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
anybody apples athlete certain creates fill guard guys inside player problems reason replace type versatile
The only reason I'd say no to that is because it's the type of player he is. We have other guys that can fill in in certain spots, but it's the athlete, it's the versatile 6-6, 6-7 athlete that can guard inside guys and guards, and that's where it creates some problems for us. It's not really replacing apples to apples. Anybody else that we replace him with is a completely different kind of athlete.
almost check handled inside
We just did not check defensively. They really just went at us inside and it was almost a joke. We've never been handled like that inside.
eight evenings george inside kicked mason minutes nine percent second shot took
I think you have to give George Mason a lot of credit. They took it to us early, kicked our butts inside and shot 70 percent on us with eight or nine minutes to go in the second half. ... I've got to say that in my nine years, this is one of the more disappointing evenings I've had in this job.
five guys helped inside post second shots simplified took
I think the first five shots we took were 3s, but our inside guys weren't doing the things (we needed). In the second half, we simplified it, (we asked) the guys in the post to be passers and pickers, and that probably helped us some.
create deal guys handling hopefully inside issues kids next outside preach pressure time year
I always preach to my kids that outside issues create inside problems. Pressure that you get at this time of year - you're a senior, you've got to play well to hopefully play at the next level. You just have to deal with it. I look at those guys right now, and they're not handling it as well as they did earlier.
ball cover floor grew improved inside loved players putting shooting starting three tough
He's one of the more improved players in the league. I loved him as a freshman. Now he's putting the ball on the floor and shooting threes. He's a tough cover because he grew up an inside four-man and is starting to be a three man. He can do both.
comparison definitely depth experience inside key last outside people worse
I feel better that our key people are very confident, very stable. I feel worse that we definitely don't have the depth. We have more depth inside than we had last year, but no experience. And we have no experience or depth inside or outside in comparison to what we lost.
handled inside kicked team tonight took tougher
The disappointing thing is that they took it at us early, kicked our butts inside. We've never been handled like that inside . . . They were the tougher team tonight and that made the difference.
character program promise room tougher toughness weight work
We're going to get back in the weight room to work on toughness and character. I promise we'll be tougher and I promise we'll get this program back to where we all want it.
bring melt people
We bring people from different areas, and they melt into one.
george hone michigan percent prepared second state time win
We're going to hone in 95 percent of our time on George Mason. If you don't win the first one, you don't get to the second one. But if you get to the second one and you're not prepared and you don't get out of the weekend, I don't feel like that's where Michigan State is right now.
body guard head matter point powerful system
Usually, if the head isn't working, the body dies. It doesn't matter how powerful the body is. And a point guard in our system is the head.
defense good played shot
We still played good defense and pretty good offense. We shot 50%, 40-something from three.
four happy men strange
This was a strange game. I was as happy as 10 men to only be down only four at halftime.