Izzo, Spartans Talk Purdue Game
By Zach Langdon
The Boiling Point: Michigan State coach Tom Izzo and his players looked forward to the Purdue game in the press conference following their narrow win over Iowa Thursday.
Excerpts from Michigan State coach Tom Izzo and Spartan players in the postgame press conference:
Q. This is for Draymond. You don’t get much of an opportunity to relax and enjoy this one because you’ve got to bounce back into the fire tomorrow night. You’ve had two interesting games against Purdue this year. Can you take a peek ahead and anticipate round three with the Boilermakers?
"DRAYMOND GREEN: We’ll enjoy this one until we get back to the film room in the hotel and get our minds focused on Purdue. You have to enjoy it a little bit, but once it’s time to hit the film room, it’s time.You know, the first game with Purdue, it was a good game up until they made one run, and that run really lost us the game because we never really got back from that run in the first half. We kind of got back in the second half, but when you’re on a roll like that, it’s hard to let a team make a run like that. And we played them even the second half, it was just that one run, which was I think an 11-point run. You know, at the Breslin Center that was real uncharacteristic of us and not only us but the Michigan State basketball program, you know, all the guys that came before us, pretty much an embarrassment to lose at home by 20. You can lose anywhere by 20, but when you don’t defend your home court and you lose by 20 in a game, that is very critical to a season, that’s an embarrassment, and we haven’t forgot about that. We need to come out and redeem ourselves from that, as well.But I think one of the key things tomorrow will be containing their role players. JaJuan Johnson is a great player, he’s going to do what he do, and E’Twaun Moore is going to do what he do but it’s not letting Lewis Jackson get 17 points and not letting D.J. Byrd come out and get 11, 13 points or Ryne Smith come out and get 15. You’ve got to control those things, and just try to contain the other two guys."
Q. With Kalin barely seemingly able to walk, did you feel you needed to step up at the end to make up for your friend?
"DURRELL SUMMERS: You could say that, yeah. I mean, I was just trying to bounce back myself from a bad first half and just be aggressive, and the game was on the line, so I just — that’s pretty much winning time. I just tried to do whatever I could to win. When I seen the balls bouncing my way, I just tried to chase them down. I’m constantly hearing that from my coaches, so I just went for the ball and made sure I knocked down the free throws."
Q. I was wondering if the Kalin injury is basically reinjuring what he did against Purdue. How concerned are you about that for tomorrow, and also with Delvon having to go up against JaJuan Johnson 24 hours later. How concerned are you about the health of your team right now?
"COACH IZZO: Well, I don’t think it would be very good if we were healthy. We were a little too healthy today maybe, so if we’re back to digging and scratching maybe that’s the way the whole year has been. I don’t know that much. I talked to Kalin right before I left, but he was doing an interview with the Big Ten Network, so I didn’t really get a chance to talk to him about it. I mean, I think he sprained it when he drove that time and kind of foot slipped out as he went to pass it. So it’s a little bit of a sprain. It’s not his Achilles, it’s his ankle. If it’s a bad sprain, then it’s going to swell up and it’s going to be a real problem. If it’s a slight sprain he’s a tough enough kid to get through it and handle it, and whatever it is, we still get to play, so we’re going to play.Delvon, you know, didn’t complain about it, so I kind of asked gingerly with those guys, are you okay? What? I didn’t hear you, and I just walk away. So that’s about the way I handle that right now."