Tom Izzo blatantly calls out officials in press conference following disappointing home loss

The struggles continued for Michigan State in the Spartans’ 79-74 loss to Illinois on Saturday. Throughout the game, Tom Izzo was talking to the referees — and he called them out afterward.

Izzo spoke candidly about the officiating, notably a play late in the second half when the officials ruled a potential flagrant foul after Illinois guard Andre Curbelo got hit in the face and the referees stopped the game mid-play for it. However, earlier in the game, Michigan State’s Malik Hall went down with an injury on a dunk attempt by Illinois and the referees let it play on.

That’s why Izzo fired off in the press conference.

“I’m sick and tired of the officiating, the consistency,” Izzo said, via MLive’s Kyle Austin.

Michigan State trailed 34-22 at halftime, but battled back to make it a two-point game late. But a late three-pointer by Illinois’ Trent Frazier sealed the victory for the Fighting Illini — continuing the Spartans’ recent struggles.

Jay Williams gives surprising take on Gabe Brown, Michigan State

It’s been a rough go for Michigan State lately. The Spartans lost three of their last four games entering a big Saturday showdown against Illinois, and fans are left wondering what’s gone wrong.

ESPN analyst Jay Williams had some thoughts, and pointed to a pregame video of leading scorer Gabe Brown and the rest of the Spartans dancing. Williams, who played at Duke for Mike Krzyzewski, specifically asked about the on-court mentality and how that translates to the product on the court.

“I’m going to give our audience something to pay attention to,” Williams said. “When I spoke with Tom Izzo yesterday, he said the energy they’re coming into this game with and what their mentality is. When I think about Michigan State basketball, I think about people that want to attack. There’s grittiness, there’s a grind, there’s a blue-collar mentality. And I know that people have fun before games. This is Gabe Brown, this is your senior, this is your leader. And that’s before the game, him running around [and] joking. My thing is there has to be a war-like mentality.

“When I’m around town, I tense up. You know what I mean, Dave? My fists get tight. I’m ready to run through a wall. When I think about Cassius Winston, when I think about Mateen Cleeves, there was a mindset that you had entering every game. I didn’t see a lot of that. I was surprised I saw a lot of that kind of quote-unquote ‘fun’ happening before a game like this.”