Izzo post WMU

At first glance, the Michigan State Men's Basketball team had a good day on Monday. The Spartans beat the Western Michigan Broncos 80-62 in the final game of both the non-conference season and the calendar year.

The No. 18 ranked Spartans are off to an 11-2 start for the first time since 2022. Most experts project that Michigan State is positioned to contend for a Big Ten title and to earn its best NCAA Tournament seed since before COVID. 

At the same time, however, the Spartans' performance left a little bit to be desired. Michigan State was sloppy with the ball in committing 17 turnovers. The Spartans gave up 11 offensive rebound and allowed the Broncos to go on a 10-0 run right out of halftime. Michigan State also missed seven layups and shot just 6-for-20 (30%) from deep.

While the Green and White won by 18 points, the point spread was over 25 points. Based on all of these measures, it was a lackluster performance. Coach Tom Izzo seemed to agree.

"It seemed like we were a step slow," Izzo said following the game. "(It) didn't seem like we had the 'zip.' We just weren't the same... I thought we played like we thought we're going to win the game."

On some level, a small dip in performance is to be expected. The game was played on a Monday afternoon between Christmas and New Years. The Spartans have only played three games since December 7. It is not uncommon for teams to experience a bit of a "holiday hangover."

But Coach Izzo was a little surprised. While he admitted that some of his past teams did suffer from a lull around the holidays, he expected more out of this group.

"I'm looking for us to be different," he explained. "That's our battle cry. Be. Different. I don't want to be like everybody else. I don't want a holiday hangover. I've had a few of those over the last couple of years. I don't want those anymore."

To make matter's worse, Izzo explained that he specifically addressed some of these potential concerns with the team over the past few days.

"I had a 10-minute team meeting about distractions, about handling Christmas, and about what goes on now when people start talking about you," he said. "I did it every day. I didn't do it enough."

Izzo mentioned several times that the practices over the past few days had been good. So this made the lackluster performance even more of a surprise.

"I was so excited about the way we were practicing," he said. "I actually told you guys (the media). I felt good. I'll never do that again.

"I was disappointed," Izzo continued. "My first key to the game was, are we mature enough to take the practice to the game? The answer is, no, we were not... the leadership wasn't good enough today. I told our captains, and I told our coaches, we've got to do a better job, and we're going to do a better job."

This is a new feeling for Coach Izzo with this particular group of guys. Even with two losses, he has found it difficult to find much fault with the way that they have competed so far this season. That changed on Monday afternoon.

"For the first time in a while, we've kind of faced some adversity where I did not like the way we played" he said. "(Against) Memphis, we lost that game. I liked the way we played. (Against) Kansas, I liked the way we played. I didn't like the way we shot. Today, I didn't like the way we played." 

On the other side of the coin, the Spartans have not faced a significant challenge since returning from Maui with an overtime victory over North Carolina. With the Big Ten season and a tough road in Columbus looming, the argument could be made that Michigan State could use wake up call.

But Coach Izzo is not buying this argument.

"If my team is mature enough, we shouldn't need that," he said. "That disappoints me. I think we're, we're better than that."

Holiday Crowd

While Izzo felt that there is no excuse for a dip in focus over the holidays, the vibe in the Breslin Center was a bit different on Monday. With no students on campus, large sections of the stands usually inhabited with raucous youths were instead filled with families and more mature Spartan fans.

At times, the crowd was more subdued than usual. One of the loudest moments occurred when a fan nailed a full-court putt to win $1,000 during a second-half commercial break. The fans also got noisy when the Broncos' remarkably poor free throw shooting results in free 10-piece Chicken McNuggets, thanks to the "Brickin for Chicken" promotion.

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But Coach Izzo felt that his team could have and should have done more during the actual game to keep the near capacity crowd engaged. He was especially annoyed because he knows that a lot of families who don't usually get to see the Spartans in person make a special effort to catch a game over the holiday break.

"I want to apologize to our fans," he said. "We called over for some extra tickets last night and there wasn't a ticket to be had... and (Associate Head Coach) Doug Wojcik kept saying to me on the bench 'it's a shame they don't get to see the exciting brand (of basketball) that we have played with most of the year.'"

Izzo joked that his granddaughter might have some criticism for the way the game played out.

"Isabel was at the game," he said. "I hope she doesn't get mad at me, and tell me she didn't get the clap enough because we didn't do enough.

He even joked that he considered taking matters into his own hand.

"That crowd was so ready to explode," Izzo explained. "It was so good, and we gave them nothing. I almost got a technical just to get the crowd going. I felt bad for them. I should have just got one and said, 'hey, it's on me, fans. You guys were awesome.' 

"We weren't very good," he continued. "I told my team that with about four minutes left to go in the huddle. I said, 'you let down 15,000 people today.'"

Homecoming for Coach Stephens

While Coach Izzo was eager to take a lot of the blame for his team's performance, he was also quick to praise the opponents from Kalamazoo. He repeatedly commented on how hard they played and how he expects Western Michigan to "do some damage" in the Mid-American Conference.

Izzo also had a lot to say about the Bronco's head coach. Afterall, the two men have known each other for over 35 years.

Western Michigan is coached by former Spartan player and coach Dwayne "DJ" Stephens. He played for the Michigan State under legendary Coach Jud Heathcote from 1989 to 1993 when Izzo was an assistant. Stephens would later return to East Lansing as an assistant coach from 2003 to 2022.

"I can't say I love these games when you play against your former guys," Izzo said. "Especially a guy that given this program and this university so much time, both as a player and as a coach."

Izzo took some time in the postgame press conference to reminisce about some of his best memories of Coach Stephens and specifically about his skill as a recruiter. 

Izzo recalled a time in the late 1980s when as freshman Stephens tried to help the Spartans recruit Chris Weber. If the future NBA All-Star would have decided to don the Green and White instead of the Maize and Blue, Weber would have likely taken minutes away from Stephens.

"He (Stephens) was always a guy that did the right things," Izzo said. "DJ did it with class, and he did it so well... He was about the program, and I've always appreciated that about him."

As for Coach Stephens, returning to the Breslin Center as an opposing coach was also a unique and special experience.

"It was a little weird to be on the opposite side and come in here and have a chance to compete and go against one of my mentors," Stephens said. "Obviously (this is) a place that's meant a lot to me. So it was weird, but it was fun."

With so much experience in East Lansing, but with the advantage of distance and perspective, Stephens was also able to provide an honest and somewhat neutral assessment of the potential of the 2025 Spartans. The first comparison that came to his mind was with a Michigan State squad from two decades ago.

"This team reminds me of the 2005 team," Stephens said. "Chris Hill, Shannon Brown, Maurice Ager, Paul Davis, Drew Neitzel, Kelvin Torbert, and Alan Anderson. They got a lot of depth, and when they go to the bench, they don't lose anything. So I think they could have a really good year. I think their league is wide open, and I think they got as good a chance anybody to do something special."

Despite some of the gloom and doom expressed by Coach Izzo, he had to admit that it wasn't all bad. He agreed with several of the comments from his former protegee. 

"One game doesn't bring me down," he said. "This is a very good basketball team that's deep and can be exciting and can get a lot of things done, but we're not an over talented basketball team like some I've had. 

"So we've got some work to do," Izzo continued. "We're worthy of being (considered) a really good team. And I can think of about 15 other Big 10 teams that are in the same boat as we are."

On Friday night in Columbus, Ohio, the Spartans will learn a bit more about exactly how worthy they might be.

Bonus Quote and Social Media Copy:

"Cohen is a human highlight reel and an unbelievable kid," Izzo said. "I love him. He's was the one guy today that every huddle was trying to get our guys going, I mean, he saw what was missing."

Coach Izzo will take the win over Western Michigan and his protégée, Dwayne Stephens, but "we've got some work to do" prior to the restart of the Big Ten schedule.

"I realized today it needs to be ratcheted up," Izzo said.

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