Izzo apologizes to fans after loss to Virginia Tech

* Click through for a transcript of Tom Izzo's post-game press conference.

LAHAINA, Hawaii -- There won't be a possible clash for No. 1 next week when Duke visits the Breslin Center in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge.

First, the No. 3-ranked Spartans (4-2) had to win three games en route to the Maui Jim Maui Invitational title, but unranked Virginia Tech (6-0) pulled off a 71-66 upset in the opening round on Monday at the Lahaina Civic Center.

“I want to apologize to the maybe the greatest fan group that was here,” Michigan State coach Tom Izzo said. “I feel like I let them down. It has been interesting couple of weeks and we just weren’t as sharp.”

Before the tournament Izzo spoke about his team lacking enough time practicing together to find a rhythm. A variety of reasons have limited preparation time.

Izzo has given point guard Cassius Winston time off to be with his family following the suicide death on Nov. 9 of his brother Zachary Winston.

Aaron Henry missed the Nov. 18 win over Charleston Southern after his rolled his ankle in a win at Seton Hall.

Joey Hauser’s role on the team this year was clouded until the NCAA finally ruled on Nov. 21 denying his transfer appeal.

And all this happened after senior Joshua Langford needed foot surgery in the preseason, which will sideline him until at least January.

Compounding Michigan State’s synchronization problem against Virginia Tech was the fact that Winston played only 8:23 in the first half. He had yet to score and had only one assist when he went to the bench with his second foul.

But even when the senior played 17:05 in the second half, something was missing. He finished with seven points, two assists and three turnovers.

“It was difficult to sit that long,” Winston said. “I’ve just got to be smarter than that and make better decisions for my team. It’s hard get back in your rhythm, get back in the flow.”

Izzo blamed himself, saying he should have put Winston back in the game in the first half despite the fouls.

“I didn’t have a lot of faith,” Izzo said, stopping just short of saying he didn’t trust the officiating. “Right now, coaches are learning, officials are learning and players are learning. And I'm going to have to start playing my guys. I can't let them sit out. I just had no faith. I thought one of them was a ghost call and so I panicked. That's my fault, not theirs.”

He said Winston has played through more circumstances than most people could handle, including himself.

“I wanted all the people in Hawaii and everybody to see him, but he was a shell of himself,” Izzo said. “I think it’s been a lot on him. No excuses for me. I did a poor job. But I couldn’t do what he has done, no way. And he looked tired the whole time.

“I think the mental stress that he’s going through, because he doesn’t practice as much right now, physically I don’t think he’s in the shape he needs to be in. I asked him at halftime and he said, ‘You better keep grinding on me, coach, don’t change one thing.’ Well, I got to tell you it’s hard for me and hard for him.”

Virginia Tech’s defense also made it hard. The Hokies double-teamed him and trapped him. Late in the game the Spartans countered by having sophomore wing Aaron Henry bring up the ball and play point guard.

That opened some three-point shots and drives to the basket for Henry. He scored 12 of his 18 points in the second half.

“A lot of teams assume the ball is coming back to my hands one way or another,” Winston said. “So (it was good) to free (Henry) up a little bit and to get him downhill, let him play to his strengths.”

Both Winston and Henry said the Spartans have to bounce back in their final two games in the tournaent, Tuesday and Wednesday.

“You can’t let one loss ruin your trip down here,” Winston said. “It’s still a business trip. We’re still down here to get better as a team. We took a step back today, but we got to find a way to rally and come up with two big wins to keep pushing forward in the season.”

Henry added, “We’re going to find out a lot about ourselves individually and more importantly as a team. We got some adversity to face and we’re to see if we can overcome it.”

Izzo said he is focused on getting more time together on the practice floor.

“I promise you, we will spend no time on the beach tonight, tomorrow or tomorrow night,” he said. “We’re going to spend time in that walkthrough room and we won’t make those mistakes again.”

The Spartans play Georgia at 9:30 a.m. (2:30 p.m. ET). Georgia, with former Michigan State assistant coach Tom Crean in his second year with the Bulldogs, lost to Dayton 80-61.

Tom Shanahan is publisher of Shanahan.report and author of Raye of Light.