Tom Izzo had plenty to say after Michigan State’s 3-0 start got a major boost with a win over No. 2 Duke on Tuesday night in the Champions Classic at the United Center.
And while the Spartans knocked off one of the nation’s top teams, Izzo didn’t spend much time pretending there was anything fluky about it. He praised Duke, praised Jon Scheyer, praised his own group, and even made room to salute Michigan State football after its win over Michigan.
Izzo was quick to say Duke is still a team he respects.
“I made a lot of comments that I absolutely love Duke’s team. I still love them. They missed a lot of shots early that I thought were wide-open shots for them.”
He doubled down on that view, calling the Blue Devils “a very talented and very good team” and adding, “Some of it was us, some of it was them tonight. Don’t bet against them.”
Izzo also had strong words for Scheyer, who has stepped into a job with massive expectations.
“You guys don’t realize how hard it is to do what he’s done, taking over for arguably the best coach that ever coached the game. That’s not easy, and I think Jon’s done it with class.”
From Izzo’s perspective, the game came down to Michigan State getting the upper hand early and holding it.
“It was two good teams. We found a way to get ahead early and kept the momentum, and I think that’s why we won the game.”
The win meant more to Izzo than just a strong November result, especially against a program that has had Michigan State’s number.
“As far as beating Duke, I’m apologizing to our fans, to my wife, to my kids, because they’ve beaten us like a drum… All those people are saying that, so it pisses me off.”
He made it clear he doesn’t view Duke as some kind of measuring stick the Spartans are chasing from behind.
“They deserve what they’ve gotten against us, but we haven’t taken a back seat to anybody either. And I don’t plan on taking a back seat in the near future or in the far future, to be honest with you.”
Izzo also liked what he saw from his own team, especially on the defensive end.
“I really believe that we played our best basketball of the year. But we’re three games into the year, so big deal.”
Then came the familiar Izzo formula.
“It just goes to show our defense, what we’ve been talking about for 20 years: Defend, rebound and run. If you defend, you usually rebound better. The first half, we defended better, we rebounded better, we ran better, and we got some easy buckets.”
He also made a point of separating early-season mistakes from the kind of errors he won’t tolerate.
“We can put up with mistakes early in the year, not effort-related [ones].”
Jordan Scott drew a particularly strong review from Izzo, even with the box score not jumping off the page.
“That was about as good a game as you could have for a guy that went 2-for-7, 1-for-4 from three… And yet he probably changed the whole game himself with his defense, with his rebounding, with his effort-related stats.”
Izzo even tossed in a note about Grant Hill.
“I’m sure Grant Hill isn’t happy, since [Scott] came from his high school.”
Jeremy Fears got his own assessment, too. Izzo said the guard looked more like himself against Duke after a quieter start to the season.
“You’re given a rank; you have a responsibility to live up to that ranking. I thought he was OK in the first couple games.
I didn’t think he was Jeremy-like. And tonight I thought he played hard.”
Still, Izzo pointed out one rough edge.
“Jeremy missed five free throws. He didn’t miss that many in half a year last year.”
Cam Ward also earned praise for what he gave Michigan State at the line and in a key stretch before halftime.
“Cam’s another one that got challenged last week… Maybe one of the unsung heroes was the fact that he went 4-for-4 from the free-throw line. And that stretch he had before halftime was big for us.”
And when the conversation turned to Jasiah, Izzo sounded like a coach who sees a lot more coming.
“Jasiah is a gamer, but he’s a practice player, too… You don’t know [the intensity level] when you’re a freshman till you play in games like this… He’s going to be a hell of a player. Mark my words.”
Izzo closed with a comparison he wasn’t interested in entertaining. Michigan State’s basketball win over Duke was one thing; the football team’s victory over Michigan was another entirely.
“If you think that this win over Duke is as big as our football team’s over Michigan, you’re [clueless]… I’m going to add on to what Pat Fitzgerald did. I’m not going to try to surpass that.”
He also drew a sharp line between the two rivalries.
“This is a good rivalry, but this is a love affair rivalry. That’s a Hatfield and McCoy rivalry. So there’s a big difference in rivalries.”
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