Tom Izzo not interested in flushing loss vs. Iowa, will evaluate tape

Head coach Tom Izzo watched on as Iowa snapped Michigan State‘s three-game winning streak on Tuesday, by a final score of 78-71, in a frustrating game for Izzo and the Spartans.

Despite how frustrating the game was, Izzo insisted after the game that he’s not interested in just flushing the loss to Iowa. Instead, he’s getting ready to dive into the tape of the game.

“No, I never flush a game. Never ever. I didn’t flush last year’s loss. I never flush a loss,” Tom Izzo said. “I flush some wins, I never flush a loss. I’ll spend tonight looking at the film and getting upset at some of the absolutely incredible mistakes I think we made that we shouldn’t make, and then I’ll try to figure out why.”

One key difference in the game was the turnover margin, with Michigan State turning it over eight times to Iowa’s four turnovers. On top of that, the Hawkeyes shot a higher percentage from the field and shot nine more free throws than the Spartans.

“We’ll give them tomorrow off because everybody’s gotta have time off. I’ll work tomorrow. It’s not Presidents’ Day, it’s not day-off day, it’s not COVID day. I’ll be working tomorrow and I’ll figure out what we did wrong and see if we can do it. But I don’t play, either.”

Tom Izzo was then asked if he was concerned about Michigan State’s energy levels during the loss. Instead, he explained that everything is a concern and he again insisted that he needs to go back and watch tape of the game.

“Hell no. This time of the year, I’m concerned with everything. Our job is to be getting better. Do I think we were tired? I look back, I probably think we were tired but I don’t know. I gotta watch the film first and then I’ll report to you, but, boy, some of those layups were dead(-on) layups,” Izzo said.

“And some of those switches that cost us layups. I think they had 16 layups and two dunks. So, that’s 16 layups. I don’t think I’d beat Northern Michigan if they had 16 layups, so give them credit.”

Tom Izzo analyzes where Michigan State’s consistency is at

One thing that Tom Izzo did note after the loss to Iowa was Michigan’s State struggling in its consistency over the course of a game.

“So consistency sometimes goes from practice to the starts of games to the middle of games and to the end of games,” Izzo said.

“And I don’t think we’re where I wanna be at. I don’t think we’re where we need to be at. But I do think we are making some progress. And I think, as I hear my players talk about it, like we talked in one of the huddles in the last game about, ‘OK, somebody on the court’s got to take over.’ And I saw a little more of that. So, that has been encouraging.”