Michigan State's Tom Izzo: 'I thought this could be a turning point in the season game'
East Lansing, Mich. – Michigan State coach Tom Izzo altered his messaging for Tuesday’s game against Maryland. The Spartans were heading toward mid-February, having lost five of seven games.
“We told them they had to play desperate,” Izzo said following Michigan State’s gutcheck 63-58 victory over Maryland, one of the hottest teams in the Big Ten. “If you don’t like pressure, don’t show up. That’s what we said the day before.”
They showed up. At first, with a 15-0 lead. And then again, after falling behind by 4 points midway through the second half, the Spartans rallied.
“There was a different look in their eye,” Izzo said. “They knew.”
As for turning up the wick on his players, Izzo said it was warranted.
“You don’t like to do that very often but there comes a point in time when that’s what you do,” Izzo said.
And they came through, with an enigmatic offense delivering big shots at key moments.
Consecutive 3-pointers by Jaden Akins, off an AJ Hoggard drive-and-kick, and Tyson Walker, in transition, turned a 2-point deficit into a sudden 4-point lead at 52-48 with 7:46 to play.
Michigan State led the rest of the way.
A drive-and-kick by Hoggard to Joey Hauser for a 3-pointer gave the Spartans a 57-52 lead with 4:31 to play.
“AJ played more like I’d like a point guard to play,” Izzo said. “He got guys shots and Hauser hit ‘em. He hit the shots because they were great passes.
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“When AJ has a game when he has eight assists and two turnovers we seem better than when he has 15 points. And that’s what we’re trying to get through to him.”
Then with 2:40 to play, Tyson Walker used a flat ball screen from Mady Sissoko and drove for a reverse lay-up to give Michigan State a 59-52 lead.
Things became tight in the final minute, but Hoggard’s two free throws, and then his long pass to Malik Hall in the final seconds, leading to an Akins dunk, served as evidence that Michigan State was too poised, too polished to let another one get away.
“That’s what we talked about in the huddle,” Izzo said. “It’s time guys. We’ve had a couple of games when we led for 30 minutes – Gonzaga for 30 minutes, Illinois led for a lot of that game, led for a lot of the Purdue game here. And then you find a way to lose. And most of it was we were playing without some people then, and fatigue was a factor, all those things.”
But this time, Michigan State finished it out.
“So it says a lot about those guys,” Izzo said. “I thought this could be a turning point in the season game. It’s hard to say that. There’s still seven games left. So there is a lot of basketball left but we have to start making a move somewhere and this put us in a position to feel a little better about ourselves now.”
