Michigan State came up short in the quarterfinals of the Big Ten Tournament, falling to Purdue, 67-62. Here are some of the thoughts from the Spartan players following the loss:

AJ Hoggard

“I like the way guys fought. Guys got in foul trouble early and other guys stepped up. I think our bigs did a good job of fighting down there with Zach (Edey). I think everyone did a good job, played a big role in us keeping the game close.”

“There’s always room for improvement, there’s always going to be something we did wrong or could have sharpened up. We’ll go back and watch the film. I’m just happy with the effort, with the way we competed (today), especially going into the tournament. All these games with teams that are really good, we feel like we can compete with anybody. We have the talent and the competitiveness and a good mindset right now.”

“Yeah, we’re frustrated that we lost – we wanted to continue fighting for a championship. The way we competed (today) is something we can build on. The coaches put us in a good position, we ended up coming up short.”

Malik Hall

“Obviously, no one is happy with the way it ended but I think we did a pretty good job (executing the game plan). We need to play hard like that every game. I just brought energy, tried to do my job defensively, made sure I was doing the right things that we talked about.

“A lot of people have been ragging on our bigs all year. They’ve put a lot of work to be where they are today. I’m super proud of them and I just want them to keep it up and keep this same level of play up. It will help us moving forward.”

Xavier Booker

“We’re capable of doing anything, we just have to put our minds to it, play hard, and execute the game plan. We could have gotten them today but stuff happens so we just gotta keep moving forward.”

“We all (the bigs) know what we’re capable of. We’ve all been capable of the things we did today and yesterday. Just gotta keep working, keep building. I know what my role is on the team and all the bigs know their role.”