NCAA Tournament: What Tom Izzo, players said following Michigan State's 72-62 win over USC

COLUMBUS, Ohio — No. 7 seed Michigan State rallied in the second half to beat No. 10 seed USC in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Friday 72-62.

GAME RECAP

Here's what head coach Tom Izzo and players Jaden Akins, Joey Hauser and Tyson Walker had to say postgame. Check out the full press conference video above.

Izzo's opening statement:

"I'm excited, I really am. We got our mojo back and we've talked about it for three weeks. It's no secret that I haven't been pleased with our defense. I'd say for 32 or 33 minutes, I thought it was exceptional. We had a little stretch there when we were ten up and they came back. Part of that was scouting. Their big guy, Morgan, hit a shot that we didn't think he could hit. They hurt us on some ball screen slips. I think we got a little tired with our bigs there for a stretch...But the guards, the job they did was incredible."

Hauser on Michigan State's progress this season:

"It's been up and down. We've defended really well at times, especially early in the year, and then late in the year, we shot well. But we know defense is going to win us games in this tournament. We knocked down some shots tonight, so we can say we kinda put together the full game, especially in that second half, but that's what we're going to have to do moving forward."

Izzo on breaking a white board during the game:

"That felt damn good."

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