Purdue Coach Matt Painter Reacts to Tom Izzo Tying Bob Knight for Most Wins at a Big Ten School
EAST LANSING, Mich. — After a 68-65 victory over Purdue on Saturday at the Breslin Center, Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo earned his 662nd win with the Spartans. The victory tied him with legendary coach Bob Knight for the most in Big Ten history.
The win snapped a three-game losing skid for Michigan State in the late portions of the regular season, and the team now finds itself sitting at 19-9 and 10-7 in the conference with just three games left to play.
Purdue coach Matt Painter, in 17 years with the Boilermakers, has had his fair share of battles with Izzo. He commented on the accomplishment after the game.
"To pass an icon like that is huge," Purdue coach Matt Painter said of Izzo. "I mean, he's an icon. And it's staying at one place, too, which I'm fond of. I just like the fact that he could've went a lot of places and he didn't. The Big Ten was able to get that reward."
Izzo, who is in his 27th year at Michigan State, has led the program to 10 Big Ten regular-season titles, eight Final Fours and six NCAA Tournament Championship appearances, including a victory back in 2000.
He has never experienced a losing season with the Spartans, and they made the NCAA Tournament in 23 straight seasons.
"Any time you can have consistency, it's a hard thing to do, especially in 14 schools," Painter said. "How can you be consistent and be great when you're upsetting the apple cart after three seasons if someone doesn't win enough games?"
Knight coached the Hoosiers for 29 years, amounting to 662 wins which stood as a conference record until Izzo caught up on Saturday. One more victory will put Izzo atop all other coaches in the league's history.
"It speaks for itself," Painter said. "I grew up in Indiana, and I just thought Gene Keady and Bob Knight would be the coaches at Purdue and Indiana forever. You didn't think anything different. It's kind of the little kid in you, but that's kind of the way people in Michigan think."
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