Following Michigan State's win over Mississippi State Thursday, Tom Izzo labeled this game an "old school win" for him and his team.
"All the guys from the past would have been proud," said Izzo. "Because it was a tough, rugged game and we haven't been bringing that all the time this year."
This season the Spartans returned a veteran squad, and with a No. 4 preseason ranking, expectations were high. Throughout the season veteran players AJ Hoggard, Jayden Akins, and Tyson Walker all faced individual struggles that made it difficult for the team to put together a streak of wins.
“That’s why for a month I've been saying I think we’re good enough to make a run," said Izzo. "One win isn't a run by the way. I think it’s because we got those three guys (Walker, Hoggard, Akins) doing what they can do, not doing anything extra, just doing what they can do.”
Following the game, Izzo had high praise for his guys.
"I think that was one of the better performances from a team that was, deservingly so, was seeded a little bit lower," Izzo explained. "I thought we brought everything from the get go. We moved the ball well, we shot the ball well, we rebounded the ball, we were up 16 to 10 (in rebounds) at halftime."
Izzo congratulated two of his players who had struggled as of late but performed admirably in Charlotte against Mississippi State, Jaden Akins and Mady Sissoko.
"I think it was (Jaden's) best game three-dimensionally," said Izzo. "He defended it, he rebounded it, he shot it, and he even passed it some, so maybe four-dimensionally. It was no question Jaden Akins' best game at Michigan State and it couldn't have come at a better time. I'm really happy for him, he deserved what he got."
When addressing Mady Sissoko's impressive play, Izzo shared that after watching him go through hard times it was important to see his big man have a game he deserved.
"That kid's been through a lot, in his life and this year with some deaths in the family," Izzo reflected. "But I thought that the best he played was against Purdue when he just looked like a monster rebounder that I had recruited, and he hadn't been that way all year. That's one of the things we talked about, we did not think we could win this game without him doing what he did. Everybody's got a job to do, as Bill Belichick says, and his job is to rebound and defend and he did that at a very, very high level."
“What is it that they say?" Izzo said. "‘The front window is bigger than the rear view mirror,’ so I'm not going to worry about the turnovers right now, I'm not gonna go back and watch the film, just going to move on to (North) Carolina and see what we can do. I'm so happy to work another day, thats all I wanna do, work another day."
Tom Izzo and the Michigan State Spartans will be back at the Spectrum Center on Saturday, March 23rd to face the winner of No. 1-seeded North Carolina and No. 16-seeded Wagner.
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