Tom Izzo jokes with media about Carson Cooper injury, provides timeline

Michigan State is coming off a resounding win over No. 17 Indiana, an 80-65 result that left coach Tom Izzo in an exceptionally good mood. Well, outside of a Carson Cooper injury that prevented the big center from playing in the game.

Izzo fielded a question about Cooper’s absence toward the end of his post-game press conference and poked a bit of fun at the reporter who asked.

“Just trying to think about something here,” Izzo said. “That was one of the biggest wins we’ve had here, and I was waiting for some young guy to come up with a negative thing here. So you win the, you know, it’s like Mr. Irrelevant. You’re Mr. Irrelevant of the media”

But Izzo quickly followed up with an answer on Carson Cooper’s injury after his jovial dig.

“I’ve made no secrets about it, he went up for a hook shot last night and came down on Mady (Sissoko)’s ankle,” Izzo said. “It was the stupidest non-contact play and it just happened. And that really bothered us because we thought Cooper would have to play. We thought we could rotate 15 fouls in on him. You’ve got to give (Jaxon Kohler) credit, Joey (Hauser), Malik (Hall), they stayed out of foul trouble.”

Carson Cooper injury not a high-ankle sprain

The good news for the Spartans is that Izzo doesn’t believe the injury will keep Carson Cooper out for long.

It’s not the dreaded high-ankle sprain.

“What’s his timetable? He just couldn’t go tonight,” Izzo said. “I mean he’s a tough kid. It’s not a high-ankle sprain, it’s a low-ankle sprain. It swelled up pretty good, but today it was already better than it was yesterday.

“I don’t know if he’ll be ready to go on Saturday or what, but he’s tough enough. He’ll get through it.”

Michigan State will return to action Saturday with a noon ET tip at Iowa on ESPN.