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NCAA MEN'S REGIONAL SEMIFINALS AND FINALS: WASHINGTON D.C.

March 29, 2019

Washington D.C.

Michigan State - 80, LSU - 63

THE MODERATOR: We'll take an opening statement from interim head coach Tony Benford and then open it up for questions for student-athletes Tremont Waters and Naz Reid.

COACH BENFORD: First of all, I want to give Coach Izzo and his team a lot of credit. They came out in the first half and they established -- they really did a good job establishing the paint and especially on the glass. We knew it was going to be a game of who could control the glass. And they did a great job in the first half and throughout the game getting on the glass.

Proud of my guys. We've had a great run this year through all the adversity we've been through. They accomplished a lot. And I'm really proud of these guys.

THE MODERATOR: Questions for the student-athletes.

Q. I'm wondering, can you reflect on the future with the uncertainty surrounding the program and how Coach Wade's status would affect any big-picture decisions you guys have to make?
TREMONT WATERS: We're going to take it one day at a time. Obviously we don't know what's going on. And we're just going to keep doing what we've been doing, stay in the gym and pretty much talk to our families and see what the next step is.

NAZ REID: Pretty much the same thing. I mean, just working on the game and just moving forward day by day and having the same positive attitude as before.

Q. Tremont, tonight was a big game for you, despite the loss. But it's a big growth for you personally in this second season for you. Can you talk about any reflections you have, positive takeaways you've grown as a player?
TREMONT WATERS: Yeah, last year I was able to lead by example more than leading by through word of mouth, and actually talking to the guys and talking at film and stuff. This year I've had a much bigger role. And I had great teammates behind me that allowed me to grow as a person outside of basketball also. And just to have such great guys around me and the coaching staff allowing me to have a voice on the team and to become even more of a leader was the biggest thing, I feel like.

Q. Naz, you all knew they were a good rebounding team obviously, over 40 a game. How frustrating was it to let them have all those offensive rebounds in the first half, early in the game?
NAZ REID: It was very frustrating. We didn't realize it until the second half they were long rebounds. So we were going into the charge circle trying to rebound long rebounds, and they were going over our heads. And just missed check outs and things like that. They wanted them more and they got them.

Q. Tremont, you guys made several runs at them. Early in the second half you got it down to 4, were you thinking, okay, this is our time, this is where we can get it?
TREMONT WATERS: Most definitely. Obviously at halftime we were down 12, to be exact. We kind of just came together in the locker room. The coaching staff and the players. We said we wanted to get it to a certain number, I think the number was seven or eight by the first media. We already cut it down to four actually.

And you gotta give kudos to them. They're a great 3-point shooting team the way they move the ball and everything and they were able to make big-time shots to push the lead back to 15.

Q. Tremont, how tough were those 3-point shots by Michigan State, and was there any kind of talk about adjusting to those shots when they were hitting so many wide-open attempts?
TREMONT WATERS: Yeah, I remember we were in one media timeout and I think it was the 12th media and we kind of -- it was too late at this point. It was the eight media, actually, and the clock was around 7:26 or something. And coach GH saying, Greg Heiar saying, we need to switch the ball screens because they were coming off the screen, pitching it back and making extra pass for wide-open 3. We had to adjust. But it was just a little too late.

And obviously those 3s hurt when you cut it down to four points. And it was kind of a shot in the foot because we knew they were capable of making those 3s but to have the lead go back to 15 was kind of upsetting.

Q. Naz, what was it like in halftime when Tremont hit that shot right before, y'all was still down 12, was the locker room alive at that point?
NAZ REID: Yeah, I mean we felt like we could get back into the game. It was a big boost in our confidence. Some things we've been doing all year. The whole team was confident in the coaching staff. We thought we'd come back. We cut it to four but it just wasn't enough.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you. Questions for Coach.

Q. Could you address the big picture, please, what you think the steps are from here in terms of your own future as interim coach and what could happen in the big picture?
COACH BENFORD: I really don't know. We just played a game against a really good basketball team. I'm not even thinking about it, to be honest with you.

Q. How has this uncertainty, the fact you guys have played through this adversity, how impressed have you been by this group and is the reality going to set in tomorrow that there could be changes to this program?
COACH BENFORD: The thing is these guys again, like you said, they've gone through a lot of adversity. We've talked about it. It's a tough way to go out. Give Michigan State credit. Great coach, great team. They have some kids that stepped up that haven't been playing as well or shot the ball as well as they did tonight that did a great job.

Henry and Brown, gotta give those guys credit. We give those guys credit. And we'll just take it day by day and see what happens.

Q. What happened early in -- I think they had six 3s in the first nine and a half minutes of the game. And also Gabe Brown, did you all not think that he could hit some -- he only hit 12 all year?
COACH BENFORD: You know you've got to play the percentages. And what we tried to do, obviously, on Henry, we played off of them a little bit so we could help inside on Tillman. And he hit a couple early hit that one early and got going. And Brown came in, hit a couple of 3s early. Both of those guys, give them credit, they're good players. They made plays and hit big shots. They needed to.

We made a couple of adjustments with the ball screen coverage, like Tre said a minute ago. We started switching the ball screens so we wouldn't get in the rotation, because the main thing we had to keep Cassius out of the paint. And we committed two guys to him. And then they left the ball on the weak side.

Q. Looked like the strategy was to try to speed them up and then try to maybe deny Winston the ball, get him to pass it, deny it back. Did their hot shooting kind of work against that strategy? And secondly, the decision to start Javonte in place of Marlon Taylor?
COACH BENFORD: First of all, at times our first shot defense was pretty good. We went to our 1-3-1, to try to get them out of rhythm. We got some stops. We didn't rebound the ball. They were going in there. They were all over the glass. That's what we've been doing to teams. They flipped it on us tonight.

And so I think they had 10 offensive rebounds. And we had 10 total rebounds at half. That hasn't happened to us all year. But I give those guys credit. But that's a decision I feel I have to make, starting Javonte Marlon over Marlon, just a couple of things that happened. I just had to make that change.

Q. Tom Izzo just said he was surprised at how this game played out. How surprised are you considering how close you all played everybody all year?
COACH BENFORD: We were surprised. I think the thing is that I thought we had a great game plan. We wanted to protect the paint and try to get the ball in the paint. But they had some guys that stepped up. We wanted to contain Cassius. But you've got to give guys credit. Brown and Henry made shots. At the end of the day they flipped it on us on the glass. We knew we had to protect the backboard. We had to rebound, protect our end, and whoever won the rebound battle I feel like was going to win the game. And it played out that way.

And they had some guys that made -- they made 13 3s. They were 11-of-34 coming in the first two games of the tournament. Tonight they're 13-of-32 from the 3-point line. You have to give those guys credit that made plays.

Q. With Gabe Brown, he only played 250 minutes, made 12 3s all season. Where, if at all, is that on the scouting report?
COACH BENFORD: I mean, we knew -- he's a good player. So sometimes you play the percentages. And he made them tonight. So we have to make -- we made an adjustment but still even when we made the adjustment he hit a couple tough ones.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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