Tom Izzo shares importance of Penn State win

It’s been a whirlwind first month of the season for Michigan State men’s basketball and head coach Tom Izzo. In the month since tipping off the season against Northern Arizona on Nov. 7, the Spartans played nine games.

Up next? Just three games in a similar span of time. And that means a lot of practice, made all the better by snapping a two-game skid against Penn State on Thursday evening.

“So the significance is we get to practice,” Izzo said postgame. “And even though I’m in the state, near Philadelphia, where my good friend and Hall of Fame partner Allen Iverson stated, ‘Practice?’ At Michigan State, practice is a necessity. Especially when you’ve got so many young and new guys, getting these injured guys back. There will be a lot of practice because there’s been almost none. And I think the significance is, now you practice with some wins, with a win under your belt, it just leads to a lot of things.”

After beginning the season 3-1 with the lone loss by a point against Gonzaga (on a boat), things got a bit sideways for the Spartans. Guard Jaden Akins and forward Malik Hall have both been working through injuries and, generally this year, Izzo and Michigan State are trying to work a bevy of younger talent into the rotation.

The result was a 3-3 stretch that included a home loss to Northwestern and a rather uncompetitive showing at Notre Dame. And all the while, as Izzo noted, the games were coming too thick and fast to work in meaningful practice time.

Now the Spartans will be able to take much of the holiday season to practice and hone their game — and Izzo is grateful to be doing it after a well-earned win.

“It was a big win for us, because I knew this would be a tough place to play,” Izzo said. “They’re starting to get crowds again, they’re starting to do some things. This is great for Big Ten basketball because he’s gonna do a job here and it’ll be at a point where those students that fill that football stadium, they’ll be filling this stadium. And when they do, they’ll win even more games. So it was a good win for us.”