Tom Izzo says officiating impacted MSU's last defensive possession vs. Purdue
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With less than a minute left of Monday afternoon's game between Michigan State and Purdue, the Spartans held a 61-60 lead as the Boilermakers made their way up the court.
Tom Izzo had already been visibly frustrated with how the game had been officiated, but a whistle against senior guard Tyson Walker with 32 seconds left sent Michigan State's head coach into a frenzy along the scorer's table.
Walker was the on-ball defender across from Purdue's Fletcher Loyer, and was called for a hand-check while working around a screen set by Boilermakers' big man Zach Edey. Loyer went to the charity stripe and knocked down a pair of free throws to put Purdue ahead, 62-61.
“I’m so sick and tired of listening to officials tell me about pushing guys out when they’re pushing guys in. I’m sick of it," Izzo said after the game.
“I’m not going to ruin a good party for [Purdue] and just bitch about the officials, but that last call – as physical as that game was, and we’re calling one on Tyson [Walker] out front. It was disappointing.”
Michigan State was not finished however, as Walker dribbled his way into a pull-up, mid-range jumper that he sank with 11 seconds left, giving the lead back to the Spartans.
After Izzo called timeout to get the defensive personnel he wanted on the floor, he shared with his team how they were going to defend Edey on the last play. After the Boilermaker big had scored 30 points, most of which came in the paint, Izzo wanted to push him off the block, but the previous foul call concerned the head coach.
“We tried to push him up, but when we pushed him up the time before they called a foul that I did not think was necessary," Izzo said. "One guy is pushing out, one guy is pushing in. One guy’s 400 pounds and one guy is 150. I’m sick of that.”
The Spartans weren't able to get Edey off his spot on the block, and after a good entry pass from Loyer, Edey took one dribble, pivoted to his left and dropped an easy shot over his left shoulder for what ultimately was the game-winner for Purdue.
“I could have doubled," Izzo admitted after the game, but noted that Michigan State's game plan going in was to not allow Purdue's outside shooters to get open looks from three-point range.
"The reason Fletcher Loyer and [Braden] Smith didn’t go off is because we didn’t [double Edey], because those two have been on fire lately," Izzo added. "So, you pick your poison and you try not to get him in that deep, and then when you get paranoid on how [the officials] call it you do that.
“We chose to dig a little bit, we chose to double a little bit with certain lineups in there. We doubled down with A.J. a little bit, but we didn’t want to get their three-point shooting going. I had to pick my poison, and if I had to do it over again, I’d pick the same poison.”
In the end, Izzo gave Purdue head coach Matt Painter credit for putting his best players in a place to succeed and applauded Edey for making the shot.
“He’s a hell of a player," Izzo said. "They do a hell of a job getting him the ball. I’ve got no complaints on any of that. I’ve got more complaints on the foul on Tyson up top. After all the physicalness of that game, you call that when it had no bearing on anything.
“Purdue’s a hell of a team, so don’t take anything away from Purdue," Izzo added. "I’m ticked off about the officials, but it had nothing to do with Purdue. Nothing. They did a hell of a job, it was a hell of a game [and they had] a hell of a game plan.”
