Tom Izzo identifies key areas where Michigan State must improve

Michigan State is not off to great start with a record of 4-4 after their loss to Wisconsin inside the Breslin Center on Tuesday. Now, several things, including himself, are under the evaluation of Tom Izzo.

Izzo spoke on the neccessary improvements that his team must make during his postgame press conference after the 70-57 loss to the Badgers. He started on the defensive end and noted that rebounding was one spot where the Spartans needed to be better. Izzo also admitted that his game plan wasn’t good enough in the 13-point loss considering how he thought that they should play them in spots.

“Well, we will rebound better the next game. That’s one thing we have to do,” said Izzo. “For the most part, we’ve been really good defensively all year.”

“Tonight? That was coverages where we chose to go under some ball screens and they hit some shots,” Izzo continued. “That’s why I say that’s my fault. You can’t blame that on the players – you blame that on me.”

For starters, Wisconsin won the rebound battle by 14. The Spartans have been outrebounded in each of their defeats, as well as in one of their wins, but this margin was by far the most drastic.

Izzo was also referencing the hot shooting of AJ Storr and Steven Crowl. The two combined to shoot 8-10 (80%) from three, including 4-4 from Crowl, en route to team-high totals of 22 points for Storr and 18 for Crowl.

From there, Izzo also said he needed to see more from his own players offensively. He credited the likes of Tyson Walker and AJ Hoggard in his backcourt for their outings. However, players like Jaden Akins and Tre Holloman, paired with a Malik Hall that may not have been at 100%, have to break out of their respective funks in order to give more to Michigan State

“The best players have got to play well,” said Izzo. “I was really proud of AJ. I thought he played, pretty much, within himself. Tyson? I mean he got good shots in the second half when we ran some things. He made some tough shots but they were good shots. But, after that? Jaden has really struggled. Tre has been playing pretty good but missed some good shots tonight.”

“We’ve got to shoot it better. I don’t think we’ve got to defend better in normal time,” said Izzo.

Walker scored 20-plus again with a team-high of 22 points. Besides him and Hoggard, though, no other Spartan finished with more than five points as the team went on to score a season-low of 57 points.

The former top-five team has continued to try and find their footing over the first month of their season. All they can do now is take heed of Izzo’s observations and try to avoid on 0-2 start in the Big Ten when they take the court next at Nebraska on Sunday.