WATCH: Michigan State's Jase Richardson Previews Elite Eight
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ATLANTA, Ga. -- Michigan State freshman guard Jase Richardson once again showed he isn't your typical freshman as he was able to bounce back from a 6-point performance against New Mexico and turn in a team-high 20 points against Ole Miss in the Sweet 16.
Richardson and the Spartans now look to take a major step toward their ultimate goal, with Auburn standing in the way of a ninth trip to the Final Four for Tom Izzo.
The freshman guard discussed the upcoming contest and more when he addressed the media on Saturday.
You can watch some of his availability below:
Michigan State coach Tom Izzo also spoke to reporters on Saturday. Below is a partial transcript from his press conference:
Q. The eight remaining teams in this tournament are the top eight teams in KenPom. I know you've had thoughts about the portal or the urinal, as you call it, redistributing talent. I wonder if you think maybe that speaks to that at all, but more specifically to your program, you said you wanted to get back to this point last year. How proud are you of the fact that you are in that group
Izzo: "I'm really proud of these players. They've done a lot more than a lot of people know. You ask them to sacrifice a little bit, it's not like somebody should have played a bunch more minutes, but three, four minutes here or there they sacrificed.
"They sacrificed -- there's been nine different leading scorers on our team. That doesn't normally happen. But as you go through the year, and people get upset about he didn't get to play as much, his average isn't quite as high, his this, his that. It just depends what's important because we're still playing, which means we're relevant. People are talking about our guys, and that exposure helps them. I really believe that these kids have learned how to sacrifice, and some of them had to wait their turn a little bit.
"Some of them will play at the next level maybe, and when they get there, they're probably going to wait their turn again. They're probably going to sacrifice again. That's what I love about what I do. I think these are all life lessons. I think this is the way it's going to be. I think sometimes right now we're leaning towards Disneyland and the real world's not Disneyland. I am proud of every one of them. I mean, every one of them. Frankie Fidler was starting at the beginning of the year. He played eight minutes in some games later on.
"Zapala, as you said, didn't play a minute yesterday. It wasn't all his fault. It was a different concept in sports. We had to do whatever we could do to win a game. To me, that seems like a pretty good concept because Zapala is still going to benefit. He didn't play last night. He'll play tomorrow. But more importantly, we're still playing. He's still relevant. That's what I think is cool.
"There's a lot of guys that haven't played -- a lot of good players didn't even make the NCAA Tournament. There's some good players that didn't even make the Big Ten Tournament. This has been a cool experience for me too. We said we're going to be a little different, do a little different way. We have.
"The only way it works, your staff and your players buy in. Our players bought in better than most older, older adults do. So, I'm proud of them."
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