Michigan State may have walked away with a win over Penn State, but don’t let the final score fool you-Tom Izzo wasn’t exactly handing out high-fives in the locker room.
The Spartans, ranked No. 9 in the country, found themselves in a far tighter battle than expected against a Penn State team that's improved but still not on Michigan State’s level-at least on paper. And for Izzo, the biggest culprit in this too-close-for-comfort contest was something as fundamental as it gets: layups.
Yes, layups.
Michigan State went just 6-for-18 on layup attempts, a stat Izzo learned postgame from a local East Lansing reporter. His reaction? A mix of appreciation for the heads-up and pure frustration over the execution.
“That is ridiculous,” Izzo said bluntly. “We missed some against Duke, we missed some here. You shouldn’t win games when you do that.”
He’s not wrong. At this level, missing two-thirds of your layups isn’t just a bad night-it’s a red flag.
Layups are supposed to be the bread and butter, the shots you count on when the offense breaks down or when you beat your man off the dribble. And for a team with Final Four aspirations, leaving that many points at the rim is the kind of thing that will come back to bite when the competition gets tougher.
Izzo, never one to sugarcoat things, made it clear that this isn’t going to be swept under the rug. With the holiday break arriving and classes out of session, the Spartans are entering what he called “real coaching” season-meaning two-a-day practices, full focus, and no excuses.
"I'm gonna rip their tail," Izzo said with a smirk that barely masked his irritation.
The veteran coach even took a jab at the idea of going easy on his players, joking about how he’s supposed to politely ask them to work on their layups and give them a pat on the back when they make one out of two. That’s not how Izzo operates, and frankly, that’s not how Michigan State has built its identity over the years.
This is a program that prides itself on toughness, execution, and doing the little things right. And when the easiest shot in basketball becomes a recurring issue? That’s a problem Izzo’s going to fix, one way or another.
So don’t be surprised if Michigan State looks a little sharper-and a lot more focused-coming out of the break. Because when Tom Izzo circles something on the whiteboard, it usually gets cleaned up fast.
And if that means two-a-days filled with layup drills and a little tough love? Well, that’s just Spartan basketball.