Tom Izzo Played Quotations

We still played good defense and pretty good offense. We shot 50%, 40-something from three.

If we hadn't done it before and played well for an extended period of time, I'd be panicking more than I am. I know in the areas that we've struggled, we're better than that.

If anybody that ever played here hears that statistic, they're going to have trouble coming back and seeing us.

Give Paul credit because he went back in and played with those fouls.

I think it was the biggest disappointment of all the NCAA games we played in. We didn't have the season we wanted to have. We didn't perform to what I think our capabilities were. I think this is one of the few times in my career here as a head coach that we didn't get done what I think we were capable of getting done, culminating with the lack of a very good performance on that last night.

I think that was a great sign. Maurice looked like he wanted the ball. He took pretty good shots; he was confident. He exploded with the ball on one drive, it was unbelievable. ... Maurice Ager played like the All-American player he is.

I think I got kind of a worn-out team right now. I can come up with a lot of different reasons, excuses, but we were just flat-out beat. And I did not think we played with the energy we needed to play. We still hung in there, and then we had the knockout punch of that three-minute span, and Illinois deserves a lot of credit for that.

I think Ohio State deserves a lot of credit. The last four minutes of the game, they played extremely well. I didn't think I'd have to go with a four-guard lineup as much as we did.

It doesn't feel as good (playing the first day) as we were the only team left that had never played on Thursday. I'm disappointed that we didn't finish higher but I understand how good the league is and somebody had to finish sixth or seventh.

I thought Iowa played very solid. In the second half, they played much better defensively.

We played Gonzaga, we played Arizona, we played all these overtime games, and I told (my team during a late-game huddle ) I thought we've earned the right to win this game. I felt, looking at them in the eye, that they were looking back at me saying, 'Damn right we do, and we're going to get it done.' And that was encouraging.

We played George Mason last year; they played us to a very tough game out there.

We played pretty well in both Illinois games and he just made some plays. Tonight, we found a way to clamp down a little bit more. Defensively, we didn't really give him a single look.

We played well in spurts and I thought we hurt them with our transition game. We weren't rebounding well enough to get any breaks going in the first half. Rebounding is our Achilles' heel right now.

We didn't play well, they played well. They deserve the credit that they get. That's an NCAA (Tournament) team, I don't think there's any question about that.

We didn't play great but we played good enough to win. This was a step. How big a step? It's too early to tell.

We've played in some tough places, we've been through a gambit of situations, ... I think for the most part we've learned something from all the punches we took early in the year.

This was a big game for Iowa, a big game for Michigan State. They played better than we did.

We weren't the prettiest -- Illinois really pressured us and it bothered us some -- but the defense we played and the job we did, I can't say enough.

Bernard Cote played better for them and I think if he continues to play better that will be important for them in the future.

That was a bizarre game. I thought Wisconsin played very well in the first half, and we just sort of hung in the game. I thought it hurt them when Tucker went out, and I thought we did some good things, too.

They played as good a last four (minutes) as you could play.

There were some bright spots. I think in the second half we played better. Our defense was better. They turned the ball over and we scored a lot on that.

I told them in the huddle that we played Gonzaga and Arizona we played all those overtime games and we've earned the right to win the game. They looked back at me and said, 'Damn right we did.

It was a game that slipped away. Give credit to them, they deserved to win it. It was just too bad, because I think we played well enough in a lot of ways to win the game.

They are maybe the biggest team in size on that front line, but I think it gives us a chance to play more people. They're not as athletic up front. They're don't score as much up front as some of the teams we've played recently.

It was just too bad because I think we played well enough in a lot of ways to win the game, but we just couldn't get in sync half the night with guys out with foul trouble.

I'm not sure how many people would have picked us to win either road game. We played at the two toughest road places.

I'm really excited. A lot of our older players were here. I felt like the old guys were back and we played our old style.

I'm more disappointed how we played in the first half. It kind of set the tone for the game. In the second half, we probably outplayed them in every facet of the game. ... We just didn't execute in the last three minutes.

In the first half, it seemed like most of the plays we ran went down, and we held them on 3-point shots after their first couple shots right at the beginning - and we rebounded the ball a lot. In the second half, we got the lead and played well enough, but there were a couple of stretches that wore us down a little bit.

I didn't think we were ever in the game, even when we were ahead. I was disappointed maybe in all ends of the court, for us, but I'd say that Minnesota had the most to with that. They just played harder.

He played like a warrior. ... Making those free throws and all, he played his tail off. And there's just a comfort level with the guys and ... ah, it was big.

You've got a guy like D.J. White, who is not only a great player . . . but he had matured a great deal. You just don't lose players like that and have the same team. I thought Indiana, when we played them, was still playing awfully well.