Tom Izzo Gives High Praise to Purdue Following Game at Mackey Arena
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WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Michigan State basketball coach Tom Izzo spoke to the media following Purdue's 77-61 win against the Spartans on Sunday at Mackey Arena.
He offered high praise for the No. 1-ranked Boilermakers, coach Matt Painter and star center Zach Edey, who posted a career-high 38 points to go along with 13 rebounds in the game. Here's everything Izzo had to say about Purdue, including the full video from his postgame press conference.
Opening statement
Izzo: Throughout the whole year, I thought that was the most disappointing defensive performance that we've had. We just did not do a good job. If one player gets 70 points in two games, you can't blame your players for that. You have to blame the coach.
We tried to do different things. We tried to double him with different people, and they would hit a three right off the bat. But the threes didn't really hurt us, they had seven of them with a lot of open looks.
I thought we just couldn't cover him. We couldn't cover him. He gets in there and he's physical. You can't push him out. I was disappointed in that a little bit. And then the play before half.
Give them credit, their four guys had 23 points that at our place almost had none. [Ethan] Morton, he gets six. [Brandon] Newman, he gets three. [David] Jenkins played well. I thought Jenkins did a good job for them, he gets 11. That was a big deal. And [Trey] Kaufman hits four, that's 20-some points between those four guys.
I thought that was the difference. We did a decent job on [Fletcher] Loyer. Great player, and I thought — he hits that three real late. Otherwise, what does he end up with? Nine. So we did a decent job on [Braden] Smith.
But as I said about Matt's team, and I reiterate this, it's the best role coaching job, I think, in the nation. [Caleb] Furst is a hell of a player and he barely takes a shot, and he plays his role to the nth degree. Very, very, very good at it.
We cut it to 10. At halftime, they hit the three because — I don't know — I guess it was a good call. I don't think officials make bad calls. We're going for the last shot and could cut to 15 or 14. Instead, they hit a three and I get a technical for questioning something.
And so that's five points. So that's really a seven-point swing, two we don't get, three they hit and the technical. That's a seven-point, and Purdue's too good of a team to make seven-point swings.
I give my team credit, we bounced back. We played our butt off. We had four possessions late when they had a 10-point lead, we threw it out of bounds once, we traveled once. We couldn't even get shots when we cut it to 10. I think that's what the game was over.
Edey played awfully well. They did an unbelievable job of getting him the ball.
On what Zach Edey does well for Purdue
Izzo: He didn't kick out much. He got it so deep because you can't force him out. He had a couple assists, one was inside. He just gets it so deep, and Mady [Sissoko] at 6'9", 225 is giving up some inches. It's hard to front him, and it's hard to do that.
As I said, my writers, we got people that want to double him and give up threes, and then we got people that want to not give up threes. And we tried both, and neither one worked today. Give them credit.
On how Zach Edey orchestrated his own 8-0 run in the first half
Izzo: What did he do? Be bigger than any player I've ever coached against and be more skilled with his hands than any player I've ever coached against. And they do a great job of getting him the ball.
I don't know what he did, they do not call three seconds and he can back you down, but you can't do much about it. I don't think that's always right, but we tried to double him from a couple of spots and sometimes we fell asleep. Something we don't do a lot. Sometimes he just powered over that.
When you play a game like that and he has 12 free throws, they're fouling three times at the end to get to five fouls, I think. So they don't foul much, I guess, and that was a big difference in the game too.
On encouraging Mady Sissoko to do the best he can against Zach Edey
Izzo: Well, I wouldn't say the best we can. There were some plans we had, and one of Mady's things was when anybody shoots it, he just goes to him and doesn't get a rebound. He was just turning, and Zach's pretty good at using his body mulling you under, and when he's six, seven inches bigger than you, he's good. He's really good at it.
I don't think he should totally shrug. Some of it was on us. Some of it was on him. But I also think that some of it is the guy had a hell of a game. He's a good player, and give Matt credit, they went to him.
What did I say to him? Keep battling. Keep battling, I understood.
On the evidence he is seeing showing that Purdue is taking advantage of players in specific roles
Izzo: If I was to be honest, I would say it's with every guy. They know they've got a horse to ride, and the horse gets a lot of touches. And some people would be jealous of that or upset about that.
I mean, Fletcher Loyer can get you 25. It doesn't seem to bother that he took like four shots for most of the game. He took a couple at the end. Smith has gotten some big games, it doesn't bother him.
The real one is Caleb Furst. Great kid, and he takes two shots. But he just does his job. They pass it and they do it. It is easier, and somebody in my media group would say why don't you do that? When at the of the day, you can stop anywhere this side of the equator and throw the ball in the air, and this monster is going to go get it, it makes it a little easier. Seriously.
I'm not being funny. When we had Miles Bridges, if you just threw a lob, it didn't have to be a good lob. It didn't have to be a decent lob, it could be a terrible lob and he was going to save the day. Edey is even better than that in those ways.
I just think the fact that there's no jealousy, at least there doesn't seem to be. Some of those guys were scorers like Newman or even [Mason] Gillis. It's easier when you're 22-1 or whatever they are. It's easier, but I think Matt's done his entire career here.
If I had to give him credit, yeah he runs a lot of good stuff offensively, he's a good defensive coach, but I think he puts his players in a position and doesn't allow any deviation. And I've got a lot of respect for that.
On what it means to see Matt Painter have success at Purdue
Izzo: This is a special relationship here. I still talk to Gene [Keady] once in a while, he still calls. Gene, Jud [Heathcote], Bruce Weber, Matt, myself. Bruce and Matt and Tom, I don't deserve much credit today, but 13 years with Jud I deserve a hell of a lot of credit.
Matt played for Gene and then coached with him, he deserves a lot of credit. But I think we all learned a lot, too, from those guys. I think those guys are still special. I've tried to keep the Michigan State program with some sense of discipline and things that my mentor sent me with. And I think Matt has done the same thing.
I'm probably as ornery as my boss. Matt's a little calmer, although when you're winning 22 games, I always said Mike Krzyzewski could sit there looking like Pope John III on the bench because they're winning a lot of games.
I think he has that fine line between discipline and getting along with his players. He's done a hell of a job here, I hope people appreciate the job he's done. I think they do, looking at the arena today.
It's good, and our arena has been unbelievable this year too. It should have been a game that was a lot closer if you ask me, but they made sure it wasn't, and that credit goes to them.
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