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NCAA MEN'S REGIONALS SEMIFINALS & FINALS: NEW YORKMarch 28, 2014Branden DawsonTom IzzoAdreian PayneNEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK Michigan State – 61 THE MODERATOR: We'll go ahead and get started with an opening statement from coach and then take questions for the student‑athletes. COACH TOM IZZO: I love the Garden. The Garden, it hasn't been as good to us but the new one has been better. Give Virginia a lot of credit. Tony Bennett has done an incredible job in a few years there, and his team played so hard and physical and tough. And as he said to me, and I agree with him, it's the way the game should be played. These guys might not agree and his guys might not agree, but I thought their fans, too, they had a lot of people here. It was almost like a home game. But all in all these two guys, we said we were going to have to go inside, we thought we would make them double us, and first play of the game Adreian made an incredible pass. We got a three. Kind of loosens them up right away. And these two guys, we worked on some high‑to‑low and worked on some different things, but they both shot well from the line. They both rebounded pretty well. And we beat a hell of a team. So I'm just excited about it. THE MODERATOR: Take questions for the student‑athletes. Q. Branden, talk about your guys' ability to take a punch. You have shown you can overwhelm teams, and just does this go back to after the Michigan game and Illinois game, the not pointing fingers and kind of resolve when somebody hits you? BRANDEN DAWSON: Yes, when those guys went on their run, Coach talked about us just staying poised. And I think it was very important for us to do that. We didn't start pointing fingers. We stayed together, and I think guys like Adreian Payne, Keith Appling and Denzel, they just kept us up, kept us in the game and we kept our poise and we just didn't give up. Q. Branden, you posted a photo on Instagram after the Big‑10 championship game where you talked about ‑‑ it was with Coach Izzo and you talked about how you had at low times thought about transferring. And now to come all the way here to full circle, I guess what was that process like? And what was the month and a half where you're out with a broken hand and trying to get yourself ready for a NCAA tournament run like this? BRANDEN DAWSON: Well, honestly it was hard. Coming from, coming out of high school, and Coach, he's been just telling me that I just need to play harder, and "We just need more out of you." And like you say, every freshman goes through the process of not getting all the balls and not getting all the touches, not scoring a lot of points. It was frustrating. I was ready to leave, and Coach he hung in there and I believed him, I trusted him. Q. Adreian, seems like much of the night it was frustrating, and it was with the physical play it was tough to get the ball on the block, but just talk about kind of hanging in there and then hitting that three‑pointer late. Was that the plan on that play? And I guess just how tough was that to make that shot when you're having this physical tough, draining of a night as that? ADREIAN PAYNE: I was just trying to ‑‑ first of all, I didn't shoot the first three that I had the opportunity to. They called a timeout. Coach talked to me about it, and then the second time it was just another opportunity that happened, and I just took it, stepped up and knocked it down. Q. Branden, when you were out for those nine games, you hear people say how much the team missed you. What was that like for you knowing how much they needed you? BRANDEN DAWSON: It was tough. Being out for those nine games. I think it was tough on me because just watching those guys play each and every night. For me, just making the bad decision that I made, I learned from it a lot. That didn't stop me from coming in and working hard, and I think that being out for those nine games, I just told myself that my team needs me, and I just need to step up and be a man. And that's what I did. Q. For both the guys: Talk about the way Virginia started the second half, and how you felt once the team fell behind to Virginia there in the second half after that 9‑1 run. BRANDEN DAWSON: Well, Virginia is a very, very, very tough team. Those guys just never gave up. Coming into this game Coach, he told us that we better be ready for a dogfight. That's what it was. When they went on that run, like I said before, we just never lost our poise. We stayed together. We didn't point any fingers. We just stayed positive. And like I said, Virginia's definitely a tough team, one of the tough teams we have played all year. So got to give credit to those guys. ADREIAN PAYNE: We knew that they were going to be a good game, and we knew that they were going to go on a run. They came out in the first half with a lot of energy, and they hit us in the mouth. And we just had to stay together and that's what we did. We just tried to fight through it. And once we got everybody rolling and going, then we just tried to continue to keep the lead and just keep fighting from there. Q. Late in the game, Adreian, you hit a three coming out of the timeout. Was that the play called in the huddle? And if so, what was your thought as you went back on the floor, knowing you were going to get the shot? ADREIAN PAYNE: I didn't really think I was going to get the shot. It was sort of an option play. I think it was Keith that came off of it. He read it, and it was either he could drive to the basket or hit the guy in the corner or you got the throw‑back. And he hit the throw‑back and that was me, so I was wide open. So I tried to step up and knock it down. Q. Adreian, you said you passed up the three before the timeout, and Coach talked to you. What did Coach say? ADREIAN PAYNE: Why didn't I shoot the first one? (Laughter.) COACH TOM IZZO: Something like that anyway. ADREIAN PAYNE: Yeah, it was something like that. Something like that. Q. What did you say when he asked you why you didn't shoot it? ADREIAN PAYNE: I said it was my bad. I definitely should have shot it. I didn't read it right, so next time I see it, I'm going to knock this next one down, if I get it. And that's what I did. Q. Adreian, talk about the team's mindset after Virginia tied it with two minutes to go and you got the possession. ADREIAN PAYNE: We just were hungry. We knew that it was going to be a dogfight, and we knew that around that time that they went on their run, it was winning time. And that's what you heard from the huddle. That's what you heard from everybody. We just tried to continue to stay together and fight from there. Q. For both of you guys: Is that the best defense you've played against this year or where would you rank it among defenses you've seen in your college career? BRANDEN DAWSON: Well, for sure I would say that's top 5. Because I think against Kentucky and Michigan in the Big‑10 Tournament, I think we played great defense. We watched film and our coaches, our managers, they do a great job preparing us for any team. We watched a lot of film. And Coach, he's been in this position plenty of times. So we were definitely ready for it. ADREIAN PAYNE: Yeah, I would rate it up there kind of high. I think we played great defense but I know that we can get better. We definitely had some mistakes and they capitalized on when we made mistakes. That's something that we can watch this film and get better from. We're just trying to continue to get better from there. THE MODERATOR: All right. We'll excuse you to the locker room and take questions for Coach. Q. Can you talk about your team's ability to take a punch. They have shown they can be overwhelming but in the last two games really that ‑‑ and what that means in terms of winning a championship and moving forward. COACH TOM IZZO: Well, we did take a couple of them. I thought the start of the second half I think we had five turnovers in the first six, seven minutes. They looked like they were really running. They were cranking that offense up. And that thing, they're getting guys moving and cutting and screens and hits. I give our guys a lot of credit. We got in some foul trouble with Harris out and that made it worse. But this team I think learned through the adversity of what we dealt with when we had all the guys injured that you got to just keep battling. As my football coach says, you just stay the course, and we kind of stayed the course. And I was disappointed, I thought in the first half we gave up some transition D just by not knowing who our men were. And yet I thought our half‑court defense in general was maybe one of the best ‑‑ they shot 35 and 33, and that was with a couple of just complete mental mistakes. I thought once we were in the half court, ours might have been as best as we have had in a long, long time, to be honest with you, since the Michigan game for sure. Q. You've said for the better part of two years, "You guys haven't seen the kid I recruited when it comes to Branden Dawson." How close is this to that kid, especially not just the offensively, defensively, but when you see him yelling, being very vocal and vocally leading this group? COACH TOM IZZO: Well, I'm going to say this, and I'll probably get me in trouble with him, but I still‑‑ I think you've seen a lot more of, but there was some rebounds there was some defensive plays. I mean Branden's a freak athlete, both strength and athletic ability. Very, very smart player. He's not been a very good shooter. He's worked hard on it. I told him God might have taken his hand when he broke it, but he gave him a jump shot when he returned, because he's a lot better shooter. He worked hard when he was out. I think sometimes like Morris Peterson told him, I had him call Mo Pete and they talked. I think sometimes adversity or a slap in the face or whatever you want to call it, sooner or later you got to put up or shut up. And Branden's credit, he really has gotten better. But I swear to you, I think he's got a long way to go yet. But that's the exciting part for me. Q. During that first five minutes you alluded to, when Virginia's hands were real active, how difficult was it for you to even call plays? COACH TOM IZZO: It was difficult. The place was hopping, I thought it was a hell of an atmosphere in there. We got in a little bit of foul trouble. I had a key guy out or two. I thought Denzel was getting tired because he had played a lot of minutes, and they were putting up the pressure on both ends. We were chasing them around those screens, and we picked the defensive way we wanted to cover them. For the most part I think it was pretty good. The turnovers led to some things and we didn't play good and they did play good. And I thought that the difference in the game was we survived that stretch and bounced back and actually played pretty well after that. Q. Getting back to that play when you came out of the timeout when Adreian hit the three‑pointer. Keith Appling had to run it, he ran a pick‑and‑pop, and it wasn't there and he had to rerun it correctly. How important was it to stick with that and deliver that firstly? And secondly I think had you to go with Keith Appling on Harris. How did Keith do with the play to make the play type of thing? COACH TOM IZZO: Keith Appling has been through a lot this year. As we all know he's still not the player he was. I went through his stats in his first 18 games, and you look at the last 18 and it's been night and day. And that kid has kind of had some dreams crushed. We spoke a lot in the last week or two, and I give him credit. He guarded real well today. He missed that one layup on the right hand, but he made that big one with the left hand. He ran our team pretty good. He's not what he was. I mean, he's not quite back to that with his shot and that, but he guarded better, he pushed the ball pretty well in the first half and that play, it was, we were trying to pick‑and‑pop Adreian or get Keith to the hole and kick it out to Gary. And when he came off it once, and then he came off it the second time, and boy, he hit him. It was a great play, he got in there and tossed it back and AP hit the shot. I was disappointed he passed up the first one, especially with the shot clock going down. Adreian's not a selfish kid but he doesn't pass up many open threes, you know, and he did. Q. Not to bring you down after a win but Gary Harris obviously the foul trouble hurt him tonight, but how important is it moving forward that you really need to get more offensively out of him moving forward? COACH TOM IZZO: You know, it's funny in this game, just think how many times we said, when are we going to get more out of AP? That was last year. And then when are we going to get something out of Branden Dawson? There's not enough balls out there to get a lot out of everybody. But I think the foul trouble hurt him more than anything. But we got to get him more aggressive, too, because we cleared out aside for him when he got the one three‑point play. We need Gary Harris to get more shots. Some of that is our fault. But he can't be 2‑for‑5. So at the same time, this is probably the least amount of shots we got, 47 shots. We just didn't get as many. That's what happens when you're in possession game like you are and you don't offensive rebound as well. This team did not offensive rebound very well all year, and tonight they killed us on the offensive boards and scored on a lot of them. That was maybe the most disappointing part of the night for me. But we'll get Gary back, he's been there, done that, and he'll be fine. Q. On the last free‑throw sequence it looked like Gary missed on purpose. I assume he did. And what was the discussion there? Was that no question about that or was there some debate on that? COACH TOM IZZO: Well, I wanted it right away. My assistants questioned it a little bit. I told them why; I still was relying more on an 80‑foot shot than I was if they threw it. Yeah, you could foul the guy, but you never know how it's going to be called, and I wasn't taking that chance. So I thought my best chance was an 80‑foot shot and I guess it was. So we all agreed. That's why we took a full timeout. Talked about it. It was great. It's the way it should be. And some of the players, couple of them wanted to make it, couple of them didn't. It was kind of interesting. Q. He doesn't always show it in the points, talk about the lift that Travis Trice has given you in clutch moments this year, especially tonight. COACH TOM IZZO: Travis Trice is our sixth man by far. I think if he wouldn't have had to start some games because of the injuries, and that he could have been a sixth man in the league. He's very valuable. He's so much better defensively. It's the first year that he's been healthy most of it. He had his 17 days out or whatever, but it wasn't as big as like last year and the year before and the summer before and all the things he went through. So I think being healthy. He's worked awfully hard in the summer. He can really shoot the ball, and made a couple great passes today, too. So he's been valuable. He's been much better defensively than he gets credit for, too. Q. Can you just describe how unusual Adreian's skill set is that can you trust him at the three‑point line, and he can throw the alley‑oop that he did after that. COACH TOM IZZO: Well, Adreian is one of those guys that benefited from staying in college. I'm not saying he couldn't have made it last year. I thought he was coming out. He is so much a better player this year in so many ways. He's better defensively, he's a better passer. He reads things better, even though he didn't read that one shot. That was one of the few things he didn't read. He can almost guard three, four different people. You know, I hope it works out for him, because he's kind of a success story in a lot of ways, not only his off‑the‑court things that he's done with Lacey, his academic things‑‑ not a very good student who's done a very good job in graduating and in basketball. So he's hit the Trifecta. When you come to college, you hope to grow as a player, as a person, and as a student. And this kid has done all three. Q. On UCONN, obviously a team with really quick guards who drive it. Will you be able to draw anything, I know it was the beginning of last season, but the fact they have a lot of the same personnel, you have a lot of the same personnel? COACH TOM IZZO: I hope not; we lost. You know, I'll get something. I got to be very honest I looked at them, as I always do, on Monday and Tuesday, a little bit. But I didn't look at them the rest of the time. I just thought Virginia was too good. My staff did. We got a system down on how we do it, and I'll get to do a lot of that tonight. So I can't really answer that right now, but I'll be glad to tomorrow. THE MODERATOR: Thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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