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BIG TEN CONFERENCE MEN'S TOURNAMENTMarch 15, 2013Keith ApplingTom IzzoAdreian PayneCHICAGO, ILLINOIS MICHIGAN STATE – 59 COACH IZZO: Well, I've been through a lot of tournaments, a lot of tournaments, back in our National Championship year, we had a couple of Final Fours that came many here and won at the buzzer against Penn State, won at the buzzer against Northwestern. I thought, I have to blame myself, because I made a big deal about us showing up for 31 times, and we didn't show up today for the first half and that really does fall on me. These guys did great job this morning. We had a shootaround here. It was kind of a weird day, just because we had never shot here. I had one player that never played here, so that I thought it was important to get him up at 7:00 and that was probably a little bit of mistake, because is this general, Iowa out‑worked us three fourths of that game and deserved to be in the position they were in. In saying that, after a disappointing halftime where I didn't believe we were responding, these guys kind of took over, Branden Dawson, even a guy like Travis Trice, every one of them made a hero's play at the end, and wasn't just one guy. These guys spear headed it but every guy made a big play. And we found a way to luckily, luckily win. Q. In 75 percent time of the game, there were a lot of turnovers and you were undisciplined, and something happens with about ten minutes left before you made that run; how did you switch gears down the stretch of this game? KEITH APPLING: We just had to focus in. You know, we knew we made too many mistakes and we just had to come together as a team and start picking up our play. ADREIAN PAYNE: What he said was right on. We wasn't playing that well. Like Keith said, he told me we weren't losing the game, and he stepped up and led us. Q. You guys have been involved in a lot of physical games over the years, where would you place that one? How does that compare to other physical match‑ups you've been involved in? ADREIAN PAYNE: This game was very physical, as you can see I got busted in the lip all four times. You know, it was just a physical game. They made really hard and aggressive. KEITH APPLING: You know, that had to be one of the most physical games I ever played in. Those guys were all over the place each and every possession. Luckily we were able to pull it off at the end. Q. Even when Keith wasn't playing his best in the first half, he continued to hustle, continued to work hard; what does it mean to this team, he's your captain and point guard and when he's not playing his best, he's stilling hustling and you can't fault effort at all and worked out for him in the second half. ADREIAN PAYNE: Yeah, you know, Coach always said, if the head dies, the body lies. Keith is our head, and he didn't die. He just kept on playing. He brought a lot of energy and he led us, really his body language, and everything showed. Q. Seemed like they were getting a lot of bounces, did it seem like everything that was going off the back iron for a while was falling, just one of those nights? And what allowed to you decide to not pack it in and go home and play for the NCAA Tournament? KEITH APPLING: That's the character of our team. We have a lot of guys with the will to win, and we just didn't want to go home.  We fought as hard as we could and the second half, tried to pull away a little bit. Q. Can you both talk about the dunk that you had, Keith, can you remember having a dunk like that before? And what do you think it took for you guys having so many of those big‑type plays to sort of get you guys back with the right energy? KEITH APPLING: Those plays really helped the momentum on our team. I feel like they helped us pick it up on the defensive end, and once we picked it up, we started to get stops and get it in the basket on the offensive end. Getting those plays really helped us. ADREIAN PAYNE: Yeah, it just felt like we had our feet in the quicksand and we just didn't get out, and with those type of plays, Keith just brought a lot of energy and gave us a little bit more fight. Q. Why were they able to do that? Why were they able to push you guys around a little bit in the first half? KEITH APPLING: You know, they just came out with a little more energy simple as that. They got all the 50/50 balls and like I said, they were all over the place. But the second half we picked it up and changed our mind‑set and were able to come out with the win. Q. You guys talk about how you got pushed around a little bit, but in the first half especially you guys really cleaned up the offensive glass and really made up for some poor shooting in the first half. I guess what were you doing that made you so successful in the offensive glass to get those second chance opportunities? ADREIAN PAYNE: You know I have to give all the credit to Branden Dawson and the guy next to me. They fought as hard as they could to get around those guys and make extra plays on the offensive end. KEITH APPLING: You know, it was very physical, but you know, our teammates and our team, we fought, as you can see on the board. We out‑rebounded them. So you know we have got to give some credit to our team and we've just got to bounce back when we can what we have slow starts like that. Q. There was one point late in the first half, you made a hustle play, and Keith still wasn't his best‑‑ can you talk about the fact that he continues to fight and play hard which has maybe not happened early in his career when he was struggling? COACH IZZO: Keith is one of the toughest kids I have, and that's what I said earlier. You're all right. You've evaluated him very well, the 50/50 balls, the loose balls, Keith got some of those. But his dunk was a big play. It did kind of get us going. And so I did say if Keith isn't playing well, it's hard for us to be good. He doesn't have to be great but he has to be pretty solid and steady and tonight he did a pretty good job defensively. We just, I don't know‑‑ I loved Adreian's comment, quicksand. Gary the first half, I think he was nailed to the floor. I don't know why. The last time I saw that was in Germany. So maybe I'm not appreciating these young guys some of them getting a little bit‑‑ four turnovers, maybe that's some of it, and I hate to say it. But it's good to have a rock and he's my rock. He's a tough kid and he hung in there. And the other thing somebody mentioned, there were some bounces, too, that one that almost hit the ceiling and came back through, and there was one that went right in the crotch of the thing and fell in. I mean, they earned their way because Franny is a hell of a coach and did a hell of a job but there were some bounces that went their way, too. Q. You talk about your scheduling every year but tonight is why you schedule the way you do the beginning of the year; correct? COACH IZZO: Well, I think definitely‑‑ at halftime, of all people, the most vocal guy in our locker room was Branden Dawson. You know, he talked about the long road and we're not losing, and then Keith jumped in. I said very little. This was my time to say, okay, guys, going to see if you're going to take your team over a little bit. And they did. It was slowly, and then we came back, cut it to seven and made a couple more‑‑ hate to use this word, but dumb, foolish, idiotic‑‑ if I could four‑letter it‑‑ we did them all. We are solid and we are steady and all of a sudden we are double‑teaming the center at the top of the key and they give the guy a wide‑open three. We just did so many things that I just‑‑ it's not characteristic of us, and that's what I'm going to have to live with tonight. Q. Most say that this loss will keep Iowa out of the NCAA Tournament; do you agree? COACH IZZO: I don't, and I'll tell you why I don't. A couple reasons; we can talk about their non‑conference schedule and I think people have done that. I've been in this league when we have played one or two ranked teams, the whole time. I've been in this league when it was that way back, eight, nine years ago. So, you know, when we are playing those tough schedules, then all of a sudden we're playing with five, six, seven teams ranked in the Top‑25. That's still a lot more than a lot of teams are. So the non‑conference schedule wasn't as good; they won seven out of nine. They took, supposedly, the Top‑10 team, which I'm not sure they were, but they took us to the wire, probably deserved to win. I'm not begging for it, but I just think he's a hell of a coach and I think that is a very good basketball team that's gotten better. And Marble, getting better each day has helped them. I look at some of the teams around the country they say they are getting in, and Iowa, on their mettle, I hope they do get in. Q. When your team was unravelling in March, did you have a moment where you had to step back and let them figure it out? COACH IZZO: You know, I was here‑‑ the Zen master did that. I'm not the Zen master, I can promise you that. At halftime I did for the first time in a lot, a lot of years. I just said, where are we going to go. So I just leaned up the wall and asked whoever wanted to talk, and that's when Dawson said some things and that's when Keith said some things and Nick said a few things. It was kind of an emotional, not a rah‑rah or yelling emotional, just a down emotional thing. It was interesting for me, because I had done that once in 2000 with Cleaves and Peterson (ph), and it was one of the better things I had done. Embarrassed to say I didn't have any answers at halftime, but I'm proud to say that I let them make the decision and maybe they grew up a little bit. Q. Just out of respect to you, I'm not going to ask you a question about the reffing tonight, but I will ask one question‑‑ last time I saw you a few years ago, you didn't win the first game and I asked you then, and I said, is it because of a team with your ranking, did you need it and you said, I hope we're better than that. How did you go into the locker room tonight and get them to do what they ended up doing in the second half? I just assume‑‑ from your standpoint, how is it different for you, or is it the same thing every time? COACH IZZO: No, it was different, because this was the first time with team that I just shut up. I didn't say a lot on the sideline. I just said, I've never seen Gary Harris be like that, you know, except first game of the year where it just seemed like he was‑‑ and I know he cares. So at halftime, when I say I didn't do much, my (indiscernible) will probably be met, didn't earn my money at halftime. I've got a saying: Learn to listen and listen to learn; I just listened, tried to learn something about my team and tried to see who was going to step up, and to my surprise, of all the people that stepped up for us was BJ, and it's not in his character, you know. So I think that was kind of cool for me. I don't know how it worked, but we didn't need a loss. Disappointed because now I can't say we went 32 games not showing up, because we didn't show up the first half. But I can say 98 percent of this year, we've shown up every game, and I'll look at this as an out‑of‑body experience and get ready for Ohio State. Q. Having gone for games like this for two months, what does that put into this team and all of the Big Ten teams that might mean something starting next week? Is there a payoff from what you've had to go through? COACH IZZO: Oh, I think there is. I think there is, because Charlie Bell once said back in 2000, you know, to be the best you've got to beat the best and I'm sure a lot more famous people than him said it, but that was in our group. I think about that all the time. It does build character. It builds character what we did and some people wonder, will it wear everybody out. It will wear the weak ones down but the strong ones are going to keep moving forward and the strong ones are going to be able to sit in the locker room before a big game, and who knows who we are playing in the NCAA Tournament, and they will say, hey, we played this team, this team, this team, and you've been there before and done it at halftime or two minutes to go in the game, I might be able to use this event as, you know what we found a way even though we were not playing good, to be honest with you, to win three games in a row or six games in the NCAA Tournament, sometimes you have got to find a way. Now we didn't play good, but I'm telling you, you have to give Iowa a lot of credit for that. They made our life miserable tonight. His kids played so hard, I can't even tell you; as hard as anybody said, as most of them told you. But I think these games all help us. It makes you stronger. It makes you better. It's hard. It's hard. You can't get up for every game, you know. You have to have one of those letdown games, and boy, we haven't had many games where we could just play average and win, and tonight, we deserved to get beat, we found a way to win. I take it as a steal and try to play Iowa State. I definitely believe Iowa is a team that deserves to be in this tournament because of how they have played and what they have done and how they played last night and how they played the last eight, nine games. So I appreciate it, thanks for putting up with us tonight, see ya later. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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