Michigan State Spartans Basketball Coach Tom Izzo 2-10-25
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00Well, I said earlier that Saturday was a special day for a lot of us and the
00:08championship team over my house late that night and it was just fun to
00:13reminisce. It's fun to realize some guys that really appreciated a lot of things
00:18so I enjoyed that. The reunion went well and of course the fans were great but now
00:24it's getting ready for Indiana and you know another concern I mean with Mike
00:29and what's all that's going on it's obvious that there's a lot of news but
00:35it doesn't change that this is and it was said to be the team with Oregon
00:41picked to win it they were very talented team that talent has not changed. They
00:47have struggled as of late but every loss seems to be a close loss especially in
00:51Maryland, Purdue and Michigan lately. They're huge up front now with Balo and
00:56one other thing that's different is Renu who killed us last year has been out
01:03with a knee injury and he's played I think three four games but he's
01:07definitely played his last two had been his best games and then both of them are
01:11scoring double figures. Mbaka is still a guy he's averaging 18 and 6 so as a big
01:21big 6-8-6-9 wing that creates problems for us and and they do have experience
01:28guards Galloway is 6'5 he's big good he's 6'7 he's shooting the daylights out of it
01:33and Myles Rice who was really good early it's been a little more up and down but
01:40that is a talented 8-9 guys right there that we're gonna have to contend with as
01:46far as our illnesses we are seem to be improved Jaden I'm hoping can go today
01:56did not yesterday but we did not do much yesterday other than walkthroughs film
02:01sessions and getting some shots up so quick turnaround but ready to go
02:08questions special moment was was there a chance you had to kind of really
02:15reflect on that where you know the time Bob's record the 2000 team and Jace
02:21doing what you did on that kind of day where it kind of all came together for
02:25you you said you were gonna take your time yeah I did I I appreciated Jace
02:29performance I got to watch it and I really appreciated the team being there
02:36what an exciting time for all of them I mean again I keep downplaying this thing
02:42that I'm not really downplaying but I just that's definitely on the bottom of
02:47my list and if it happens it happens fine something doesn't matter and we'll
02:56see what it does if it does but having those guys back and having Jace have the
03:03game he had and we had a lot of guys that played pretty well you know but he
03:09just had one of those even more efficient than normal and he's probably
03:14his most efficient guy I got so and you know for his dad to be in the stands
03:20with it and of course all those other players and when you think about it you
03:24know the team's now got a son who's a freshman that's playing a lot and David
03:29Thomas has one and Andre's got one that already signed at st. Louis and you know
03:34really the Apple didn't fall far from the tree and a lot of those guys there's
03:38a reason we were good and it's kind of staying in the family so that's been
03:45pretty exciting to watch happen the job the three guys did in the post for you
03:53with the way Jace played maybe went a little bit overlooked but I wonder what
03:58what you see from Jackson but also I mean Cooper in his last four or five
04:03game stretch seems to have really turned the corner for you I would agree with
04:07that I think you know Coop was almost pronounced dead you know he just was
04:13not playing very well I've got a new sign in my office that a quote from Pat
04:20Summit that talks about if you're you know if you aren't able to say your what
04:30your mistakes are it's hard to improve and get better and I remember Coop
04:34walking in my office and I said what's going on and he said I I won't say
04:39exactly what he said I'm not playing very well but he knew it and and so we
04:46talked about some things that we thought would help him improve on and
04:50he's been working on his free throws a lot but I think he put more emphasis in
04:55the saying you know what I've got to work on my jump hooks and that but to
05:00help this team win I got to be able to defend I got to be able to rebound I
05:03got to be able to make free throws I got to be able to run the court and I think
05:08he has been you know Jax has had more good games of course and had a great
05:13game the other night but I think Coop has just done what you said last five
05:20games he's made a big difference in our team.
05:24A year ago down there some different personnel but they were big and it was
05:31obvious that you guys weren't or at least able to counter what they did in
05:35the post. I'm wondering do you see a blam this big with Valo who you faced before and you brought in
05:42Fiddler you're bigger is this sort of a little bit of a test of the versatility
05:46and size that you've brought in? I think it is a lot you know when you watch Omar
05:52he's definitely in what I think in better shape I think he's lost some weight
05:56you know he's so big it's hard to he seems to be moving better and like I
06:02said the renewed thing the problem is he almost got a watch tape on last year
06:06because up until the last two or three games he wasn't playing or he wasn't
06:10playing nearly with a pretty good knee injury from what I was told. Together
06:16which they've only played together sparingly these last couple games
06:21they're they're alone and that's gonna be an issue you know and you look at the
06:27games they've lost that are all right in them and now getting renewed back I think
06:32as I said when you play 20 games a long season you have everybody seems to be
06:40having these four and five game losing streak so you know a lot of Maryland
06:44early you know UCLA was Oregon you know now Indiana I mean these are talented
06:51teams some of it is the schedule some is when you're playing and some of it in
06:57all honesty is the injury like Illinois still could be the best team out there
07:02and they've had injuries illnesses sicknesses you know mono I mean they've
07:07had a lot of different things that have done that so I would say this will be a
07:12big test for our bigs in a lot of ways that's for sure
07:20sort of big picture not asking within the context of this game and asking but
07:24watching college basketball I'm wondering you've had Shimon now for one half a season I'm
07:30wondering with having a guy like that and his background and everything does
07:34that inform maybe at all your future preferences or anything in recruiting
07:38like is it like that guy a big with that type of skill set is that something you
07:42might be prioritized more moving forward whether he's European or not yeah you
07:48know it's it's funny because you've seen things go like this especially in the
07:55last even couple of years you know it was almost like nobody even talk about a
07:59big guy now are these got a ton of them you know I don't know it's like the
08:04stock market or if it's like the housing market or what but it just seems to be
08:09changing a lot so what do we always like to have a guy like that you know he's
08:15starting to make free throws he does have size he's got some skills down
08:21there sure we would you know no matter where you got him from but just as I say
08:28that we'll go back to small ball pretty quick here it seems like it's really
08:32fluctuated hasn't I mean I don't know what it seems to you but sure is a lot
08:36more bigs in our league right now I mean we have five or six seven footers I mean
08:41that was almost non-existent other than
08:45you know a big kid from Purdue for three four years
08:51I know you don't want to talk about the record so much in depth that I'm
08:55curious
09:00oh I have a lot of good memories I mean you have to have the memory of him
09:10throwing the chair just because it was iconic you know and but I mean I have
09:16memories of the Olympics I have memories of you know just standing
09:20behind Judd watching him shake Bob's hand and over things I have memories of
09:27him kind of sneaking up on me my first game down there and telling me how bad
09:34the officials are gonna be and he did it right in front of the officials and the
09:39four of them laughed and I was scared to death so you know the curse the first
09:44win was he was against them and we weren't that good and found a way to
09:50win that game that was a great memory and and probably one of the my best
09:56memories is when we beat him down there the year we won the championship and he
10:00told me that we were good enough to win a championship after the game and he was
10:06great about everything so you know I'm sure there's a lot more you just asked
10:11me now but you know I I look at there's always gonna be goods and bads in a
10:17guy's career and there's always gonna be issues and but I think he did a lot more
10:26good for the game for most of his career you know things like they always do if
10:31you don't be careful making crazy before before it's over you know when I look
10:36back and you know some guys that I respected in the profession that I'm in
10:42both football and basketball but for me it'll be an honor and a privilege if that
10:48day comes it's already an honor and a privilege that it came to tie somebody
10:54like that because growing up and in the coaching profession it was a guy you
11:01know for me it was he Jane Katie you know Clem Haskins I mean those people
11:07did a lot for me in the Big Ten and I will forever be grateful and and forever
11:14realize how much I learned from all of them I mean you know Bob that motion
11:19offense and all the things he did and you know you learn good and bad too you
11:25know like what not to do what to do
11:31I mean our physicality doesn't even touch us and in gene of course I was
11:39fortunate but Bob was he was the standard I mean you look at the national
11:45championships he won how many final fours did he go to you know yeah five he
11:53went to five and look at the Big Ten he won I mean winning and him were
12:00synonymous and that included the Olympics that included basketball in
12:04general so yeah it's humbling
12:11since the first Big Ten tournament in 98 we've always said the regular season
12:17means so much more than a tournament now with the 20 game schedule you only play
12:23team twice only three of them and with these ups and downs we're talking about
12:27maybe the depth of the league this year in the mid-range could this be as good a
12:32Big Ten tournament as we've seen and could it mean more than it's ever met
12:36before not even you're getting crazy like the rest of these guys eight games
12:44left and I'm just checking the date you know when I die I wonder what it'll be
12:52like you know no I'm just everyone's talking about the conference no I think
12:56you're right I might be more yeah cuz I got yeah so many things especially the
13:00two-day prep but I think a lot of these conference tournaments gonna be big but
13:05you think of the Big Ten in the SEC those tournaments gonna be off the chart
13:10you even think of Gonzaga's they got no four teams up on top that are good but
13:16ours and and someone's gonna come out you know because I've really never
13:23looked at this year who got the break in the schedule you know I really and I'm
13:31not sure who did and who played once and who played twice and other years it
13:35was more definable this is not to me and so you're gonna go in there and
13:41someone's gonna beat somebody and everybody's gonna question it you know
13:44like Illinois is the best example right now they just won big the other night
13:49and when they got six seven losses in our league you know and most of that is
13:55because of injuries and illness I think but yeah I think it will be one of the
14:01best ever because the number of good teams everybody be playing for something
14:09now that we only have how many of the 18 and I mean there's a good chance that
14:20you know 12 or 13 of them will be playing for an NCAA berth in a lot of
14:24ways maybe more the way it's going right now so yeah I think it'll be a hell of
14:30a tournament for you guys hey Tom you touched on a little bit that you had a
14:36chance to reflect yesterday curious to know if there was a moment when you were
14:40deliberate and like looking around and reflecting and also can we revisit the
14:45non quarterback controversy for educational purposes is it
14:48controversial because it calls into question loyalty player okay well we
14:54know first part of the question is you know I think right when the game ended
15:02and I realized all those guys are right behind me that was a moment I took
15:06instead of going out and shaking the coaches hand right away I went to those
15:09guys first I figured everything I've done everything I own everything I've
15:16been able to do is because of them and it really is you know the team got up at
15:22our reunion upstairs and gave me more credit but the truth of it is that they
15:30didn't start it you know that year three I was I mean most of you weren't around
15:35but Jack you were I was on the I guess now we call it the hot seat that was
15:42like five games into the year and that hot seat was was getting hot and those
15:50guys kind of saved the day and so that was one and then when I was able to talk
15:55to the crowd or when I was standing there with you know about 30 seconds
16:00left just kind of I didn't know McGuire you know I just kind of looked up at the
16:05place and I said wow you know at that time not many nobody had left and it was
16:11packed and and I got one of the old-time Texas that I will share with you I got a
16:18million texas that night of course some great great people and great great
16:23coaches but I got one from Steve Alford and it was to congratulate me and tying
16:31that but it was also talking about him and his wife and and one of our former
16:38employees whose brother works here now Claire Donnelly works for Steve out
16:44there and she used to be one of our student secretaries and anyway he said
16:52we were watching it and amazed he said I was amazed how many former players and
16:58coaches came back there he said and then he went on to say you know reminded me
17:04when he got fired at UCLA I had called and he was trying to make a tour he's
17:10trying to hit about 10 or 15 schools the next year programs just that he could
17:16go spend time with and he came here and it was on senior night which was also
17:20our I think was our reunion then too but it was also senior night and he came
17:27here stayed at my house spent three days with us and he said you've got the best
17:32cup culture in college basketball by a lot and I went and visited some of the
17:38top programs and I watched this weekend and whenever you get frustrated
17:44appreciate what you got because nobody has well I don't know if that's totally
17:51true but I told him it was one of the best Texas I got because that probably
17:56means more to me than a record and a wins and a championship and it was pretty
18:04cool oh wait I gotta ask the second part of this question because you know
18:12the I always kid about quarterback controversy but it's really it's not
18:20even close to a quarterback controversy because when you pick a quarterback you
18:25know it's kind of funny of all things I was thinking of you guys how much I hate
18:29some of your questions but as I was watching a little bit of the Super Bowl
18:34and I was thinking of her and what he did and you know Nick you know I talked
18:40to Nick about it after that thing happened when he changed that halftime
18:44but when you pick a quarterback that other guy's probably not playing you
18:49know we might move guys around for various reasons I mean I don't want to
18:53be moving everybody around you want some consistency but you know we have some
18:58issues that are different for us this year with smaller guards in some ways
19:02we're playing USC really hurt us with big guards you know they kill us on the
19:07boards and we didn't do it staff didn't do a very good job of that but you know
19:13that's what I look at to who who plays well with each other what do you need in
19:18the game you know we're gonna play a game that has two really good bigs you
19:24know how they played the last five weeks they played with a goodie remember
19:30him from Illinois he's been there for man most of the time because renews been
19:33out so they went from a shooting shooting shooting for man to now a
19:38powerful post player and renew so there's really no converse there's no
19:46loyalty the best players should play I mean there's there's loyalty that you
19:52on first right of refusal more or less but I played a game I mean you gotta
19:57play it and are you working at it you know are you working and are you doing
20:01all the things and that's one of the things I talked to coop about you know
20:05are you doing all the things well he was doing a lot with his free-throw shooting
20:09that improved you know in the two hours at the end of my house the other night I
20:17sat with nine guys in the back room and they were talking about something that
20:22we did that I just some that I could tell you some that I can but I don't
20:30incriminate myself but one of them was you know we had meetings every night
20:35weren't very good so we had meetings every night and practice eat meetings
20:42now you know you can't go over this many hours there were no rules back
20:48then it was more fun the meeting was we meet for an hour and then we just got
20:53satellite dishes and that you know that's there and they'd want to watch
20:57because they didn't have that at home they want to watch a game that was on TV
21:02a college game we sat in this room down here we watch college games and then
21:07that'd get done at 11 o'clock and it's a coach let's turn on the NBA games all
21:13West you know we'd sit down there with six or eight guys Mike Garland was there
21:18Brian Gregory was there the other night we're just talking about how many times
21:22we just sat around watching games together we were all together you know
21:27and I miss that but I think a lot of kids missing out on that because those I
21:36watch nine guys talk about things like that for two hours you know what an
21:42impact that must add on them 25 years later you know now we made it so that
21:47the NCAA and everybody thinks it's a grind to spend time with people no no
21:52sometimes it's fun to spend time with people and so it was refreshing for me
21:59but so there's no quarterback controversy but there so and it's my
22:04fault because I said quarterback controversy whenever I speak about
22:08stuff like that players are gonna play if players if I change things here and
22:14there whether it was Cooper could still be Cooper minutes are probably gonna
22:20stay the same or change I told you minutes are gonna change a little bit
22:23they are gonna change a little bit that's what happens as the season goes
22:27question first of all Hertz is the first Nick quarterback I think they were in a
22:32Super Bowl he's one of the first Nick quarterback I think he might be and
22:36Nick's a D-back coach this is just talking about Bob Knight one of the
22:43things going back to Saturday's game is is that the line the line where you get
22:51the technical and then afterward maybe a few more calls like I'm wondering
22:58about how you but in your career first of all found that like I think I think
23:03Chris Collins got ejected the other night and how you've been able to manage
23:07that and to with with Mike having played for Bob do you feel like that would make
23:14any more motivation for Indiana coming here I mean beyond the normal of that
23:19for sure for sure I mean I think they'll be motivated you know still for their
23:25coach I think Mike will be motivated you know I the line I don't know about the
23:33line I bet you half you were hoping I threw a chair right so you could say I
23:38know you were listen I think I think the last you know everybody kind of wants
23:48you do something that's that's what you do for life you know I mean I haven't
23:52had many technicals in the last five six seven years at all and you know I mean I
24:01thought it was warranted I knew I knew it could hurt us I didn't I didn't I
24:05didn't look at it like I'm gonna get more calls I can promise you that it's
24:10those days are over because there's too many officials now get too many people
24:15all around the country I you know when it used to be the Big Ten was Jug was
24:19there we'd get the same guys every every other game it seemed like now it's it's
24:26it's different than that so that wasn't even in the thought process I was not
24:32happy with some calls whether it was right or wrong and but thank God I had
24:3715,000 other people that weren't happy with the same calls and and on some of
24:42I might even had some media guys that weren't happy with those calls so I I'm
24:49not I'm not that good like Bob was I mean his was strategic but he he was the
24:57guy then and those officials there was a smaller group of them I would never go
25:05into a game thinking I could influence anybody or that I would because half the
25:11time I don't even know the guys I'm having anymore that's odd for working
25:15thinking that you've been in the league 40 years
25:19you mentioned Jayden and the health earlier you would you all anticipate to
25:22have a full lineup on Tuesday night and then secondly not that you want to be
25:26shorthanded but how much did you guys learn from being able to play without
25:30Xavier without your starting point guard and to be able to be successful
25:33well I think every time there's some adversity you learn something sometimes
25:38positively sometimes negatively you know like when we always go on the road
25:42or if we're at home and the other team comes up with an injury right before the
25:47game I swear to you nine out of ten times for that one game it's it seems
25:55like the team plays better sometimes you know things just happens that way but
26:01you know what I learned most in that game is you know Jason's been efficient
26:09all year he's been efficient probably averaging seven eight shots a game he
26:15got 13 in this game because he had to play more minutes I also know that we
26:20had some guys a lot of guys that got tired so the strength of numbers thing
26:25is still very valuable to us but like I said the minutes may change so you know
26:31and but I was I I was impressed I was impressed that Trey came back and made
26:39some shots in that second half that were critical and and that we we got the ball
26:44in there to Kohler and he did a very good job but when you have a game like
26:51Jase had it wasn't that he hit a bunch of wild shots I mean he just hit some
26:57good shots and I think you know are they gonna guard him different now maybe was
27:04was it a surprise to them I don't know I know we can do that do those things
27:09because I see it every day in practice now to that level that was a special
27:13night you know it was maybe that was for dad you know but it was it was just cool
27:21the way it happened and it was it wasn't like I sat there and said wow he
27:26made some shots he could never make again I thought I thought the greatest
27:30part of what he did is he took a lot in fact one time he came to me said I took
27:35a bad shot I said yeah everybody's allowed one and that's about what he had
27:40he took a lot of good shots and he made good shots good shots so I was pleased
27:46with that and pleased the fact that he got to the line and he didn't have one
27:50turnover I mean that's that's taking care of some things I do I do I do I do
28:00Jaden would I mean like we woke up today and my phone said no bad news I mean it
28:09was three days in a row we woke up and somebody was sick and then we heard the
28:13stuff from UCLA and a few other teams a lot of people were getting sick and it
28:21wasn't anything that lasted three four days it was like that two two and a half
28:25day thing but no bad news today so and then I talked to Jaden and our trainer
28:32today and that he should be able to practice you know at what level I don't
28:38know and I think the other two guys will definitely practice, anything else guys, thanks guys