Izzo's Mom Joins Fun with Son's Kur Teng Comment
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Tom Izzo's viral comment to Kur Teng is now (sort of) immortalized.
One comment Michigan State's legendary head coach makes all the time to his players went over the air waves during the Spartans' game at Oregon on Jan. 20. Izzo, clearly, was not happy with Teng's defense that night, and told him that he "couldn't guard my mother," who is currently 99 years old.
After that game, Izzo was asked about it, and he joked that Teng would go visit Dorothy Izzo in Appleton, Wis. for a nice game of 1-on-1.
Well, Teng is now up on the wall over there. Steven Izzo, Tom's son and Dororthy's grandson, posted a picture on Instagram on Tuesday of Dorothy standing in front of a poster full of AI-generated images featuring Teng and herself playing hoops against one another.
"Grandma Izzo got some new wall art in the retirement home," Steven wrote in the caption. "Even at 99, she’s still a bucket."
The whole situation has been quite humorous and light-hearted. Even though it is objecitvely funny to think about a coach telling his player he cannot guard his elderly mother, no one has ever been taking it personally.
More on Teng/Izzo Situation
Again, this was just one of those things that have happened all the time in private, but a mic hovering over a huddle during a timeout just happened to catch Izzo using one of his common catchphrases. That wasn't the first time Izzo has used that line, and it almost certainly isn't or wasn't the last.
"Coaches have things and idiosyncrasies and things, and I must've said that 100 times," Izzo said a few weeks ago. "In all fairness and honesty, number one, I ain't worried about Kur, because I've told him that 100 times. I've told him that in every practice."
"He drops it a lot," Carson Cooper said it. "That was the first time the camera was able to get it. I think I was telling somebody, one of my buddies or something, they were making jokes about it, and I was like, 'Yeah, there's nothing new.' We hear that all the time."
At the end of the day, it's just more hard coaching. Teng is a critical part of MSU's rotation, especially with Divine Ugochukwu now being out for the year, which thins out the Spartans' backcourt. The biggest moment of Teng's career just happened when he hit that go-ahead three vs. then-No. 5 Illinois with less than 10 seconds left in regulation, after all.
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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.
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