After defeating USC in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Friday in Columbus, Ohio, the Michigan State men’s basketball team advanced to the Round of 32, where it will take on the Marquette Golden Eagles on Sunday at 5:15 p.m. Eastern Time on CBS.
Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo is excited for the opportunity to match up against Marquette and its head coach, Shaka Smart.
“We're excited, we really are,” Izzo said on Saturday about playing the Golden Eagles. “And Marquette, they've done a hell of a job. I've known Shaka (Smart) for a while. I talk to him a lot over the years. I'm impressed with his team.”
Tremendous respect between Tom Izzo and Shaka Smart
Izzo also noted that Smart “has a lot of passion” and he believes that Marquette will be a strong program for years to come under Smart’s tutelage.
“I think he's going to build a real good program there (at Marquette),” Izzo said about Smart. “When he was at VCU he did. When he was at Texas it was a little crazier. He's still the same coach, a damn good coach.”
In addition to Smart, Izzo praised Marquette junior center Oso Ighodaro, junior guard Tyler Kolek, sophomore forward David Joplin (the Big East Sixth Man of the Year) and others. He said the Golden Eagles have a different style of play and that makes them unique.
“This team brings more ball screens than maybe we faced all year,” Izzo said about Marquette. “It seems they're coming from right to left, they're all over the place and they do it very well. They've got some shooters. They've got a center, Oso (Ighodaro), who, his assist-to-turnover is 2-1. For a center, that's off the charts. He's got 109 or 110 assists, which is unbelievable. So they're unconventional in their own way. They're different in their own way and they're very good.”
Smart was also extremely complimentary of Izzo and the Michigan State program. In fact, when he was just starting out in his career, watching Izzo, Mateen Cleaves and others at MSU win a national championship in 2000 is what made Smart want to pursue coaching in a full-time capacity.
“We're excited to be here, heading into the game against Michigan State tomorrow,” Smart said on Saturday. “Heck of a program. I remember my first year in coaching as a 22-year-old kid, watching Coach Izzo's Mateen Cleaves-led team squad win the national championship (in 2000). And that for me was a moment that cemented in my mind college basketball was where I wanted to be.
“So I've always been a fan of Coach (Izzo) and his program and the way they play and the way they conduct themselves. And for us, it's a heck of an opportunity to compete against them tomorrow night.”
Smart considers Izzo a mentor, as many college coaches across the nation do. A lot of coaches strive to find the kind of success he has had.
“Coach Izzo has always been – I think he along with (former Washington State, USC and Iowa head coach) George Raveling – is America's coaches mentor,” Smart said. “I think if you polled the coaches across the country, Coach (Izzo) would be at or near the top in terms of coaches that we look up to, that we call every once in a while for advice, that we watch press conferences and keep a close eye on just what he's doing because he's had such a high standard of excellence for so long.”
So what is it specifically about Izzo that Smart admires so much? Izzo’s passion, intensity and the way he holds everybody around him accountable.
“Coach Izzo – he lights himself on fire, and he makes sure that fire is so strong and so bright and so hot that it affects everyone around him,” Smart said. “That's Coach Izzo. And he's done that for a long, long time. So if you're in that program, you don't have a choice. It's not an option. You have to have a level of intensity. You have to have a level of passion, otherwise you don't function. You don't make it. And that's why they've been to 25-straight tournaments and that's why he's had all the success he's had.”
"Talent really doesn't win championships"
As for his team itself, Izzo said the Spartans are locked in and focused. While it hasn’t always been the case this season, the MSU players know the importance of one-and-done games in March.
“I’ve been really pleased with the focus of my team,” Izzo said. “Right now, I’ve got a lot more eyes looking at me than raising them.”
In the first-round win over USC, Michigan State was able to limit the impact of Trojan stars Boogie Ellis and Drew Peterson, and Izzo was pleased with the Spartans’ defensive efforts. When asked if MSU can carry over that defensive effort to Sunday against Marquette, Izzo said he thinks his team will – and it has to against the Golden Eagles.
“In some ways, I think it's easier (to carry defense over) because the shooting is a skill, where defending is a choice if you're a good defensive player,” Izzo said. “And I've got three really good defensive players and I've got another one who yesterday looked – moving laterally – was Malik (Hall), the best he has I think in months.
“So I think you can (bring the defense into the Marquette game), but more importantly, it's going to have to, because the way they play and as good as their guards are, it's going to have to be that way. That's one thing I do like about our matchups. I think we have good guards defensively and offensively, and I think they do.”
When it comes to making a run in March and ultimately winning a national title, something Izzo has done once, the MSU head coach believes that talent doesn’t always win out in the NCAA Tournament. It’s more about toughness, determination and will.
“I think we'd all agree that talent really doesn't win championships,” Izzo said. “We all want it to. We think it does. Somebody said, ‘Well there's a lot of good players.’ Well, the players from some of those schools aren't as good as the players at those schools that they beat. They're not. But I’ve got a couple of very neat texts from a couple of NBA guys, coaches, yesterday, last night, and they said the analytics don't speak enough about your heart, your will to win, the discipline, those things. It just talks about how high you can jump or how well you can shoot or what you can rebound. And you're seeing more and more of that.”
Izzo is coaching in his 25th consecutive NCAA Tournament and his 40th season at Michigan State as an assistant coach or head coach. He noted that it felt right for Smart – who grew up in Wisconsin – to coach at Marquette, similarly to how he was always destined to be in East Lansing.
“I think I was born to be at Michigan State,” Izzo said. “Now, that doesn't mean I was worthy of being there.”
Joey Hauser isn't worried about the narrative of playing against his former school
Izzo was asked about the career trajectory of graduate senior forward Joey Hauser. Hauser, who transferred to Michigan State in 2019 and was forced to sit out of the 2019-2020 season, has had a lot of ups and downs in his career. Izzo noted that COVID-19 really affected Hauser, and that he wasn’t certain the forward would return for another season in 2022-2023.
Hauser, who averages 14.3 points and 7.0 rebounds per game, has now become one of MSU’s most consistent players this season.
“You love Joey Hauser if you know what he’s been through and how he's responded,” Izzo said. “He'll be a good guy for me to use in years to come of fighting through some adversity – people getting down on you, and believing in yourself, and hanging in there. And I believe that.
“I think Joey has done an incredible job of high basketball IQ, confidence in his shot, but he's earned the confidence because he works at it. He wasn't always a confident kid. I think that's what's changed the most this year … It's been fun to watch. He's one of those success stories.”
As mentioned, Hauser transferred to Michigan State in 2019. The school he transferred from was, of course, Marquette. However, Hauser does not have any extra chip on his shoulder going against his former program.
“No, I don't know any of the players or coaches there,” Hauser said when asked if playing against Marquette brings out any extra emotions for him. “It was a long time ago. So I don't have any ill will toward them. But it's just Michigan State versus Marquette.”
Hauser did talk about Michigan State’s tough non-conference and in-conference schedule helped prepare the Spartans for Marquette and the NCAA Tournament.
“I think just being in close games,” Hauser said when asked about how playing in big games this season helps the Spartans prepare for Marquette. “We had Kentucky earlier this year, that was a double overtime game. Gonzaga came down to the wire. Played some big teams. Obviously, the Big Ten season is a gauntlet in itself … Coach Izzo does it on purpose because it prepares you for March. That's his goal, that's what he wants to do.”
A.J. Hoggard, Tyson Walker and Malik Hall discuss Marquette
Michigan State junior point guard A.J. Hoggard is excited for the challenges that Marquette provides.
“I'm looking forward to it,” Hoggard said about playing against the Golden Eagles.” They've got good guards over there. We feel like we can match up. Just go out there, follow the game plan and do our job.”
Hoggard mentioned that the Golden Eagles are tenacious on defense and they’re going to make it hard on the Spartans.
“They're very aggressive on defense,” Hoggard said about Marquette. “They get up in you, they get after you. They blow up a lot of things, take away things.”
Marquette forces a lot of turnovers, leading the Big East and ranking in the top-25 in the country in that regard by forcing opponents to give the ball away 15.9 times per game. Meanwhile, Michigan State ranks in the top-40 in the country when it comes to protecting the basketball, averaging just 10.8 turnovers per game.
Hoggard noted that staying under 10 turnovers will be critical in the game against Marquette. He also said that the Golden Eagles’ offense will provide some issues for the Spartans.
“They cause a lot of problems with their offense,” Hoggard said. “They're a really well-rounded offense. I don't know too many teams up at the top that compares to them, but just playing different styles of basketball at the beginning of the year helps us in any situation because we play different styles during the year outside of the Big Ten. So this will be another challenge for us.”
Michigan State senior guard Tyson Walker agreed with Hoggard that limiting turnovers is one of the biggest keys to the game for the Spartans.
“We just (need to) take care of the ball,” Walker said. “They turn people over pretty well. That's a big part of the game.”
Walker went on to discuss what else the Golden Eagles do well.
“They're physical,” Walker said about Marquette. “They run up and down and they shoot a lot of (3-pointers).”
Senior forward Malik Hall feels confident that the team knows what it takes to win in March because the Spartans have been preparing for it since last summer.
“I just say Coach (Izzo) in general, everything he does prepares us for March,” Hall said. “It's something we talk about at the very beginning of the year and summertime, just making sure that we're ready.”
Hall credited Izzo, the assistant coaches and other staff members for their ability to prepare the team on short turnarounds, and noted that there’s not many people better at it than Izzo.
“Coach (Izzo) is obviously one of the best in the country at preparation just for things like this,” Hall said. “He watches a lot of film. I credit everybody on the coaching staff, not just the coaches, but the (graduate assistants), video coordinators, everybody does a really great job making sure that the players are prepared when we go out for games. We watched a little bit of film. We've had walk-throughs, watched more films, have more walk-throughs. We've done a lot of different things to make sure we're mentally focused on what's to come tomorrow.”
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