Tom Izzo admits to insulting Michigan State following Minnesota win

The Michigan State Spartans were, seemingly, in control throughout the game against the Minnesota Golden Gophers. Despite that, head coach Tom Izzo was still visibly animated and getting on his players throughout the 73-51 win.

After the game, while sharing a brief insult about his own team, Izzo explained that it comes down to not being happy with good enough and needing to continually improve.

“I’ve been in this long enough where it’s about getting better every game right now,” Tom Izzo said. “I said at the beginning of the year, I thought four or five losses would win the league. This is going to be insulting to my own team, but I have not backed off that much.
I still know there’s some things going on here ahead of us, and our job is to make sure we get the best version of each player that we can get.”

Michigan State is currently first in the Big Ten and is unbeaten in conference play. So, it’s a bit of an insult to imply that the Spartans could be losing four or five more games when they only have 11 games remaining. It would, in many ways, be a major stumble for a team that’s currently on a 13-game winning streak.

So, with a difficult conference schedule ahead, and the Big Ten Tournament and NCAA Tournament beyond that, Tom Izzo wants to make sure his team is completely prepared.

“We’ve had a tendency to get sloppy in the second half,” Izzo said. “And so I’m smarter than Judd, you know? I smashed a padded table, and he smashed his head. 
So, I think I did a hell of a job to adjust to the 30-year time difference, to be honest with you.”

Tom Izzo has been the head coach at Michigan State since 1995. During that time, he’s found an immense amount of success, including nine Final Four appearances. So, the approach he’s taking has proven to work in the past.

In the latest AP Top 25 Poll, Tom Izzo has Michigan State ranked seventh in the country. That’s up from one spot the week prior. With that, in the latest predictions for the NCAA Tournament, the Spartans are listed as being one of seven Big Ten teams firmly in the field. That’s on the back of an 18-2 record overall and a 9-0 record in Big Ten play.

Next, Michigan State is set to begin a West Coast trip with games against the USC Trojans and UCLA Bruins.