NCAA MEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP: FIRST ROUND - USC VS MICHIGAN STATE

March 18, 2023

Tom Izzo

A.J. Hoggard

Tyson Walker

Joey Hauser

Malik Hall

Nationwide Arena

Michigan State Spartans

Media Conference

THE MODERATOR: We're joined by Michigan State.

Q. Joey, obviously you're going against Marquette. Played for them for a year. Anything on the top of your head, or is this an M.J. moment, where you have to make something up to make you angry about it?

JOEY HAUSER: No, I don't know any of the players or coaches there. It doesn't really -- it was a long time ago. So I don't have any ill will towards them. But it's just Michigan State versus Marquette.

Q. Tyson and A.J., their style of play, obviously guards will be a huge focus. Are you looking forward to how they play and how you handle it?

A.J. HOGGARD: I'm looking forward to it. They've got good guards over there. We feel like we can match up. Just go out there, follow the game plan and do our job.

Q. Can you kind of talk about how your preseason or your regular season leading up to this and the rigors of playing the likes of Gonzaga, Kentucky, did those prep you for these situations against the teams that are seeded higher, but you're not faltered by that?

MALIK HALL: I just say Coach in general, everything he does, prepares us for March. It's something we talk about at the beginning of the year and summertime, just making sure that we're ready.

The schedule obviously is very hard and it's rigorous. But that's something that kind of like trains our minds, trains our bodies, and getting ready for situations like this, and going up against someone who is just as good a team as us, maybe ranked a little better, and things like that.

Q. Joey, not to bang on the Marquette question a lot, but did you talk to Sam and what did he have to say about you playing against Marquette?

JOEY HAUSER: I haven't talked to him about it, actually. It's another tournament game.

Q. Malik, Coach has been successful with the short turn around NCAA Tournament game. Could you take us through what's the last day been for you guys, starting with the preparation and what goes into everything?

MALIK HALL: Coach is obviously one of the best in the country at preparation just for things like this. Watches a lot of film. I credit everybody on the coaching staff, not just the coaches, but the GAs, video coordinators, everybody does a really great job making sure that the players are prepared when we go out for games.

We watched a little bit of film. We've had walk-throughs, watch more films, have more walk-throughs. We've done a lot of different things to make sure we're mentally focused on what's to come tomorrow.

Q. Same situation as last year, you win the 7-10 game, playing the 2 seed in the region. Obviously trying to avoid the result from last year. Was there anything different in the process up to this point or moving forward getting ready from last year to this year for Marquette?

JOEY HAUSER: I wouldn't say there's anything different. Same amount of preparation, work goes into it. Once we won that first game we knew what it was going to be, like getting back to the hotel, there's going to be film and walk-through right away.

The same preparation goes into it during this time. It's just get as much film work as you can get done. Study them as much as you can and get as familiar as you can.

Q. A.J. and Tyson, can you kind of walk us through what you've seen on tape from Coach Smart's defense? And what types of things do you guys have to do to solve that pressure?

A.J. HOGGARD: They're very aggressive on defense. They get up in you, they get after you. They blow up a lot of things, take away things. We'll (indiscernible) of things they're trying to take away.

TYSON WALKER: We just, take care of the ball. They turn people over pretty well. That's a big part of the game.

Q. Malik, everyone kind of focuses on Kolek with them. He won player of the year. Seeing how Kam Jones popped off the other day, does that change your guys' scouting report at all?

MALIK HALL: I don't think it really does. They're both two really great players, obviously. I mean, I don't think it really changes much. I think we just gotta go with what the coaches say and make sure we're paying attention to both of them.

Q. Joey, not to go with another Marquette question, but can you talk about how your growth at Marquette and your time at Marquette was able to impact you now here at Michigan State?

JOEY HAUSER: Yeah, I mean, I graduated high school early and went there because of injury. A lot of work was done just in terms of getting back into playing shape and the training staff. The weight room staff there, strength staff, did a really good job helping me out. Being with my brother was an unbelievable experience of just having him kind of show me the ropes college basketball and getting used to the travel and playing in big games was definitely what helped me.

Getting to Michigan State, sitting out that year was tough, but I think I've just kind of grown in those areas since I've gotten here.

Q. Joey, after that, this year, what have you focused on to improve in your senior season?

JOEY HAUSER: Honestly just being more confident in my shot, in myself, my game. Stepping into a bigger role was something that I always wanted to do. So teammates help me a lot in that aspect, just keep telling me to shoot the ball and making plays.

Q. Joey, you said you have a lot of experience playing in those big game, tough games. How will that help you tomorrow as you lead the team?

JOEY HAUSER: I think just being in close games. We had Kentucky earlier this year, that was a double overtime game. Gonzaga came down to the wire. Played some big teams.

Obviously the Big Ten season is a gauntlet in itself. So like Lik talked about earlier, Coach Izzo does it on purpose because it prepares you for March. That's his goal, that's what he wants to do.

Q. A.J., the other day, Coach was referencing the gap between numbers 363 and number one is smaller than ever. You guys know how much talent there is around the country. Is it even that surprising when you see what FAU did last night to Purdue?

A.J. HOGGARD: You said, what FDU did to Purdue? It was definitely surprising. I didn't really get to catch the game. I was really preparing for Marquette. I really don't know what happened. But seeing the result was definitely surprising.

Q. Tyson and A.J., is there a team you've played that you would say maybe is most like Marquette? Do you have a turnover number in mind, obviously zero, but is there a number you say, well, we did our job controlling the ball?

A.J. HOGGARD: Definitely. We strive on being intent. They cause a lot of problems with their offense. They're a really well-rounded offense. I don't know too many teams up at the top that compares to them.

Just playing different styles of basketball at the beginning of the year helps us in any situation because we play different styles during the year outside of the Big Ten. So this will be another challenge for us.

Q. Tyson, Tom talks about playing as many different kinds of teams early in the season as you can. Have you played any that remind you of Marquette?

TYSON WALKER: I'm not really sure. At the play different. They're physical. They run up and down. And they shoot a lot of 3s. So I don't think that combination we played against, but we've played against a lot of different teams. Had a lot of short preps. It's just like any other time. Just have to prepare for it.

Q. Malik, their point guard Kolek, and his vision to drop pocket passes and so forth, how important is it, and is it a challenge for back-line players off the ball to stay with the man longer? Is that a unique aspect to do with the core vision?

MALIK HALL: I think it definitely is. We definitely played people who like to backdoor us, we've played people like that. So just making sure there's pressure on the ball and everybody off the ball is still knowing where the ball is and knowing where their man is, is definitely important for this game.

COACH IZZO: We're excited. We really are. And Marquette, they've done a hell of a job. And I've known Shaka for a while. I talk to him a lot over the years. I'm impressed with his team. To get a guard like he's got in Kolek that becomes the player of the year in that league is amazing. They've got the sixth man of the year in that league.

We just played a team that had an incredible guard in Ellis. And they had a sixth man of the year. So we're getting -- we're not dodging anybody, that's for sure.

And this team brings more ball screens than maybe we faced all year. It seems they're coming from right to left, they're all over the place and they do it very well. They've got some shooters. They've got a center who, Oso, who his assist-to-turnover is 2-1. That's off the charts. He's got 109 or 110 assists, which is unbelievable. So they're unconventional in their own way. They're different in that their own way and they're very good.

And yet I've been really pleased with the focus of my team, last night in the walk-through room, today in the practice. It's something I complained about for weeks. I just did not see it all the time.

And I think that's the beauty of the NCAA Tournament. And maybe the beauty of playing on Friday and then getting a chance to play again. You see all the upsets that happen. I think it's shocking to players. I think they never look at it like it could happen to them.

And they've got a lot of good friends on some of those teams that it happened to. Especially for us, with Purdue, because we're close as a staff. And I have so much respect for Matt. But our players know each other pretty well. And I think that hits home even differently.

Q. I want to go off of what you just said. You've taken some of your inconsistent teams on longer runs in tournaments in your career. Is it the win-or-go-home concept in your mind that kind of forces them into becoming more consistent in the tournament?

COACH IZZO: I'd like to say I hope not because that means I'm not doing my job all the time. My job is to get them ready each and every game.

But I do think that we talk a lot about tournaments. We talk a lot about the Thanksgiving tournament or the Big Ten, or the Big Ten Tournament. Anytime you get a chance to win games where if you lose, you go home, I think you've got to -- or lose and you're not going to finish first -- I think we do talk about that a lot at our place.

And it doesn't always hit home. But sooner or later -- I thought yesterday we guarded a lot better. We had one bad stretch. Other than that, I thought we did an unbelievable job against a very good offensive team. So we guarded better and we maintained some things.

And we gave up the lead. Came back at the end. We couldn't make a free throw. We've got I think the best free-throw shooting team in the league. There wasn't panic. I think we're growing.

To be honest, I thought A.J. played really well. And even on the bench, because he had to sit a while with the fouls. When you've got a team that's fun to coach and it's fun to coach when you can coach 'em.

And so I've said this. I mean, some of it's my fault that I feel like all the things that are going on in the world, that you don't -- at the end of the day, as I said earlier this week and I'll say it a hundred times, you can do all the different things you can do. You can talk about kids that have changed. You can talk about you can do things different ways -- I just think you've still got to hold people accountable and gotta find the right way to do it.

And right now I've got a lot more eyes looking at me than raising them. And that's a good sign. So we'll keep playing well.

Q. You mentioned the ball-screen action that Marquette uses a lot. And that posed a little bit of trouble for you guys yesterday in that short little run they had with Morgan down low. I know you mentioned Mady was a little bit tired. But what has to be different tomorrow to handle the ball-screen action better than yesterday?

COACH IZZO: I think we have to do a better job as a staff. They threw a couple of things at us that we weren't ready for. That's what happens when you play teams you don't quite know as well, no matter how much film you watch. We've got to do a better job.

Then we've got to make sure that the players understand the coverages. And the players have to do a better job. So it all works together.

But we saw some things there that we didn't like and we changed some things. We talked about it. And we tried to do as good a job of coming up with scenarios. That's what we spent a little time on today, different scenarios, single-ball screens, double-ball screens, angle-ball screens, slip-ball screens, all the different things they do and they do very well. We'll see if we accomplished that in the game.

Q. You and Shaka are good friends, you go back a long time. Seems like he takes the same approach as you, (indiscernible) portal question as far as emphasizing the guys that are there. Wonder if that's something you two have discussed. And is it gratifying to see him have the year he had kind of going with that approach?

COACH IZZO: I love the year that he had. I just can't love it for two days. But I love what he's done. I respect what he's done. And he's tried to do it his way. And I think it is working.

I think he's going to build a real good program. When he was at VCU he did. When he was at Texas it was a little crazier. He's still the same coach, a damn good coach. And I'm sure he'll -- we all have to adjust to the times, but we've all got to remember what got us to where it gets you and what it takes to win on a consistent level.

The way that everything got blown up in the last two weeks for me, Big Ten Tournament, there was, like, most of the lower seeds beat the higher seeds. You've never seen maybe the 1 and 2 seeds go down this early in a tournament.

It's got to be a lot of reasons but I think some of them is everybody's struggling to keep guys focused and doing the task that they have to do and not looking ahead and not thinking they're better than they are. (Indiscernible) be entitled, be humbled.

And you watch Fairleigh Dickinson and you watch some of those teams, and you watch the enjoyment and enthusiasm they have, and it's kind of refreshing, in some ways.

But I've been on that side. That's what I told Matt, I've been on that side against Middle Tennessee. And that night I thought we played really well. I thought we shot it really well. Just somebody else played a little better and that's going to happen sometimes.

Crazy tournament. It's getting crazier. But I think guys that try to stay as consistent as you can stay -- and he's done a great job of that -- I think we'll end up winning out in the end.

Q. The way the guards defended yesterday, can a performance like that carry over from game to game the way maybe a shooter who sees the ball go through the net can have a string of a couple of games shooting it well?

COACH IZZO: In some ways I think it's easier because the shooting is a skill where defending is a choice if you're a good defensive player. And I've got three really good defensive players and I've got another one who yesterday looked, moving laterally, was Malik, the best he has I think in months.

So I think you can. But, more importantly, it's going to have to, because the way they play and as good as their guards are, it's going to have to be that way.

That's one thing I do like about our matchups. I think we have good guards defensively and offensively and I think they do. So we'll just have to make a choice that we play it.

And for a shot to go in, it's all about confidence. You don't need confidence on defense. Although, once in a while it is good to get a win defensively. I think our locker room, I think there was a lot more understanding on why I've been so upset the last two, three weeks. And that can be a plus and there can carry over from that.

Q. You understand the shocking unpredictability of the tournament obviously and what happened last night. You've seen it a lot. Is it hard to impress upon your players or is it easier to do when you see like a Fairleigh Dickinson?

COACH IZZO: It's like everything else, until something happens to you, it never hits home the same way. Unfortunately, I always use cancer. Like people -- I try to never tell somebody that I know what they're going through if I haven't been through it. I just don't.

And so with Matt last night, I texted, talked a little bit, I feel that I wasn't an expert at it but unfortunately I knew what he was going through because it happened to me -- with good kids, and he's a hell of a coach, too.

Right now we're in a day and age where nobody thinks anything happens to them. They're all supermen. They've all been told most of their lives how good they are. And so I think it is harder.

Now, some of that is needed. You've got to be a little cocky to be good. You've got to be a little confident to be good. But there's nothing like going through it.

The second closest is seeing it on teams or people that you respect and know. And that's kind of what happened yesterday.

A Virginia, Joey Hauser's brother played there. I've known Tony Bennett. I worked his dad's camps. I've known him all my life. I don't think there's a better human being on the planet. Good kids, experienced kids. It happened.

Purdue, I think Matt Painter is the new breed. He's the young up-and-coming coach -- and he's young in age, not in experience, because he's been there a long time. But he's a guy that's done an incredible job and worked for one of the best in Gene Keady. Everything there is good. I know some of their players. I recruited some that I didn't get. And our players know their players.

When something happens there, I think it hits home a little harder. So us telling them, no, no. That doesn't work. They all know more than the coach. That's not an insult. Maybe I did too.

But seeing it happen the way it's happening, unfolding in both the Big Ten Tournament and this tournament, I think the sense of urgency ramps up. And I think sooner or later players realize, yeah, he's not kidding; if you lose you do go home. You do hang up your shoes, you do not get to play again. That's where I say the my-bads and all those things, they make a difference.

And seeing it in living color, we were in a meeting last night and somebody came in, they were screaming down at the lobby, and we watched the last 10 seconds of that game. And I'm not going to lie to you. I just met the coach from Fairleigh Dickinson, great guy. But we all felt bad.

They're in our bracket and we felt bad because you don't want that to happen to anybody. And that hit home to some guys.

Q. You've been saying all season this team is not one of your most talented teams that you've had. They're good but they're not great. So what is it besides the obvious that you need from them tomorrow to make that jump from good to great against Marquette?

COACH IZZO: I think our guard play can borderline being really good, especially when Jaden is playing so much better offensively. And Tyson has had a great year.

The addition of Malik has been a problem all year because he's a really good player. And he can play both ends a little bit, like Tyson except he's got size and strength.

But A.J.'s been a big key. And A.J. played very well yesterday and he's had some really good games. My battle cry with him has been if we can get consistent.

And sometimes when you go through things, we all learn, I've got to do a better job coaching. He's got to do a better job listening. And I think there's been a lot of good things that have happened in the last week because we've always been pretty good defensively. We've been a pretty good team all year. We had I think one blowout. We've been right there knocking on the door.

But I think we'd all agree that talent really doesn't win championships. We all want it to. We think it does. Somebody said there's a lot of good players. Well, the players from some of those schools aren't as good as the players at those schools that they beat. They're not.

But they've got a couple of very neat texts from a couple of NBA guys, coaches, yesterday, last night, and they said, we do not -- the analytics don't speak enough about your heart, your will to win, the discipline, those things. It just talks about how high you can jump or how well you can shoot or what you can rebound.

And you're seeing more and more of that. And I think right now what do we have to do? We have to play the defense we played. We can't turn the ball over. We had seven yesterday. They turned people over 15 times a game. So turnovers will be the same, like it is in the Super Bowl. It's in all sports. They're very similar.

And you've got to make some shots. I mean, I think it was Purdue shot 34 and 19. If we shoot 34 and 19 we're probably bussing back. But unless we can hold them to 33 and 18, which can happen once in a while.

Q. Shaka the other day was saying I think he was a GA in 2000 when you guys won it all, and he knew then that coaching would be his path. Was that where you first crossed paths and what is it that you appreciate about his coaching style?

COACH IZZO: He's got a lot of passion. I love that about him. And one of my first real encounters with him, they were playing Michigan in the Palace. I can't remember what year it was. We were playing there, '13?

And I had known him a little bit but there I ran into him. And they were going to play Michigan. And he called me, he was just talking about it. And I said, boy, their guards are so good, it's hard to press them. That's when he was just full out he pressed you from the minute you came into the arena to the minute you left.

And so we had a lot of talks about that because I love his passion, how hard his kids play. Now they still play hard. He presses some. But he picks and chooses. And I think he's done a great job of taking that, still not losing who he is and what he wants, but adjusting to say, maybe guards -- not a lot of guys that press one end to the other -- Pitino did it once -- seem to win championships.

And I think he's adjusted a little bit and yet kept that pressing fire, passion. I thought he got mistreated at Texas, to be very honest about it. And I was happy to see him land on his feet in Milwaukee since he's from the area.

And he's just taken it and run, like it was for me. I think I was born to be at Michigan State. Now, that doesn't mean I was worthy of being there, but, I mean, that's kind of the thing. And I think for him Marquette was one of the schools that it's his passion. But along with his desire to be where he's at. He's going to be very successful there, do a very good job.

So I've been a fan. I've stayed in touch when he went through some things at Texas and enjoyed watching him play. Unfortunately, it's going to be from 40, 50 feet away now for a little bit more.

But that ain't going to change anything. He does it the right way. He coaches the kids hard, but he's a damn good coach.

Q. Joey, yesterday 17 points, 4-for-6 from 3, could you talk about how much he's improved over the past few years at Michigan State?

COACH IZZO: Well, there's no question. I've said it a million times to our people that COVID affected a lot of people a lot of different ways. I thought Joey was one that affected in a very negative way, just how you had to be by yourself and alone and all the things you went through, almost to the point where I'm not sure he was going to play basketball, come back for this year. And we had some long talks, parents, him. It was almost like the light bulb went on and he said, "I'm coming back."

And he started working, and that summer he was -- last summer he was great. And he's been so good this year in a lot of ways. I mean, sometimes we're not even getting him enough shots. And he's just been a better rebounder. He's taking care of his body like a pro guy. I don't know if it's his brother's influence on him. He's even eating better, which is kind of illegal for a college guy. So he's just done a lot of things. He gets into the office early. He eats breakfast. He does all the things -- you love Joey Hauser.

And if you know what he's been through and how he's responded, he'll be a good guy for me to use in years to come of fight through some adversity. People getting down on you, and believing in yourself and hanging in there. And I believe that. I've known him. I've known some people around him for a lot of years, a guy name Dale Rais (phonetic) I've known forever. And the Stevens Point thing with the Bennetts and all the things, I used to go there as a college guy to work camp.

So it was just kind of a connection we had. And I think Joey has done an incredible job of high basketball IQ, confidence in his shot, but he's earned the confidence because he works at it. He wasn't always a confident kid. I think that's what's changed the most this year. He can miss shots now and it doesn't eat them alive. And I don't have to tell him to keep shooting.

It's been fun to watch. He's one of those success stories, you say could have gone left, road left, could have gone on road right. He picked the right road. And who knows where this is going to lead him? But he's going to be much more successful than a lot of people thought.