Tom Izzo didn’t waste any time setting the tone after Michigan State’s 79-73 win over Duke on Tuesday. He started his postgame news conference by tipping his cap to the Blue Devils, even with the Spartans coming out on top in a matchup that still carries plenty of edge.
“In these preseason games, it’s so hard to play these kind of games this early. I want to first say that I made a lot of comments that I absolutely love Duke’s team.
I still love them,” he said, per 247Sports’ Stephen Brooks. “They missed a lot of shots early that I thought were wide-open shots for them and we didn’t make some plays defensively.”
Izzo then turned the spotlight back on his own team, saying Michigan State put together its strongest performance of the season so far.
“I really believe that we played our best basketball of the year. But we’re three games into the year, so big deal,” he said.
The Spartans’ coach also brought up Michigan State’s football win over Michigan on Saturday, and he made it clear he didn’t see the Duke result in the same light.
“That was very well said, but if you think that this win over Duke is as big as our football team’s win over Michigan, you’re on dial-a-clue,” he said. “So I just appreciate it, but now what I’m going to do is add on to what Pat Fitzgerald did. I’m not going to try to surpass that.”
Izzo also drew a distinction between the two rivalries, calling the Duke series something different from the kind of hostility that defines other matchups.
“There’s just some things about rivalries, and 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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