that the best game that you've seen from Marcus Bingham in his time at Michigan State?

COACH TOM IZZO: It's the best second half, it's the best half I've seen. I don't know, I have to think about the game, but I wasn't really doing somersaults back to the locker room in the first half, but the second half, I thought he was really. He started out, we went to him and he did a really good job. He did a pretty good job defensively. He's not always coming out because he did something wrong. I think one of the biggest problems is conditioning is a problem for him, but I think he played through his second wind.

I'm proud of him, but I'm happy for him. One thing about Marcus that my staff, we always say, he could have left three times and wouldn't have blamed him, but he just kept coming back for more and I sure would like to see him end his career in a serious, positive note.

Q. Tom, in the last 34 minutes and 45 seconds, your team had four turnovers. You had almost twice that many in two and a half minutes last night. How important was that to the win on a night when you go 1-11 from deep?

COACH TOM IZZO: You know, we're talking about us. Wisconsin's a hell of a team, you know. Johnny Davis is really good. We put a lot into him. We had bigs helping, we had guards helping, and Davison, you know, a guy that I really do respect. Early on he was crazy like a fox, but I just loved how hard he plays and we couldn't stop him. But we did do a pretty good job on Johnny. And I'm sure the injury had something to do with it.

So I consider this a big, big win because I think if you look at Wisconsin, what is it, they won like 14 games in a row five points or less. They don't make mistakes. We had seven turnovers and still didn't win the turnover battle because they had seven. Unbelievable job he's done there, and I think he's got a team that can move forward. They've just got to get Johnny back to normal practicing and I think at the same time give us a little credit that we did our job, too.

Q. Tom, you kind of mentioned the job that Max did tonight. Seemed like he was on Davis quite a bit. How does he make that transition from being more assertive offensively and shooting the ball more last night to becoming more of a stopper? I don't think he took a three-pointer in the game.

COACH TOM IZZO: Yeah, you know, I haven't told him I thought he passed up a couple, but it wasn't like -- we felt like we had to go inside their perimeter defense.

One thing about Max, it's been a little bit of a tough year on him, but he draws the best. When we played Illinois, Frazier's on him. You play Purdue, their best defender's on him. We play Wisconsin, Brad Davis is on him. And if you watch how they played him, they turned him down, they didn't let him get the ball.

I thought for Max's future, he's proving that he can defend, he can rebound, he can make free throws, he does a lot of things. Everybody knows he can score the ball and nobody more than me, even though maybe it hasn't been quite that kind of a -- especially last three weeks. But Max is still going to go off offensively. What's amazing is as a freshman, his stamina, he's able to do what he's able to do because he's running that lane. I'm even playing him at the point some trying to get him some shots and he's also checking the best players every night.

Q. Coach, you used the word "interesting" to describe this season. And considering all the wins that you've had in March, have that as the context of this question: Would a win like this and advancing, is there a joy that comes with a win like this or is it more relief that you're moving on?

COACH TOM IZZO: Julian, as only you could do, that's a hell of a question, and I'm going to answer it in a way I just told Gene Keady. I spent some time with Gene just a few minutes ago.

This was a joy. This was a joy. A normal year, it would have just been let's move on. But we've been through a lot and my team kind of -- the halftime with Mark where we went a little old-school on him, the defense that we played after not getting an offensive rebound, Purdue deserves credit. I mean, Wisconsin did a hell of a job on the boards.

I thought we won it the way we needed to win it and I still think we can get better offensively. I didn't think we did a good job, I think part of it was them. He probably feels the same way, and we'll talk about that, him and I.

Yeah, I felt some joy because I was happy that some guys came through and did the things they needed. I was happy for A.J. I thought A.J. did a lot of good things tonight. Joey hitting that three, it was just -- and that corner jump shot he hit, came off there like I've been waiting for two years. So maybe it takes a little longer, but maybe we're coming together a little bit.

We sure got our work cut out for us now because no matter who we play, Matt's done such an incredible job. And Micah, he's becoming one of my favorite coaches in the league the way his teams play. The only one is Keady since they're both kind of Purdue disciples of his.