Tom Izzo doesn’t want Michigan State basketball to get ‘fat and sassy’ with win streak

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NEW YORK — To hear Tom Izzo, it was as if Michigan State basketball hadn’t just won its 12th straight game.

“A little more entitled.” “A little selfish.” “Reading our own press clippings.” All criticisms Izzo delivered Saturday afternoon, all buzzwords inside his program.

All said to make a point. And not one that has anything to do with the eighth-ranked Spartans wearing down Rutgers with their deep bench in the second half and then surviving their own late-game gaffes to preserve Saturday’s 81-74 victory at Madison Square Garden.

But more to prepare his players for what’s to come.

“I’m just happy we won,” Izzo said. “I’m not excited for how we played. … We have to improve now, because it’s gonna get harder. I mean, we’re going to get everybody’s best shot.”

Head coach Tom Izzo talks with Jeremy Fears Jr. of the Michigan State Spartans during the first half against the Rutgers Scarlet Knights at Madison Square Garden on Saturday, Jan. 25, 2025 in New York.

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Call it preventative maintenance, if you will.

“We’re pretty good,” he added, “we’re not great.”

Because, pretty or ugly, every win counts toward a Big Ten title and more. And, to borrow another long-used Izzo phrase, he does not want the Spartans to get “fat and sassy.”

“I mean, it feels great to win 12 in a row and go 8-0 in the Big Ten right now. It feels amazing,” said freshman Jase Richardson, who scored a season-high 20 points Saturday. “But we still got a lot of season left, and we’re still trying to win that title. So we’ve gotta worry about the other games that are coming up.”

MSU (17-2, 8-0) is off to its best conference start and longest winning streak since the 2018-19 season, when the Spartans won 13 in a row overall and opened league play with nine straight victories. Izzo’s longest Big Ten streak in his first 29 seasons came during his 2000 national championship run,…

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Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/tom-izzo-doesnt-want-michigan-134911566.html

Author : Lansing State Journal

Publish date : 2025-01-26 13:49:00

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