MSU's Tom Izzo Gives Thoughts on Spartans' Exhibition Performance

See what Michigan State's head coach had to say about how his team did against Bowling Green during an exhibition game.

Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo speaks to the media following a 75-66 exhibition win over Bowling Green on Oct. 23, 2025. | Jacob Cotsonika, Michigan State Spartans on SI

EAST LANSING, Mich. --- There are always going to be some things to clean up after every team's first game together, and Michigan State was no different during its 75-66 exhibition win over Bowling Green on Thursday.

Head coach Tom Izzo was sure to point out several of the places where his team did not play well enough, but also saw different aspects of the game where he felt more optimistic.

Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo looks on during the Spartans' exhibition game against Bowling Green on Oct. 23, 2025. | Starr Portice, Michigan State Spartans on SI

MSU's second and final exhibition game is a road game against UConn on Tuesday, Oct. 28 at 7:30 p.m. ET.

A full video of Izzo's postgame press conference can be viewed below.

Watch Tom Izzo here:

In addition, a partial transcript of Izzo's opening statement can be read below.

Transcript

Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo speaks to an assistant during the Spartans' exhibition game against Bowling Green on Oct. 23, 2025. | Starr Portice, Michigan State Spartans on SI

IZZO: What an exhibition game. You know, I thought there was some really good things that we did and there were some really poor things that we did. I felt like we got out and ran. 

I'll take the negatives first. I didn't think we guarded anybody. Second half, we were a little better. That was very disappointing, the defense that we played. We didn't rebound the ball very well, but when you don't play good defense and you let teams penetrate on you, you never rebound the ball as well, because they're either getting layups or they're getting penetration and other people help. So, I understood that. 

I was actually very impressed, the first half, offensively. I thought we moved the ball well, thought we got a lot of good shots. We missed some early, then we made a bunch later on and got a good lead. 

I think the ball movement, I thought was great. When you have 24 assists on 27 baskets... 

Michigan State's Jeremy Fears Jr. celebrates after an assist on Jesse McCulloch's 3-pointer against Bowling Green during the second half on Thursday, Oct. 23, 2025, at the Breslin Center in East Lansing. | Nick King/Lansing State Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

You know, we had 14 blocks. I don't know how that happened. We're not a shot-blocking team. And we only had eight turnovers. So those were the serious, serious positives. 

The negatives are the free-throw line. We've worked so hard on that, and I feel bad for Coen [Carr] because he shot the living daylights out of it in practice, so I'm not as concerned that that'll be a consistent thing. But if you make some of those free throws early, you're a lot better. 

I thought we had some really good three-point opportunities, and I think we're a better shooting team than we were last year, and yet we didn't make some really good shots. 

We tried to play a lot of people. Jordan [Scott], who's been playing real well, probably played the least amount of minutes that we're hoping he would play. We're trying to get him up to 12 or 14, but other than that, we kept it pretty much what we thought we would. 

Michigan State's Divine Ugochukwu moves the ball against Bowling Green during the first half on Thursday, Oct. 23, 2025, at the Breslin Center in East Lansing. | Nick King/Lansing State Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

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