Tom Izzo analyzes where Michigan State stands against his preseason expectations

With one game left in their non-conference, Michigan State is off to their best start in three years at 10-2.

Tom Izzo spoke about where the Spartans are at this point towards the very end of the first part of their season following their 86-69 win over Florida Atlantic on Saturday. However, where they exactly are to him is uncertain not because of them but because of all of the other teams in college basketball right now.

“If you remember the first, uh, big press conference in here, I said you’re probably not going to know where you are until after Christmas, you know, and I still feel that way because I don’t know what comparative scores does anymore,” said Izzo. “I’m still too confused on what’s going on out there as far as, um, who’s good, who’s not good. Comparative scores have been very difficult and the scores have been so up and down, you know.”

So, with that, Izzo just wants his team and program to stay steady themselves during this season, which they have been with two spans at 5-1 through a dozen games.

“I keep saying to my team, I keep saying to you guys, I keep saying to my staff – we’ve just got to stay consistent, you know, and we’ve stayed pretty consistent,” said Izzo. “I’m liking where the team is heading.”

However, there’s also improvements to be made for Michigan State which, for Izzo, starts on the defensive end.

“I think we’ve got to really clean up some things, you know…We’ve just got to get better,” Izzo said. “We have not been as good defensively since our offense has gotten better – make more shots, check less, you know. I don’t know. Somebody’s got to get after them about there, you know. We’ve still got to be able to guard.”

The Spartans (10-2, 2-0 in Big Ten) have only lost twice so far with one being to Kansas, who was rated at No. 1 at the time, in the Champions Classic and one being to Memphis, who has since been ranked this season, in the second game for them in the Maui Invitational. With the wins, they have one ranked one over North Carolina in Maui as well as their first two in league play at Minnesota and against Nebraska. They’ve also currently won five in a row coming into the holidays.

Izzo also isn’t discounting the effect of it being that time of year on where his team was the last week or so.

“Maybe everybody needs a break though,” Izzo noted. “It’s been a grind, you know. It has been a grind and, um, I’m just happy we didn’t go home before the game…I told our guys that, you know, some of y’all want to be home already, some of you are already on the airplane. I don’t blame you. I like to go home too. But we’ve got a job to finish and then we go home. I thought we were so-so on that, you know, but the focus of the week was pretty good and I think we will get better.”

Through 12 games, Michigan State has proven they’re a pretty good team as they’re now in the Top-25. It could still be better, though, especially with one more outing next week before conference play really opens once the calendar turns.

“So, where are we? We’re 10-2,” stated Izzo. “Good enough to beat a lot of teams, not great enough to not lose to a lot of teams.”