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
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.
chance given letting meet opportunity promise small spread thank uniform wear word
The opportunity I've had here ... the chance to meet every one of you ... the chance to wear this uniform ... I thank you for letting us be (a) small part of it, ... We will never give you as much as you've given us, but we will promise you to spread the word and tell what you are all about when we get back home.
couple four games gonna illinois last lost playing promise ready
You know me, I don't feel like we're ready, but I do think we can get ready in four days. Illinois is playing awfully well, they haven't lost many games in the last couple years, but we're gonna be ready on Thursday, I can promise you that.
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.
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.
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.
biggest figure good great kept losing mind problem schedules team tough within
Our biggest problem was there was no spacing between those tough games. We kept losing and having to play another great team right away. I still think good schedules make you better in the long run. I don't mind losing because that's how you figure out what's wrong, but you have to do it within reason.
Marquise did some better things and that was an encouraging sign.
dogs game madder maybe quite thinking worse
I was thinking about that as every game went by. I feel better in one way, but I feel worse that it kind of makes you madder (because of) where you could have gone. Maybe we're not quite the dogs we think we are up here.
execution guard maybe short
I was very disappointed in our execution and some of our guard play. Maybe we were a little fatigued. We were short on a lot of shots.
along consistent faster hands honest hoping maybe moving pressure puts saying ten work
I was hoping to have him back Saturday, and it didn't work out. It's kind of out of my hands and kind of out of his hands, to be honest with you. That puts pressure on the doctors. For the most part, they've been consistent saying that maybe he could do something Big Ten tournament-time. We were hoping, because everything was moving along a little faster, that it would be faster than that.