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BIG TEN CONFERENCE MEN'S TOURNAMENTMarch 16, 2014John BeileinJordan MorganGlenn Robinson, IIIINDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA Michigan State – 69 COACH BEILEIN: We got beat today by a really good team. They were exceptional in everything, in everything that they did. Their defense was really good, their steals in the first half, and their offensive rebounding, just took possessions from us. All that being said, a couple breaks go our way, we would have liked it to be three or four at half. Unfortunately it wasn't. And the second half ‑‑ the key part of the game, I think, was the second half. We came out, I thought we had a couple really good looks, and then we‑‑ and didn't convert, and they did. And all of a sudden it's 15, and now you're fighting back the whole way. Huge congratulations to Michigan State. They deserve it. They were better than us today, and we move forward and look forward to the NCAAs. Q. Jordan, the early foul trouble, how frustrating was that and how do you think that affected the rest of the game? JORDAN MORGAN: I mean, it's tough. It seemed like all our big guys were kind of in foul trouble. And they definitely exposed that, not necessarily just imposed on us but kind of on the glass, and kind of a certain physicality down there. So that was tough for us to kind of work through and try to stay in the game through that. Q. Glenn, the match‑up with Brandon Dawson, getting him back on the floor, what was that like being able to battle with him? GLENN ROBINSON, III: I mean, I've played against Branden many times. He's a great player, especially for them to have him back, he did a lot for their team. We knew his big thing was offensive rebounding, and we had to keep him off the glass. We needed to do a better job at that. But he really gave them a spark on offense and defense, I thought. He played well, and as far as attacking him, I just tried to get downhill a couple times. I didn't finish a lot, but I just did what I could. Q. I was just wondering, in general, how much better is this Michigan State team than the one you saw during the regular season? COACH BEILEIN: Two things are happening: Number one, they're getting healthy, right, and number two, you get those guys back and they're healthy, that doesn't mean you're immediately better the next day. That means it takes time to get timing down, to get guys ready. There's a lot of work that goes into this thing. So those things, I think, have been happening over the last two or three weeks where they've had ups and downs as they got healthy. But their timing in this tournament, you can see by the gravity of their wins. Wisconsin is a pretty good team, and they did the same thing to Wisconsin they did to us. Q. Max was forced to give you a lot of minutes tonight. You actually put him in over Horford in that first half. What did you get out of him today? COACH BEILEIN: Well, Horford was in foul trouble, and we thought we could just hang in there a little bit and keep it under double digits at halftime, which we were on the verge of doing. And Max is really good in practice every day. We can't stop his three‑point shooting. In practice, he's done some really good things. So I thought he carried himself really well. Q. Can you just talk about the struggle to get inside the three‑point line, the three‑point arch, to get some inside shooting the first half? COACH BEILEIN: Well, first of all, they're a very long team. They're very experienced. It takes‑‑ when we have breakdowns, it's usually youth breakdowns defensively. You didn't see many freshmen out there today, and really just a couple sophomores. They really do a great job of protecting the paint. You're not getting in there. And if you get in there, you've got to finish through physical contact, and they were better than us today. But their defense is as good as anybody in the country. We just played three teams, back to back to back, that are really good defensive teams. We had to make tough shots really and come out the second half ‑‑ like I say, we had really good looks. Caris LeVert had a couple threes he's been making every day didn't go in. Q. In an hour or so, people will know where they're going for the tournament. I want to ask you whether you care about seeding, but how helpful is it that you've got a game Thursday or Friday and you can turn your channels toward that? COACH BEILEIN: Yeah, I've never seen so much wasted energy on who is seeded where. I mean, it is incredible. If you asked 99 percent of the‑‑ maybe I'm just stupid, but tell me the difference between a 14, 15, 16 seed or a 1, 2 and 3. We're talking about the 12 teams, the last 12 in and the first 12 in, playing them anywhere it doesn't make a difference. I don't care where we're seeded. I don't care where we play. I'm just really happy to be in the NCAA Tournament, and I trust those guys over in that hotel room with anything. They work at this thing, and I trust them with anything. When Michigan's number comes up, we're happy if they're sending us anywhere and what we're seeded. Q. You alluded to facing such great defenses this weekend. Can you talk about how that prepares you for next week and going forward? COACH BEILEIN: Hopefully, we don't see too many people like we did. But we just saw three of the best, really. Illinois was‑‑ their synergy tells us their ball screen defense is the best in the Big Ten, and we were able to score enough points. Ohio State, all year long, they were in the 38th, 39th percentile as far as defensive field goal percentage. And the only thing that was holding Michigan State back was having another upper classman out there, either a senior or junior. Like Jordan Morgan for us, that's a huge thing to have guys that not only know their position, they know how to get other people in their position, and Payne and Dawson and Appling, they do that so well, and Harris is a great, great defender. It's just getting them all together because we can usually pick on one guy. There's nobody to pick on on that team. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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