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
early good great played
We didn't play great but we played good enough to win. This was a step. How big a step? It's too early to tell.
game michigan played
This was a big game for Iowa, a big game for Michigan State. They played better than we did.
bothered defense illinois job played pressured prettiest
We weren't the prettiest -- Illinois really pressured us and it bothered us some -- but the defense we played and the job we did, I can't say enough.
bernard continues played
Bernard Cote played better for them and I think if he continues to play better that will be important for them in the future.
early learned played punches took tough
We've played in some tough places, we've been through a gambit of situations, ... I think for the most part we've learned something from all the punches we took early in the year.
areas extended period played
If we hadn't done it before and played well for an extended period of time, I'd be panicking more than I am. I know in the areas that we've struggled, we're better than that.
credit deserves energy hung illinois needed played punch team
I think I got kind of a worn-out team right now. I can come up with a lot of different reasons, excuses, but we were just flat-out beat. And I did not think we played with the energy we needed to play. We still hung in there, and then we had the knockout punch of that three-minute span, and Illinois deserves a lot of credit for that.
credit deserves extremely four last minutes ohio played state
I think Ohio State deserves a lot of credit. The last four minutes of the game, they played extremely well. I didn't think I'd have to go with a four-guard lineup as much as we did.
finish good higher league left played sixth somebody team understand
It doesn't feel as good (playing the first day) as we were the only team left that had never played on Thursday. I'm disappointed that we didn't finish higher but I understand how good the league is and somebody had to finish sixth or seventh.
biggest capable career coach few games good head lack last ncaa perform performance played season
I think it was the biggest disappointment of all the NCAA games we played in. We didn't have the season we wanted to have. We didn't perform to what I think our capabilities were. I think this is one of the few times in my career here as a head coach that we didn't get done what I think we were capable of getting done, culminating with the lack of a very good performance on that last night.
ball exploded good great looked played player took
I think that was a great sign. Maurice looked like he wanted the ball. He took pretty good shots; he was confident. He exploded with the ball on one drive, it was unbelievable. ... Maurice Ager played like the All-American player he is.
iowa played second
I thought Iowa played very solid. In the second half, they played much better defensively.
anybody coming hears played seeing trouble
If anybody that ever played here hears that statistic, they're going to have trouble coming back and seeing us.
credit paul played
Give Paul credit because he went back in and played with those fouls.