Tom Izzo on victory over Michigan: A 'beautiful game to win' for MSU
The Michigan State men’s basketball team defeated its archrival, Michigan, by a final score of 59-53 on Saturday afternoon.
The victory marked Michigan State’s sixth win in a row, and improved the team’s record to 11-4 overall and 3-1 in the Big Ten. The Spartans are currently in a five-way tie for first place in the conference.
Both teams struggled to shoot the ball. Michigan State shot 38% overall and 32% from 3-point range. Michigan shot 35% and just 15% from deep.
Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo was happy with the win, but of course wasn’t thrilled with the shooting, as he mentioned in the postgame press conference. The game had a retro feel to it, according to Izzo.
“Well, you know, I guess (the game was) a little old school Big Ten basketball,” Izzo said. “I thought both teams played pretty well defensively, but I'm not sure I've seen that many airballs by both teams. We just didn't make shots and they probably didn't either.”
The Breslin Center crowd was electric and filled with familiar faces
Izzo was also happy with how loud and energetic the Breslin Center crowd, led by the Izzone, was on Saturday. Izzo was especially pleased with the atmosphere since many of Michigan State’s former players – including Mateen Cleaves, Mat Ishbia, Steve Smith, Greg Kelser and several others – were in attendance.
“We had a great, unbelievable crowd, great TV audience,” Izzo said. “I told (Michigan head coach) Juwan (Howard) after, I thought both of us didn’t play very well, offensively.”
Izzo praised Michigan State’s marketing team, his players, the fans and the alums in attendance.
“Our fans were absolutely great,” Izzo said
Why Saturday’s game and win over Michigan meant so much to Izzo is because of the opportunity it provided for his current players – a day they will likely remember forever. The special atmosphere is something the Spartans can put in their “memory bank” and cherish.
“It was one of those memory-making days,” Izzo said about the win over Michigan. “And that's what I tell players, ‘You're gonna come back here in five years and it's (because of) the memories that you have.’”
Having his former players return to East Lansing, and even seeing those who played under Jud Heathcote and other former Michigan State head coaches return, is something Izzo takes a lot of joy in. It is one of his favorite parts about coaching.
“That's the greatest part of the job for me now,” Izzo said about the relationships he’s kept with his former players. “There's nothing better than that. That's the most important part of the job is the players before, the players that come back and the players that, hopefully, we're having our (current) players all go up there to make sure that they talk to some of those guys because those guys will tell them (how important it is to come back to Michigan State in the future).
“I love those guys,” Izzo later added about his former student-athletes.
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