Tom Izzo praises his team and U-M, laments missed opportunity
It took one of the best Michigan halves of the year — 51 points in the second stanza — to beat Tom Izzo and Michigan State Saturday night, and that’s the way it often is in this game. The MSU coach scouts the Wolverines as well as anyone and always has his team ready to go against its rival, with rare exception.
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Few would have blamed the Spartans if they struggled to compete Saturday given the events of the week, a mass shooting tragedy on campus and the aftermath. The game felt like an afterthought, frankly, until the ball went up and the juices started flowing.
When it did, both teams competed like they always do, and the play — especially offensively — was high level at times. Both teams made shots and had their runs. MSU stayed a step ahead until midway through the second half, when Michigan finally got over the hump and erased a 6-point halftime deficit to take the lead.
“As you can imagine, there are a million emotions that go through [your mind]” Izzo said. “First, for all the outside things, but a million for the inside things …the game itself. I thought we played as good a 38 minutes as you had to play. Give Michigan credit, give Kobe [Bufkin] credit. The shot he hit in front of the bench with no time left on the shot clock … it will go in one in 100 times and he made it. Give him credit.”
That one came with the game tied at 72 and started a 12-0 Michigan run to end the game. Unlike past games that were tight down the stretch, the Wolverines executed and made winning plays to finish.
Throughout the game, the Spartans made plenty of outstanding plays, too. In a game that could have gone either way, Michigan just made a few more, starting with Bufkin’s shot.
Izzo was clearly touched and emotional in the pregame tribute — the arena lit up green and white, and there was strong support for the MSU fans — but he insisted he was ready to get back to work.
“I think getting everybody back together was good,” Izzo said. “Getting my team back together was good. I do think the competition helped. A win would’ve helped more, because it was right there. [There was] 1:57 left and he hits a Hail Mary. We didn’t respond from there. The final score was not indicative of the game, but they deserved to win the game because they did it fair and square. I respect that.
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“We shot it well [early], but the turnovers … we gave them two turnovers. Give [Dug] McDaniel credit, but he had two layups and a 3 we just didn’t guard. That was the first thing Tyson [Walker] said. I did a poor job at the start. We were good enough offensively — we weren’t very good defensively or with the turnovers.”
But what really beat them, he said, was the rebounding. The Wolverines beat MSU on the glass, 38-25, with its two big lineup of Hunter Dickinson and Tarris Reed very effective. Reed grabbed 10 rebounds in 24 minutes and also came up with some key blocked shots down the stretch.
“We very seldom get out-rebounded like that, but when they went with the two bigs, we didn’t take advantage of it on the other end enough,” Izzo said. “We let them dominate us down there, in all honesty.”
And they came up just short.
Regardless, the focus was remarkable given what they’d been through, and Izzo was grateful. Nobody knew what to expect on such an emotional night, but the Spartans were in position to win despite it all.
“Our players, I appreciate the effort they gave me,” Izzo said. “It was an interesting week, to say the least, trying to figure out how to deal with it, manage it, motivate, sympathize. There were a lot of key words that went into what we did.”
