How Tom Izzo Really Feels Following Michigan State’s Opening Win
EAST LANSING, Mich. --- Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo is certainly not happy after his team's 80-69 victory against Colgate on Monday night.
Izzo broke the game down in-depth during his postgame press conference. You can watch and hear everything he said below.
Watch Tom Izzo here:
Additionally, a partial transcript of the very beginning of the presser has been provided. This is only a small amount of what was said, though, and the recommended way to get the full picture is to watch the video.
Transcript
IZZO: Well, it's a win. That's about the only good thing I'll say about it.
I thought we didn't guard very well again. Although the second half, even though they [Colgate] shot 50%, I thought we guarded a lot better.
And this goes to show you how much analytics mean nothing. Jeremy [Fears Jr.], as our leader, he's got unbelievable stats. Four-for-10 [shooting], not great, 6-for-6 at the line, five rebounds, 14 points, 10 assists, one turnover, five steals. Those are unbelievable stats.
In the first half, he didn't lead our team to nothing, and he knows it. And in the second half, he did, and that was the big difference. But our best player is going to play well. He played pretty well.
Jaxon [Kohler's] stats are pretty good, but we didn't think he guarded very well. [Carson] Cooper. So I am calling the guys out, because seniors should be able to guard someone. And that was disappointing on a positive note. Jeremy's was positive.
Coen [Carr] came back in, a little bit of foul trouble, and played with some energy.
Freshman Jordan Scott maybe did the best job of anybody, keeping balls alive, playing hard. I thought he was phenomenal.
Our two guards right now, they're not making shots, they're not guarding anybody.
The reason we won the game is the offensive rebounds are at 19. We did get to the free throw line. We did not turn the ball over much. Those were all good things.
But second-chance points was 20 to 3. That was a big difference.
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A 2025 graduate from Michigan State University, Cotsonika brings a wealth of experience covering the Spartans from Rivals and On3 to his role as Michigan State Spartans Beat Writer on SI. At Michigan State, he was also a member of the world-renowned Spartan marching band for two seasons.