Tom Izzo explains mid-game handshake with Micah Shrewsberry

There was a moment during the Michigan State versus Penn State basketball game where head coaches Tom Izzo and Micha Shrewsberry shared a handshake with about two minutes left in the game. This is not very commonly seen, with most coaches saving handshakes and exchanging of words for before and after ballgames. Izzo explained the handshake and pulled back the curtain on his conversation with Shewsberry following the game.

“Yeah I thought one of my guys said something to him and I just told him if that happened I’m sorry, and he said hey not at all.” Izzo explained.

Izzo went on to give praise to Shrewsberry, speaking on their relationship being a good one despite some recent changes in the college sports landscape that may polarize some coaches.

“He’s a class guy, I’m telling you, you guys are lucky to have him because he’s gonna do a hell of a job here. But yeah you know there’s a few of us coaches that still get along and won’t fight over the NIL and the transfer portal,” Izzo said. “Us two aren’t fighting over that, trying to rob each other’s players or anything.”

Izzo’s support of Shrewsberry is a good sign for the Nitany Lions, especially coming from a coach like Izzo who’s in his 28th season as Michigan State’s head coach, while Shrewsberry is in just his second as the head coach for Penn State.

Penn State is actually Shrewsberry’s first Division I head coaching job, previously serving as an assistant coach at Butler, Purdue, and at the professional level with the Boston Celtics for seven seasons.

“So I think Micha, it was classy on his part, but it was over really nothing,” Izzo reiterated. “I just wanted to make sure he knew that I wasn’t putting up if one of my guys was talking to him, that wasn’t gonna happen.”

The Spartans were able to snap a two-game losing streak and secure their first Big Ten conference win of the season, defeating Penn State 67-58 on Wednesday. Michigan State was led to victory by the play of point guard AJ Hoggard, who had a career-high 23 points against the Nittany Lions, making 50% of his shots on the night.

Izzo and his squad head back home and begin a five-game home-stand, starting with a game versus Brown on December 10 and ending with a Big Ten matchup versus Michigan on January 7.