Tom Izzo enjoys 700th win, but says MSU is 'consistently inconsistent'

Coming into Tuesday night’s contest between the Michigan State Spartans and the Michigan Wolverines, it seemed likely that the game was going to go one of two ways.

One option was that Michigan was going to shoot the ball very well and look like a team that much better than its 2-7 conference record might indicate. The other option was that the home team Spartans would overwhelm the struggling Wolverines in route to a blowout victory.

The game itself wound up being a little bit of both.

“It was a tale of two halves,” head coach Tom Izzo said to open the postgame press conference on Tuesday night. “You’ve got to give Michigan credit. I thought they outplayed us most of the first half."

The visiting Wolverines led for most of the first half by as many nine points, thanks to 61% shooting from the field and eight second-chance points.

“I didn't think we guarded, and I didn't think we rebounded,” Izzo said of the first half. “I was frustrated with the effort-related things.”

For Coach Izzo, this first-half performance was particularly irksome due to some of the circumstances surrounding Tuesday’s contest. Not only were the Spartans playing their archrivals at home, but Tuesday also happened to be Izzo’s 69th birthday and he was sitting on 699 career coaching victories.

In anticipation of the potential milestone win, several past Spartan legends were in attendance for the game, including Mateen Cleaves, Steve Smith, Anthony “Pig” Miller, Charlie Bell and Antonio Smith.

“It's almost embarrassing for me,” Izzo said. “When I got Mateen (Cleaves) sitting right next to me and Steve (Smith) being there. (Effort-related things are) what we built this program on and it's still not where it needs to be … I just told my team, ‘Boy, you better learn something from those guys.’”

Michigan State trailed the Wolverines by two points at the half, and Izzo felt fortunate that the game was even that close. So, the Spartans had a lot to talk about in the locker room.

Forward Malik Hall and point guard A.J. Hoggard both credited walk-on guard Davis Smith (son of Steve Smith) with a passionate speech to refocus the team. But Izzo recalled the halftime conversation as being much simpler.

“I was thinking about the mistakes we were making,” Izzo said. “I said if you (Hoggard) and Tyson (Walker) don't play better, we're not going to win.”

Fortunately for Spartan nation, Walker, Hoggard and the rest of the team successfully cranked up the intensity and outscored Michigan in the second half by 21 points to win going away by a final score of 81-62. But Izzo felt that the final margin of 19 points was not indicative of how competitive the game was. Izzo called it “a solid win.”

The Jekyll-and-Hyde personality of this 2023-2024 Michigan State team continues to be a frustration to both coaches and fans. The Spartans will play one half like a Final Four-caliber team and the next half like a team headed for the NIT.

The Wolverines were red hot from the field in the first half. That happens. But issues such as getting to loose balls and rebounding is something within the control of the Spartans. Coach Izzo is keenly aware that these problems need to get fixed.

“Consistency is what I think is the key to successful programs and we've been consistently inconsistent,” the head coach said. “Hopefully we learn from some of this … We're just going to keep working at it. Because if it ever comes, I think this team could be good as I said. If it doesn't come, this team won't be as good as I thought. It's pretty simple.

“So, I should be more excited, but I'm not. Because I have bigger goals than winning a game even against your rival.”

While the game was close for the first 25 minutes, the Spartans led by no less than seven points for the final 15 minutes and by no less than 12 points for the final 10 minutes.

The win allowed the Michigan State to climb back to 5-5 in Big Ten Conference play, while the Wolverines are buried in the conference's basement at 2-8 at the midway point.

Both teams came into the 2023-2024 campaign with higher expectations that the current reality. Some questioned if this situation has diminished the intensity or “taken the air out” of the rivalry. When asked about this directly, Coach Izzo was clear with his opinion.

“No,” Izzo said when asked about the rivalry. “I've been here when I was not winning much and it still was a rivalry. I have been here when I was winning a lot and it was still a rivalry … I’ve have enough in my 39-and-a-half years of goods and bads that the rivalry will never die for me.

“Rivalry is something that is not about the coaches. It's not even about the teams. It's about the people that went to school at each place. It's about people that pull for their teams. The rivalry should go on forever.”

At least for Coach Izzo, this year’s game had the same impact as the first 53 installments of this particular rivalry under his leadership, and dozens more before that as an assistant.

“Is it the same when both teams are playing for a championship? Of course not,” Izzo said. “Rivalries are rivalries. It is a little different because we are both struggling. But I still had butterflies last night. I still didn’t sleep well last night. That will never change.”

Everyone likes to celebrate their birthdays in different ways. Some people like to throw big parties. Other people like to have a quiet dinner at home with family.

On Tuesday, Izzo decided to celebrate his 69th birthday with 15,000 of his closest friends at the Breslin Center. As a gift, his player banded together to beat their archrivals, giving Izzo his 700th career victory, all at Michigan State.

Naturally, Coach Izzo fielded several questions to the significance of this milestone. At first, he mostly downplayed the accomplishment. He said that most years he has been busy on his birthday, and then he quickly pointed out that other coaches have a lot more wins than he does.

“One thing that I realized is that I started too late or somebody else won a lot more games,” Izzo joked. “Because I'm 502 (wins) behind (former Duke coach Mike) Krzyzewski… I don't think he's worried about me catching him.”

But as Coach Izzo continued, and perhaps as he allowed himself to think about the milestone a little bit more, the significance of the moment started to settle in.

“I mean, 700 wins is pretty impressive, even to me,” Izzo said. “To get 700 wins at the same school, that means a lot to me. That's probably what means the most to me … But we, the players, the assistant coaches I've had, we've won all of ours right here at Michigan State and I'm really, really honored, proud and feel good.”

Even Michigan head coach Juwan Howard was asked about the milestone, though the journalist apologized for asking “a tough question.”

“No, no, that's not a tough question,” Howard said. “That's an easy question to answer. He is a Hall of Fame coach. He's an example of what a lot of us coaches are striving to become … He's created his own staple and identity to his program, and the program has had success. I really admire Coach (Izzo) in a lot of ways. Yes, it's a rivalry. It's always going to be a rivalry. But at the same time, you've just got to give respect where respect is due.”

As Izzo later continued to reflect on the totality of the moment, it became clear that there was still a lot of unfinished business, both for the remainder of this season and beyond.

“Like I said we're not dead,” Izzo explained. “We’ve got some more wins. We’ve got some more years to go, and I’m going to keep fighting the fight. But I think, looking back? I don't know if anybody looks back on these jobs until they're done.”

Coach Izzo and his Spartans aren’t done yet. Michigan State returns to the Breslin Center on Saturday to take on Maryland at 5:30 p.m. Eastern Time. The game can be watched on FOX.

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