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BIG TEN COFERENCE MEN'S TOURNAMENT


March 9, 2007


Tom Izzo

Drew Neitzel

Travis Walton


CHICAGO, ILLINOIS

COACH TOM IZZO: I was very disappointed. I thought we'd give them a better game. For some reason our defense just let us down. It's been good for 31 or 32 games, whatever we played, and we really didn't check very well tonight. That was probably the difference in the game, that and the fact that we just can't seem to keep Raymar Morgan in the game. There was some key plays and I was disappointed about that.
They played well. I told my team before, Taylor was a big key. He got off to a great start, and they deserved to win the game.

Q. Drew, did Flowers finally get the best out of you this third time around?
DREW NEITZEL: I think they did a great job of playing team defense. Any time I was coming off a down screen, there was always somebody there, whether it was Krabbenhoft or one of the big guys always stepping up. I think they did a great job of playing team defense tonight.

Q. Drew, was that limp just something minor or did that affect you at all? What happened exactly with that?
DREW NEITZEL: I slipped a couple times on the court and just landed wrong. No, that wasn't a problem, though.

Q. Drew, at the same time you had an 8:0 assist turnover ratio. Was that defense making you into a passer more than a shooter?
DREW NEITZEL: Yeah, I think their goal was to try to get the ball out of my hands. Coach said try not to force things, just let the game come to you. That's what I tried to do, get the ball in the post and make them pay for stepping up, and our big guys did a good job of finishing.

Q. Why the defensive struggles tonight after playing so well defensively against them the first two times?
TRAVIS WALTON: We just didn't come out ready to play. We've been playing pretty good defense all year, and the last two games our defense hasn't been there. Tonight it caught up with us.
THE MODERATOR: We'll finish up with questions for Coach Izzo, please.

Q. Coach, are you confident in the NCAA tournament at this point?
COACH TOM IZZO: I've said for three weeks that you earn your keep if you do the job you did. I think this team has done their job, and I'm tired of answering that question, to be honest with you. If they don't take this team for what we've done and who we've played, the toughest schedule in this whole damn league, we'll go to the NIT. If they do think so, we'll go to the NCAA. I'm tired of answering that question.

Q. A lot of times teams that play that first day kind of start better. The other team takes some time to adjust, and tonight obviously the reverse was true. Was that first four minutes the key to the game?
COACH TOM IZZO: Yeah, I think so. I think that's a fair assessment. I was very disappointed in how we played. We lost assignments. The only guy that played well defensively was Travis.
Offensively they did a good job of taking Drew away. We had some opportunities. But, you know, give our kids credit, they battled back. And when Raymar had that kind of breakaway dunk, and we got fouled and missed the two free throws. I thought his fifth foul was terrible, and we can't keep the guy in the game. Every time we play Wisconsin we can't keep him in the game, so we're going to have to do a better job coaching him on that. We're just not the same team with him not in the game. When he is in the game, he's playing with either two fouls before the half and can't touch a guy, or with four fouls at the end. So that part was really disappointing to me.

Q. Just avoiding the foul situation against Wisconsin ...
COACH TOM IZZO: It's a joke. That one I'm almost tired of talking about just like I am the NCAA. Nothing good will be said and nothing good will come out of my mouth, so then I'll look like a whiner and a crier.
They beat us and they played awfully well. Like I said, I told them before that (Kammron) Taylor was a big key, and he played well. (Michael) Flowers made some shots early.
But when we got it within five and missed the free throws and then got that fifth foul our lineup is just not a lineup to come back with. We missed some free throws and some good opportunities. (Alando) Tucker missed some opportunities. He played well. They played well, we didn't play well. That's how you lose by 12 or 13.

Q. Do you think somebody could make a computer that could come up with where you wouldn't have to play the same team two or three times in two and a half weeks?
COACH TOM IZZO: Boy, if I answer this one I'm really in trouble. I'm sick of answering that question. That's why when somebody says "bubble," I swear it doesn't phase me. If this is a bubble team for who we played and what we did, you know what, then we're a bubble team.
I think we're a little drained, there's no question. They had that bye week and then the extra day and I think that helped. We've played so many big games. Last night wasn't against the best team, but for our guys there was a lot of pressure on that game. It's been 12 straight games of incredible pressure, and I thought we did not play very well defensively. They played well offensively. Which one caused the other one, I don't know, but I didn't think we were very sharp from the get-go.
And then we really wanted to put Raymar on Tucker, but once he got in a little bit of foul trouble we just couldn't do it. Walton did a good job on him, but what I needed was Walton to cover five guys, and that's not able to happen.

Q. Suton really carried you in the first half when nothing else was working. What happened with his production in the second half?
COACH TOM IZZO: That's a good question. I really don't know. I think they did a nice job of adjusting to him. I think they were stepping up on picks a little harder, and we just couldn't get Drew in position. I think Flowers did do a good job on him, but I think he answered that correctly. I thought Krabbenhoft jumped up on him a lot. We missed some shots or -- we missed some shots. We missed some free throws.
You look at the free throws, I mean, 5 of 11, and we missed two or three front ends of a one-on-one. We didn't get to the line enough, and this summer I'm going to spend time just driving the ball and getting fouled. I think that's the best offense right now.

Q. Just to piggy-back a little bit on that with Drew, was there anything special they did or was it just kind of an off night for him from the field?
COACH TOM IZZO: I don't think he got a lot of good looks. You've got to give him credit. I don't think he had a lot of good looks. I thought he had a good look the first time; I thought he got fouled on to be honest with you. I don't know if that got in his head. But then he didn't take a couple shots and came off those screens and he tried to drive it to the hole.
I can't tell you how hard it is to play without Morgan on this team. We're not good enough. We're not good enough to start without him. We're not good enough without him playing. The 24 minutes looks like he played a decent amount, but when you play half of them in the foul trouble he's in and he's just got to quit the charge, the last one, I don't know what to say to him. He played eight minutes at Wisconsin, and we're not good enough to beat a top five team with our second-best player sitting on the bench half the game, that's for sure.
THE MODERATOR: Thank you for your time.

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