Tom Izzo expresses disbelief, criticizes players for Joey Brunk performance

Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo was not happy with the way his team performed in Thursday’s 80-69 loss at No. 23 Ohio State – and rightfully so. The Spartans dug themselves into an early 13-0 hole, trailed by 10 at halftime and never led in what marked their fifth loss in their last six games.

Although Ohio State has been battling injuries and wasn’t at full strength on Thursday, the Buckeyes received a surprising performance out of senior center Joey Brunk – who scored 18 points on 7-of-10 shooting and grabbed six rebounds. A bench player who had averaged just over one point per game, Brunk stepped into the starting lineup and led Ohio State to the win.

Following Michigan State’s loss, Izzo met with the media for his postgame press conference and expressed his disbelief with the Spartans’ performance – and for what Brunk was able to do against their defense.

“Give Chris [Holtmann] and Ohio State all the credit in the world,” Izzo said. “They had some adversity, and I never though in a million years Joey Brunk – I recruited Joey, great kid. I know he’s been through more injuries and everything, but to get 18 points and tear us up like he did … I guess you can say it’s my fault for not doubling him, but he averaged like 1.1 points or something like that.

” … Shame on our guys.”

After Thursday’s loss, the Spartans are now 19-11 overall with a 10-9 mark in Big Ten play. They’ll close their regular season slate on Sunday at home against Maryland, with tipoff set for 4:30 p.m. ET on CBS.

Izzo calls out Ohio State fans, shocked by Jamari Wheeler

Michigan State coach Tom Izzo believes Ohio State should be disappointed in its crowd from Thursday night. Following a 80-69 road loss to the Buckeyes, Izzo called out the fans in his postgame press conference while also expressing shock at how well Jamari Wheeler shot the ball from 3-point range.

“I was disappointed in their fans,” the coach said. “I thought the way his team has played and how hard they play, this place should be rocking and packed. For them to come out and play like they did and hit the shots they — (EJ) Liddell hit a couple of threes and he’s a really good player. …God, if I thought (Jamari) Wheeler was gonna hit four 3s in the first half, I’d have bet my life on it. That’s no insult to him, it’s just what he did. And we weren’t even doubling then. So a desperate team played desperate and very well.”

Wheeler was one of four Ohio State players to finish the game in double figures as he scored 16 points. The senior guard hit all four of his 3-pointers in the first half and went 4-for-8 from beyond the arc for the entire game.

On3’s Chandler Vessels contributed to this report.