Tom Izzo Talks Michigan State Spartan Basketball & The Illini!
Breslin Center
East Lansing, MI
The Michigan State Spartans went into Ann Arbor riding a two game losing streak. They fell to the Michigan Wolverines 77-68, extending their losing streak to three games. The loss takes the men in green’s season record and conference record to 16-8 (8-5).
The team will return to the hard-court Tuesday, February 11, 2020, in Champaign, Illinois at the State Farm Center. They will be taking on the Fighting Illini. It can be seen on ESPN at 9:00 PM (NOON) ET.
Tom Izzo spoke today about the state of the Spartans and looked ahead to Illinois. Above is the video of the presser and below is a partial transcript:
Opening Statement…
There's no question, the road doesn't get any easier. That's the interesting part of this league. I watched the Northwestern game last night. It was unbelievable. They had an 18-point lead and then they lose. We've lost three in a row, and we know that. But, we need to find a way to bounce back in an environment that will be big time at Illinois, I'm sure, after they lost. A late night game, a 9 o'clock game, kids will be getting just ready to go. As always, I say we need to limit our turnovers, but having seven turnovers in the last game was phenomenal, just not six in the first five minutes. We did do a better job of that. I just think that the fatigue factor that is more mental than physical is easy for me to see and hard for me to change. So, we've tried to change up some things with practice. Cash (Winston) and Xavier (Tillman) have given us a lot, but we need even more in some ways. I thought it really helped to get Kyle Ahrens back to play 17-18 minutes. Hopefully we can now start practicing him and that will roll. Aaron (Henry) had a really good second half, and hopefully we can build on that. We've got some work to do, there's no question about it.
As far as Illinois, they have lost their last two games, but had won seven in a row before that. So, just like the rest of the conference. Like I told you early, it's going to come down to who you play, when you play them, where you play them, how many road games you've got, how many home games you've got. I think all of the things that I said early have kind of happened. They are very tough at home, and yet they just got beat at home. Ayo (Dosunmu) is one of the more explosive guards in our league. He's nearly 16 points a game. He's got length. He's got the ability to get to the hole. They have great guard play from (Andres) Feliz and (Trent) Frazier, and so even though they're huge inside, it seems like (Trent)Frazier, (Andres) Feliz and (Alan) Griffin have done a lot of damage lately. (Andres) Feliz scored 11 points. Frazier has got 44 threes and Griffin had eight points in the last game, but he's a guy that doesn't necessarily shoot it much, but when he does shoot it, they go in. He's a very good 3-point shooter, maybe one of their best. Big guys inside. Strong. Kofi (Cockburn) is huge. We know he's averaging 14 and nine. Giorgi (Bezhanishvili) is another tough player in the post for them that is maybe an excellent passer. We're going to have to do the job with multiple guys, but I think the biggest thing is we still got to take care of what we do. That's to take care of the ball a little better and get our break going, which to me has been nonexistent, and get a little more energy.
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