Spartans' Izzo Praises Entire Team: 'Everybody Did Their Thing'

The No. 12 Michigan State Spartans (16-2, 7-0) made a big statement on Sunday afternoon as they took down the No. 19 Illinois Fighting Illini (13-5, 5-3) at the Breslin Center. The overall win was impressive, but the all-around team performance was an even greater feat to earning the victory.
The Spartans had three scorers in double figures, led by junior guard Tre Holloman who finished with 17 points. Senior forward Frankie Fidler and sophomore guard Coen Carr both posted 11 points each off the bench, but it was a complete team effort with every player scoring at least four points.
Despite the featured high scorers, there were 10 total scorers in the win. Senior guard Jaden Akins did not have his best game with only eight points, but several other guys stepped up as redshirt freshman Jeremy Fear Jr. poured in nine and junior forward Jaxon Kohler chipped in with eight.
Following the win, Spartans coach Tom Izzo spoke to the media and was asked about his team's performance and how he felt they did as a whole as well as Holloman's individual performance. Izzo gave praise to his leading scorer but put the most emphasis on his entire group making plays all day.
"Tre [Holloman] did a good job, everybody did their thing in moments," Izzo said. "There were a couple plays we actually ran for everybody that we thought would help us get going, Frankie [Fidler] once, Jase [Richardson] once made a big play on a curl move. We went into 'Coop' [Carson Cooper], made that nice hook shot. We went into 'Jax' [Jaxon Kohler] and [he] made a couple nice plays. Tre was really good and Jeremy [Fears Jr.] actually ran our team really well, but they run a different coverage defensively and at times it screwed us up a little bit. 'Book' [Xavier Booker], don't downplay Book's 18 minutes because he hits a big three, but defensively did a pretty good job and he had more energy. He did a better job, he gets that big rebound, he lost it, but like I said, he's not playing against a bad team. So I thought every guy had his moment where they brought something to the table and that's what strength in numbers do."
Izzo nearly named the entire team as he recognized unique moments that changed the course of the game in their favor. There is a very slim chance that Michigan State pulls out this victory if it did not have so many impact players throughout all 40 minutes.
The Spartans will receive nearly a full week break, resuming play on Saturday to face a good team in the Rutgers Scarlet Knights (10-8, 3-4). If this style of play stays consistent and Michigan State continues to receive impact performances up and down the roster, they are extremely tough to beat.
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