Michigan State's Tom Izzo on Tennessee: 'That is a Final Four team. I really believe that.'

Apparently the 40 minutes of pressure-packed basketball weren’t enough for Tom Izzo on Sunday. So the Michigan State head coach applied a little bit more to Rick Barnes after No. 9 Tennessee beat Izzo’s Spartans 89-88 in a charity exhibition game in East Lansing.

“I think since he is a good friend of mine,” Izzo said during his postgame press conference, “let’s put pressure on him: That is a Final Four team. I really believe that. I really do. I think he feels good about that, too. You have to be good. You have to be lucky. You have to be all those things. 

“Tennessee is a team that is going to beat a lot of people.”

The Vols started Sunday’s game on a 17-1 run to silence a near capacity crowd inside the Breslin Center and would lead by as many as 18 points. Michigan State came charging back, cutting the lead down three at halftime and as low as one point on three separate occasions in the second half. 

Each time, Tennessee had an answer. Even with 1.9 seconds left, after Michigan State had come up with a steal and a desperation three to tie the game three seconds earlier. Jordan Gainey drew a foul for the Vols, hit the second of two free throws, and Jonas Aidoo intercepted the ensuing inbound to finally put the game away.

Tom Izzo: ‘That felt like March. Are you kidding me?’

“That felt like March,” Izzo said. “Are you kidding me? I asked Rick are we stupid or what? We don’t need this in October. I got people sitting next to me and I said I’ve got five more months of this? That is a good thing. It really, really is.”

Gainey, the USC Upstate transfer, had 20 points in his Tennessee debut and Dalton Knecht, the Northern Colorado transfer wing, scored a game-high 28. The duo combined to go 14-for-26 from the field, including 7-for-16 from the 3-point line.

“They aren’t going to play better than those two guys,” Izzo said. “(Barnes) told me after that was the best and hardest game that Knecht had played.”

Jahmai Mashcak had 11 points and five rebounds, Aidoo scored nine points and grabbed eight rebounds and Josiah-Jordan James and Tobe Awaka scored eight points each while combining for seven more boards.

Tennessee shot 51.0% from the field (26-51), 52.4% from the 3-point line (11-21), scored 22 points in transition and scored 17 points off 17 Michigan State turnovers. 

“That team was picked to win the SEC,” Izzo said, “and you can see why.”

Izzo knew it going in, saying on Thursday that Tennessee is a team that can play 12 deep in the rotation if forced to do so.

“I mean this team is the deepest, best team I’ve seen in a while,” Izzo said. “ … This team we’re playing is definitely a top-five team.”

After seeing the Vols up close, Izzo described their strength as a mix of physicality and athleticism.

“There are physical teams and then there’s athletic teams,” he said. “You’ve got physicality and athleticism and some size, that is what makes them a pretty good team.”

Up Next: No. 9 Tennessee vs. Lenoir Rhyne, Tuesday, 6:30 p.m. ET, SEC Network+

Barnes and Izzo know each other well. Their friendship dates back to Barnes’ time an assistant coach at Ohio State in 1986-87. They had plenty of battles while Barnes was at Texas, too. 

“I know the way he coaches,” Izzo said. “I know what he does.”

And he knows this Tennessee team has more depth than Barnes has usually had at his disposal. And the version of the Vols Izzo saw Sunday didn’t include fifth-year senior guard Santiago Vescovi or junior point guard Zakai Zeigler.  

“I think he has got interchangeable parts,” Izzo said. “He can bring those bigs in and (Awaka is a man. He is just a man, a manchild. He gives them a different look than the other kid, Aidoo. Then he brings in those two young guys that he’s got (Cade Phillips and JP Estrella).” 

According to Izzo, Tennessee has it all it needs to have “a legitimate shot” to stick around in March. The Vols have never been past the Elite Eight, where in 2010 they lost to Izzo’s Spartans in St. Louis. 

“They can go really big,” Izzo said, “They can go small … I think when you can do that it is always healthy in the tournament, when you run into different styles and different teams.

“They have size if you run into a team with big size, but all those wing guys are 6-5 and athletic and long … they are well-coached. They’ve got depth. They’ve got experience.”