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00:00 Sorry I'm a little late. I did something I haven't done for a while. I had a chance to celebrate when my kid missed out on 22 years.
00:09 So I took an extra moment to do that. And I want to publicly thank all the people that have been, I mean we all know exactly where Stephen's at in the situation and why he's here.
00:24 But if you're a parent, it's just one of those times that what I was most excited about wasn't for him.
00:34 I was most excited that our players and our fans cared so much about him that they made that more special for me.
00:43 And you know it was something I'll never forget.
00:50 So as far as the game goes, you know I was disappointed in the first half. I was disappointed by the way we were offensively.
00:59 Defensively we were very good. Defensively we did a lot of great things.
01:05 We made some crazy turnovers on those layups again. You know we drop offs and AJ had a couple again where I don't know what's happening there.
01:15 Because he's been playing so good. But he didn't play good the first half and I told him that at halftime.
01:20 It wasn't an argument. It was a, you know I kind of get it. I thought he did a much better job the second half.
01:27 And as I've always stated to all of you, when the head dies the body follows. When the head excels the body usually follows.
01:36 And you know on a day when Tyson wasn't maybe quite himself and give some credit to Rutgers for that.
01:43 He's a hell of a coach. And Jaden maybe wasn't quite got in a little foul trouble and a little frustrated.
01:50 But we had some other guys you know. Trey Holliman not only did a great job but he played a lot more minutes than he normally does.
01:58 Cohen Carr made a couple of really good plays when it was critical.
02:03 But Carson Cooper, you know if you remember coming out of that timeout when we won a 19-0 run.
02:10 Monty called a nice play against the zone and Carson had to make the screen.
02:15 And Malik made the play and dunked it and that got us going.
02:20 And then he took that big charge where Jonathan Smith was in the locker room with his family after the game.
02:26 And I said that was a linebacker you know hit. I mean he just stood there.
02:31 That guy went 100 miles an hour from one end to the other. And he took it right in the chest.
02:36 And that was a big play. There are not many guys I've had that would do that.
02:41 And even though I thought we fumbled a few here between him and Monty, those kind of plays are winning plays.
02:49 They're effort related plays. You know Tyson getting on the floor. Jackson getting on the floor.
02:56 Those are effort related plays that nobody appreciates except the coach.
03:04 You know effort is a skill nowadays. Effort is a skill.
03:09 And we do not have, we do not look at that enough.
03:14 And so even though I was pleased with some guys, those effort related things and especially the things that Carson did today make it special.
03:26 So a lot of work to do. We're not, still not as consistent.
03:31 But to win a game when our two best shooters didn't shoot it real well, I think speaks volumes for us too.
03:40 That we won it the old-fashioned way. We defended against a very good rebounding team.
03:45 We were plus seven on the boards, 19 assists on 25 baskets. We only had two turnovers the second half.
03:51 A lot of things that you hope would happen, happened. And for that I'm grateful.
03:57 And by the way, the crowd was, you know, I mean we're 10 and 7.
04:02 And I'm sure there's people upset and mad and disappointed.
04:06 But I'll tell you what, the zone was great. The fans up on top were great.
04:11 It just kind of means something to me on the program that we built.
04:16 And I appreciate that. Questions?
04:21 Tom, for most of the game, up until about 12 minutes ago, it was back and forth.
04:26 Nobody had a lead bigger than two possessions.
04:28 What do you think was the breakout point for your team to just take it to that next level?
04:32 Well, I think that 19-0 run and I think Cooper got some big rebounds too when Omaru was in there.
04:39 We changed up a couple things defensively. We got caught.
04:42 They ran some good stuff early that we've never seen.
04:45 And we made a couple adjustments at halftime and switched a few things.
04:49 And I think that helped.
04:52 But I think A.J., you know, we just moved the ball better.
04:56 We were so stagnant the first half. I don't know why.
04:59 But sometimes that happens and shooters don't make shots.
05:04 I mean, I thought we had some good shots we missed.
05:06 But I know this will sound stupid all year, but don't rule them out either.
05:13 I mean, those two wings, Meg and Wyatt, they're good players.
05:19 And Omaru is a monster, you know.
05:22 And I think they're getting a little more out of their guards.
05:25 They just, you know, he got-- I feel sorry for him, you know.
05:30 I mean, it's one thing, this crazy rules that we have to all deal with.
05:35 But I think he lost two of his guys in the summer, you know.
05:39 So, you know, one went to UConn and one went to Washington.
05:44 And you lose them in the middle of the summer, you don't get to get another player.
05:48 And so I feel for Steve on that.
05:52 You know, it's hard enough when you lose them in the fall-- I mean in the spring.
05:56 But when you lose them in the summer-- and I think those young guards are coming, but they're young.
06:01 And so I think all those had a factor in it.
06:05 Tom, a week ago Malik obviously had a tough game at North Washington.
06:08 How have you seen him in these last two games respond to that?
06:10 You know, he's been a lot better.
06:11 I mean, he looked so much more aggressive, didn't he?
06:13 He was the one guy the first half that was aggressive.
06:15 And he made a couple of man moves at the end.
06:17 And, you know, it's funny because I've hardly even mentioned him.
06:21 And he was the best player on the floor today for us.
06:24 But what I think I hardly mentioned him for is kind of expect that out of him.
06:30 And so I'm really-- you know, if he could get consistent, it changes our team.
06:38 I mean, you know, and one thing I do talk about-- I've done this a lot.
06:44 I call it the white elephant in the room.
06:48 I mean, everybody knows our backs are against the wall a little bit.
06:51 You know, everybody knows when we were missing all those shots at the beginning of the year.
06:55 I was getting phone calls from everybody in America, e-mails, you know,
07:00 "Well, don't talk to your team too much. Then they'll get nervous.
07:03 I'll talk to your team more."
07:05 And, you know, all those things are-- you know, I deal with the white elephant in the room.
07:10 I walk in there and say, "We're not shooting very good from the free throw line."
07:13 And I say it with a lot different language than that.
07:15 "We're not shooting very good from the three-point line."
07:18 You know, we better get our tails in there and work on it harder.
07:23 You know, I don't hide behind, "Oh, it'll be okay. We'll make them."
07:27 You know, well, I didn't hide behind this either.
07:31 I mean, we all know our backs are against the wall.
07:34 But in my career, my backs went against the wall more than a couple times.
07:38 And sometimes you really find out about people when your backs are against the wall.
07:42 And for me, it just means I'm going to work harder.
07:46 I'm going to spend more time. I'm going to grind it more.
07:49 And I think for them, they learned today we weren't very good offensively.
07:54 We were stagnant. We won a game defensively.
07:57 We made that run. It was a 19-0 run.
08:00 It really was our defense, not our offense.
08:02 So I think that bodes volumes for everything.
08:07 And I thought the crowd really helped us in that stretch.
08:11 I mean, can't tell you what those things mean, especially to me.
08:16 Tom, you say you took a little time being the dad, congratulating your son.
08:20 So let me ask you what your coach has had on to evaluate a player who's been a senior,
08:25 finally gets his first points, and it's a three-point play, and he finishes the free throw.
08:30 Just talk about that from a coaching standpoint and a guy that's been around and can kind of go out on that.
08:36 Well, I'm not going to lie to you. I was a little nervous, you know, because I see that look in his eye.
08:41 And then I hear my players yell and shoot it.
08:43 And this is--I don't even think he checked in yet, okay?
08:47 That's how much they want him to score a bucket, you know.
08:50 And I look down at them, and they just laugh at me now because they know one time with a minute left,
08:58 he's going to do what he wants to do, and he probably deserves that for all the times I wasn't able to do the things with him.
09:04 So it was actually a hell of a move, you know.
09:09 He spins, threw it up there.
09:13 AJ picked him up, threw him to Tyson.
09:15 I think they thought he was the ball, you know, and it was pretty cool.
09:21 Just--the way the place went crazy for him.
09:31 All I could think about is I've got like 35 guys down from my old Northern Michigan teams,
09:38 and I often think when I see them out there, I ought to give my right and left arm just to run through the tunnel.
09:46 At a place like Michigan State, I would have--you know, I never got a chance to do that.
09:52 But you do get to--sometimes you get to live your own dreams through somebody else.
10:01 And on this day, he was so damn excited that, you know, it will made--it's actually his fifth year.
10:10 You know, he graduated in three, and he's going to finish his master's in two, and it's his fifth year.
10:16 And I didn't know if it would ever happen because I didn't know if I'd be able to get him in again.
10:20 And it'll just be something that his kids' kids will look at.
10:27 And I bet you there's a lot of people in the stands today that are going to say, "Hey, my son.
10:35 Hey, my grandson. Hey, my great-grandson."
10:40 You know, if he wanted to go out and stick it out, you better find one that dad's the coach to let him on the team.
10:46 I mean, I think they'll all have something to kind of shoot for, you know, and that's kind of what life's all about.
10:53 So it was great. Thank you.
10:55 Thank you.
10:58 Coach, coming off these last two Big Ten losses, what was your message to your team,
11:02 and how much does this win do for confidence in the locker room?
11:06 Well, you know, my message is that's the white elephant in the room that I keep addressing.
11:10 You know, I just tell it like it is.
11:13 I don't tell them, you know, what I think we did wrong.
11:16 I thought at Illinois we played a lot better.
11:18 You know, I went through. I go home.
11:21 I look at film of all those games and when we lost and how we lost, and I try to bring that back to them.
11:27 You know, we can't have these short runs.
11:29 We can't do this and that.
11:31 We can't take bad shots.
11:33 I thought, you know, one thing in that 19-0, we went on about a 7-0 run, and I brought him in the huddle,
11:39 and I said, "Now here's where when we got up on Illinois by 6, this is what we did.
11:45 Took a bad shot, had a turnover."
11:47 You know, some people look at that and say, "Why are you bringing up that stuff?"
11:52 Well, I am who I am, and it is who I am, and that's the elephant that's sitting in the room.
11:57 And I've always been a big believer that you better address the elephant
12:01 because there's a lot of people outside addressing the elephant that have no clue how big the elephant is.
12:07 So I set it right in the huddle, and then we just kept building on it, and that was encouraging.
12:13 That's a step in the right direction.
12:16 Now we've got a few days.
12:17 We've got a team like Minnesota coming in who's much, much improved.
12:22 Ben has done a phenomenal job with them.
12:25 But you know what?
12:26 I'm going to enjoy tonight.
12:28 I'm going to go pull for my two favorite teams, the Packers and, of course, the Lions.
12:35 I'm going to go hard for the Lions.
12:37 I'm going to try to figure out how we're going to, as a basketball program,
12:41 celebrate Martin Luther King Day.
12:44 And then we're going to get back to work and see what we can do
12:49 in trying to string a few games together
12:53 and learn from when we strung them together before the goods and bads of that.
12:59 Tom, you mentioned the 19-0 run, but with that,
13:03 I think you guys held them without a field goal for about seven minutes in that stretch,
13:06 but then end of the first half, beginning, and those are two 14 minutes.
13:10 That's 14 minutes of game play without a bucket.
13:13 That was an elite-level performance, I thought, from your defense.
13:16 And you know what?
13:17 I did too.
13:18 And I don't know if we always agree, but I agree with you on that.
13:23 I thought that we keep talking about defense travels.
13:27 We were pretty good defensively at Illinois.
13:33 We're rebounding the ball a little better.
13:35 Those are two of the better rebounding teams.
13:37 We are rebounding both of them.
13:39 So are we making progress?
13:40 Yeah.
13:41 Is it fast enough for me?
13:42 No.
13:43 But I do think that they're starting to figure out what they've got to do,
13:50 and that offense is going to click again.
13:52 I mean, even today, we shot 46, 48, 48 from the three,
13:58 and I thought -- you know, Jaden goes three for six,
14:01 and I thought he missed some wide-open ones.
14:02 Ty missed a couple.
14:03 A.J. missed a couple.
14:07 So I think, you know, we can play better,
14:09 and we're going to have to play better if we're going to make a serious run.
14:13 Coach, you guys obviously were clicking on all cylinders down the stretch in the
14:17 second half, but in the first half,
14:19 the Rutgers defense maybe gave you guys some fits.
14:22 What can you say about what they did defensively?
14:26 Well, Steve Peichel is -- you know, I said this since the day he came in the
14:29 league, I think he's one of the best coaches in the league.
14:31 His teams are tough.
14:33 I mean, you know, I know we're known for that.
14:36 I'm not sure this team is still building on getting there,
14:40 but they're like my early teams.
14:43 I mean, they are physically tough, and they have big bodies,
14:46 and, you know, they're setting screens that are screens.
14:51 I mean, they did a damn good job.
14:54 They just missed some shots, too.
14:56 And so I look at him and I say, man,
15:01 that's supposedly one of the lower teams in our league.
15:04 Of course, so are we right now.
15:06 But that team is going to give a lot of people fits, as it did Indiana,
15:09 and it will give more people fits.
15:10 And if you ever played out at the RAC out there, it's crazy.
15:14 But I think Michael is a damn good coach.
15:17 That's what I really like about that program,
15:19 and I think he does it the right way.
15:21 I really do.
15:23 Coach, what does it mean for your players to have Jackson Kohler back over
15:27 these last three games,
15:29 and how do you think that can help your team moving forward?
15:31 Well, I think, you know, what we do is we -- I'm excited to have Jackson back.
15:37 You know, the problem is is trying to work him back in there now after nine
15:40 weeks off.
15:42 And -- but the more tools you have in the box, I guess the better chance you
15:46 have because who knows what will happen this week, next week, the week after.
15:52 Mottie brings one dimension to that position.
15:55 Koop brings another one.
15:57 He can guard kind of different people.
15:59 And Jackson brings another one.
16:02 And so what I was able to do -- and we still got to get a little better at
16:06 this.
16:07 We still got to get, you know, either Book or Jackson sometime at the four,
16:12 you know, and certain teams we can do that.
16:15 At Illinois we wanted to, and we just couldn't do it with their lineup.
16:19 We also, you know, I think Cohen has got to play more three and two now that we
16:25 got people back, and poor kid hasn't had a chance to really work on it.
16:29 So we got plenty of things to work on, you know.
16:32 I think, you know, we'll take tomorrow and look at a lot of things and see if
16:38 we can get those guys back.
16:40 But the one thing I've really enjoyed about Jackson, Mottie, Koop, Book,
16:46 they've all kind of pulled for one another, you know.
16:49 And last year, you know, in my own mind, Jackson was trying to find himself
16:54 here, you know, coming from Utah.
16:57 Those players have done to him what I think they did to Steven.
17:00 You know, I get mad at my team for a lot of things, but I really got good guys
17:05 that care about each other.
17:07 And that's going to go a long way.
17:10 I just need guys that will confront each other now.
17:13 If we get some of that, we're going to start building a little bit more.
17:19 One more.
17:20 Yeah, hi.
17:21 You have mentioned that, like, consistency has been an issue with this team
17:25 this season.
17:26 What do you think is it -- what's it going to take to get you guys to be able
17:29 to build off this effort and kind of continue on and find that consistent play
17:33 that you guys are looking for?
17:34 Well, I think it's the one disappointing thing, right,
17:36 because consistency should happen with veterans.
17:40 But, you know, I always make excuses, I'm sure, to most people.
17:47 But, you know, I even look at Malik, you know.
17:49 I look at Jackson now.
17:51 When you have nine weeks off, just look at the NBA.
17:54 I mean, you followed it.
17:55 You worked it.
17:56 Guys get nine weeks off, they take another four weeks
17:58 to get back to normal, you know.
18:02 You know, you want a lot out of Malik, but, you know,
18:05 he had an injury-filled junior year and then he was out five months, you know.
18:10 I just don't think we've -- you know, we're just -- and A.J. has been good.
18:15 I mean, I don't feel any different,
18:18 and I pulled him in the minute and a half and the second half.
18:21 I don't feel any different about what I told you last week.
18:24 I mean, I'm really -- I just want to make sure that it doesn't go back the other way,
18:28 because he was a lot better the second half.
18:31 And why the first half, I don't know.
18:33 I mean, he's not trying to miss layups.
18:35 He's fumbled about six of them in the last two games, you know.
18:41 But his attitude, his demeanor with the rest of the guys has been awesome.
18:48 You know, I just think we need a little confidence.
18:51 I think we've been rocked a little bit, you know,
18:53 when you -- you know, social media doesn't bother me because I don't read it.
19:00 But it does bother them, and I think people, you know, understand it.
19:04 I understand the frustration of the fan, the gamblers.
19:08 I understand it all.
19:10 But I still say, you know, whether we think so or not, everybody's fragile nowadays.
19:16 Everybody is -- you know, everybody wants to be loved.
19:21 Everybody wants to be cared about.
19:24 And, you know, the nice thing about not being on Twitter, I don't know if I am
19:29 or I'm not, but when I lose, I already -- I'm educated enough to know I'm not.
19:34 When I win, I'm educated enough to know I might be.
19:36 So I just look at it like that and try to help those guys get through it.
19:41 And, you know, it's -- and you know what else, the last thing?
19:46 We played some good teams that are good too, you know.
19:50 And nobody's young anymore.
19:53 Nobody's young.
19:54 So what used to be your advantage is not necessarily an advantage anymore
19:58 because everybody's old.
20:00 Nobody's playing freshman.
20:01 Most of these programs aren't even recruiting freshmen.
20:04 So it's just a different adjustment than I -- maybe I've done a poor job of it,
20:08 maybe I've done a good job of it.
20:10 I'm going to keep working at it.
20:12 And I do think that this team has enough it that if we can continually grow a
20:19 little bit here, get some confidence, win some games,
20:23 that we just might win more than some people thought.
20:32 Thanks a lot to everybody.