Tom Izzo
Tom Izzo
Thomas Michael Izzois an American college basketball coach. Since 1995, he has been the head coach for the Michigan State Spartans men's basketball team, presiding over a prolonged period of success. On April 4, 2016, Izzo was elected to the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame...
ProfessionCoach
Date of Birth30 January 1955
CityIron Mountain, MI
bigger bit evaluate falling gained game learned lost roof tells toughness weekend
I'm going to evaluate this weekend because if we lost that game (against Arizona), we'd be 1-3 and the roof would be falling in back home. But I thought we gained so much here. I learned that they have much bigger toughness than I have. They're all still standing, and I think that tells a little bit about their character.
good happen kid plays
If you play hard, good things happen to you. And that kid plays hard.
affects confidence crowd games home road teams win
If you look at our home and road stats, they're enormously different. Most teams are different, but not enormously different. You get in a little slump, and you don't get the confidence of the home crowd and the home baskets and the home bed. Yeah, I think it affects you a little bit. I really, really do. But I also think you got to be big enough to win some of these games on the road.
ball beginning couple held lead played plays ran second seemed shots wore
In the first half, it seemed like most of the plays we ran went down, and we held them on 3-point shots after their first couple shots right at the beginning - and we rebounded the ball a lot. In the second half, we got the lead and played well enough, but there were a couple of stretches that wore us down a little bit.
evenings kicked nine
In my nine years, this is one of the more disappointing evenings I've had in this job. They kicked out butts inside.
evenings job nine sad seniors won
In my nine years, this is one of the more disappointing evenings I had in this job because it's going to be sad to see some seniors go who've done a lot for us, won a lot of games.
changed complexion foul key leads losses maybe michigan playing serious trouble
In our losses to Illinois, Michigan and Wisconsin, we've had serious foul trouble at key times. Maybe we've had leads or were playing good, but it changed the complexion of the game.
bad confident decision good himself knock taking wood
I really do feel ? knock on wood ? confident that the right decision will be made. What is the right decision? Well, it's different for every kid. But I don't think he'll make a bad decision. I don't think he'll be taking chances. I think he'll have to feel pretty good about himself to make that decision.
decision
I really do feel comfortable that the right decision will be made.
bit christmas hitting run shot understand
Before Christmas I thought he was hitting a little bit of a wall, but after Christmas I thought he really started to understand things a little bit better and run things a little bit better. And his shot is getting a little bit better.
Can we just not maintain, but can we build?
bangs defends help rebounds weight work
But when you look at what he does, it's more football-related than basketball. He bangs in there, he rebounds well, he defends well. The work he does in the weight room, the sprints they do (in football) those things help him for what we need him for.
believer goes ncaa schedule strength totally
I'm not a big believer that the NCAA goes totally on strength of schedule and things like that, so I think you still have to have wins.
advantage believer hurt ohio respect shipped state time winning won
I'm not a big believer in that. The one time it really hurt was when Ohio State won the thing (in 2002) and got shipped west. That was awful. In that respect it would be an advantage losing, but for the most part winning is more of an advantage.