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BIG TEN CONFERENCE MEN'S TOURNAMENTMarch 14, 2014Branden DawsonGary HarrisTom IzzoINDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA Michigan State – 67 COACH IZZO: Well, I'm just proud of the way we played defensively. I thought Gary, Zel, and Brandon kind of led the charge. So did Keith Appling. It was nice to see him back kind of like the way he was. And I thought B.J. had some tip‑ins and some loose balls and we got some things because of his activeness. I'd say this is the best he's played in a long, long time. If you looked at what we had him doing defensively, we had him switching, we had him working on Crawford, who I just love the guy. He's a good player. I just thought our overall defense until the last seven minutes was exceptional. We got some breaks, got it out, and considering we did all that without Adreian. They did a good job on him, but he was in so much foul trouble. So happy, but it's only one win. Q. What's the importance of having a feel good game as you guys try to get this stretch going in the postseason? BRANDEN DAWSON: It's definitely important for us just to get this win, this key win tonight. Just to see us happy again as a team and just playing good as a team. And like Coach said, we've got Keith coming back and different guys rotating in, so this win was definitely needed for tonight. GARY HARRIS: It was just good to be out there having fun. We placed some emphasis on it in practice this week, to improve our defense and our communication, and I feel like we placed a lot of energy on defense and that carried over to the offensive end. We were just playing how we played earlier in the season, which was good for us. Q. Brandon, you talked about Keith. There's been mention of Keith being back, but tonight did you have a different feeling? I think you've been pretty active since you've been back. Did it feel different at the start? BRANDEN DAWSON: Yeah, I definitely felt different out there, and like Coach said, when you work on things, you just see results. I felt good out there, and my teammates have been telling me in practice we need more out of you. We just need you running, bringing energy, and just crashing the boards, and that's what I did tonight. I stayed solid and didn't rush anything, and it turned out good. Q. Gary, talk about coming back to Indianapolis and playing basketball. Any thoughts about going out there in familiar surroundings? GARY HARRIS: It's fun. Last time I played in this arena, it was for the Indiana All‑Stars when we beat Kentucky. You know, I've had good memories in this gym, and it's always good when you can come home. I love coming home. Q. You guys obviously had a clear depth advantage. Was it just a huge initiative to push the ball up the floor and tire them out? COACH IZZO: Well, it was a huge initiative at the beginning of the week. And in all honesty, conventional wisdom would think you're probably going to play Iowa, so it really doesn't matter who we played, we wanted to do that. And then last night when things changed, we thought that was one of the advantages for us is ‑‑ when you play a game, there's an advantage for that team the next game because you shot on the floor. We never did that, all those things. There's an advantage to us, especially when your team doesn't have as much depth. Chris did a heck of a job with that team. When they lost Cobb, he's a great player and it made it harder for Crawford to do everything himself. We thought pushing the ball and crashing the boards were two things that we needed to do. We did a decent job until the last five, six minutes, we kind of gave up some shots. But other than that, I thought we played pretty well, and we pushed it pretty well. Q. Tom, how happy were you to see Branden start to take that mid‑range shot that's always seemed to be open for him the last two or three years? COACH IZZO: You know, it's kind of strange, I told him God might have taken his hand away, but he gave him a jump shot. He's actually been shooting the ball so much better since he's come back, it kind of reminds me of my golf game. When you come back and you're just concentrating, you do it real well early. And I think he's concentrating harder on the form of his shot because everything is not perfect, and it's helped him. Don't kid yourself; the difference in Branden was his energy and his defense. And then he made things happen on the break, and he did hit a couple nice shots. But I think he felt better about himself because he did other things better. He was a big key. I mean, he was switching, talking, he was covering up for people. I think that was one of the best games Branden has played here. Q. Hope you have another golf analogy for Drew Crawford. You've been full of praise over the years. What did you see from him in the second half? COACH IZZO: He's one of those kids in the league that it's a joy to go against him because you know he's bringing it every night. And I think when he lost his running mate, it made it a little harder. If you talk to the kid at all, he could have jumped ship last year. A lot of people would have tried to pick him up, and he didn't. It was good for Chris and it was good for the Northwestern program. It was good for the Big Ten to have him back, and it kind of shows you what a quality kid he is. I don't know how a guy could be that good of a kid when his dad is an official. I don't know how that's possible, but he is (laughter). Q. You talked about, before the game, kind of getting this team regenerated again and getting it focused. How do you think they did that tonight? COACH IZZO: Well, guys, I mean, let's not kid ourselves; we are going to be a work in progress with every game we play. I mean, we still have our moments, and I thought we had a couple of crazy turnovers. I thought‑‑ we're doing a little better job of playing the kind of defense we want because we're back switching some things and doing some things, but it's one game. We played a couple good games now, one average game, and one poor game in the four that we've had everybody back. So, are we making progress? Yeah, we are. But tomorrow will be a good test to see where we are. Q. Going back to talking about Crawford, you guys embraced for a while at the end of the game there. What did you tell him? COACH IZZO: Well, I just said, Hey, you've had a hell of a career, and I'm really proud of you. I'm glad you stayed. I told him that. I think that kid could play some basketball beyond college, I really do. Wherever it is, I said, if I can ever be of any help, call me. Q. We saw two suffocating defenses in the quarterfinals tonight. Tomorrow is it roll the sleeves up and get bloody? COACH IZZO: Yeah, yeah, it's an old‑fashioned fist fight. That's what Wisconsin‑Michigan State have been like. It's kind of strange, though, because we've almost led the league in three‑point shooting, and they were so good early, and then they fell off. Now Brust is hitting threes. They've got more guys hitting threes again. So it's kind of a strange‑‑ when you look back at this incredible match‑up that it's been for ten years, really, we've won our share, and then they sure did win their share. It's kind of become where we're both still pretty good defensively, but we both are relying on the three‑point shot a little bit more. I don't see that happening tomorrow, although I think it's going to be old‑fashioned game, and it should be fun. Q. In the four games you've had everyone back healthy, have you seen kind of a steady progress, or has it been kind of like a stock market, kin of an up‑and‑down chart kind of thing? COACH IZZO: Yeah, we've been more of a stock market up‑and‑down to be honest with you. I think the biggest key tonight was Keith. Your quarterback has got to play well, and I thought he pushed it better. You could still see, though, where he comes in and used to make those moves and just go around a guy and get it up, and he just is‑‑ just hasn't done it in so long that he's not as comfortable. But he did push it. We begged him to push it all the time. He did guard very well. That's the old Keith. So I think that is the biggest key. Branden, yes. A.P., we really didn't get much out of A.P., but he'll be there tomorrow. I'm not worried about A.P. I think if I had to look at it over the four games, where have I seen a little bit more improvement? The Iowa game, it was Keith that went down a little bit and made some turnovers and that in the Ohio State game, and tonight again he did some good things. We're making some progress. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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