Tom Izzo

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.

Shannon Brown does have a knack for rising to the occasion in big games. He kind of thrives on the pressure. When I told him he had to take over a little bit, he did it in such a controlled way - even with that dunk he had, one of the best I've ever seen here.

We've got a good enough team to win the next six games and we've got a good enough team to lose the next six games and I think a lot of teams are in that boat in this league.

Sometimes I see things he can do, and I do shake my head. He's very, very athletic for a big kid and he's a very intelligent player. But when you start your career, you can get labeled, whether you're labeled soft or whatever. I've been hard on him, but in the big games, he has shined.

It's going to be sad to see some seniors go that have done a lot of things for us, won a lot of games.

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 didn't get beat by some chopped-liver team. I mean, don't kid yourself They're going to win a lot of games -- a lot of games.

Whenever you lose a few games, especially when you have a pretty good team, you're concerned about how fast things can slide.

I feel all of the responsibility for that. I did not get as much out of these guys as they had to give.

You do have to have good teams, let's not kid ourselves. And I think Bruce Weber has done a phenomenal job there.

I think it's a shame, as good as our league is.

We have not had three guys as prolific as those three. They've been pretty special, and they're good guys that are going to graduate, making them the total package.

Now that we've got our lineup straightened out the last month, our rotation may be similar to some of our real good teams, ... We're not as good defensively, we're not as good a rebounding team, but we're a much better shooting team. It's different, but it's got some similarities in areas that are key to winning championships.

We did a pretty good job on a lot of guys, just free throws, free throws, free throws.

I appreciate Matt getting physical and not losing his cool. I don't know if I would have done as good a job as he did.

It sure feel good to be home. I can't tell you how much that helped some of our players.

He is a good kid.

I don't feel great about it because destiny's not in our total hands. But I feel good that we're going to be difference-makers.

We didn't execute as well in the last three minutes. We were shooting almost 50 against a good team, we just couldn't get it done down the stretch.

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 he's done some good things. He made a couple great passes, then he made a couple bad ones, but he's getting better.

If there's one area I'm probably not very good at it, it's taking the foot off the throttle. I'm gonna do that a little bit. We just have to get them fresh again.

I've never had a real good team have so little depth. Strategically I don't know what you can do.

This is still a very good Indiana team. They can do well in the Big Ten tournament and be a NCAA tourney team.

I've been in his shoes and know what he went through. They did a good job in the first half.