It was an eventful weekend for Michigan State, as the Spartans’ basketball team played a high-profile game in Palm Springs on Thanksgiving, the football team hired Jonathan Smith, and MSU is also in the midst of a President search. Tom Izzo, as is typical with any major events happening at Michigan State, has been involved in varying degrees with each of these stories.
On Monday, Izzo spoke to the media to give his thoughts on his team’s loss to Arizona, the hire of Jonathan Smith, the President search, and more. You can find the most notable quotes from that session below.
Izzo had dinner with Jonathan Smith
Izzo starts his weekly press conference by welcoming Jonathan Smith to Michigan State. Said he had dinner with him last night
— Kyle Austin (@kylebaustin) November 27, 2023
Izzo thinks his team is close
Izzo: "I don't think we're that far off from being a very good team." Says MSU must shoot better.
— Chris Solari (@chrissolari) November 27, 2023
Izzo: Bad stretches have been costly
Izzo says MSU has played stretches of very good basketball, but "the minutes we don't play good basketball have been costly."
— Chris Solari (@chrissolari) November 27, 2023
Izzo laments how he handled Tyson Walker illness
Izzo says Tyson Walker is down to 169 pounds from being sick. Blames himself for how he used the senior G against Arizona. "He was not himself in that game."
— Chris Solari (@chrissolari) November 27, 2023
Izzo: 'Our best players got to play well'
Izzo: "We need Jaden and A.J. to play better. Our best players got to play well, we need our best players to play well. We need to get Malik more involved, because he's playing really well."
— Chris Solari (@chrissolari) November 27, 2023
Izzo a fan of Jonathan Smith hire
Izzo" Alan Haller's decision to hire Jonathan Smith was a good one. Very impressed in the one time he's met the new football coach for an hour and a half. Feels he brings a blue-collar attitude and talent developer and his handling Oregon State vs. Oregon rivalry will translate.
— Chris Solari (@chrissolari) November 27, 2023
Izzo on Xavier Booker
Izzo said Xavier Booker's motor "needs to be cranked up" going forward. Said Booker sees it and had his best practice of the year on Sunday. Booker didn't play vs. Arizona.
— Kyle Austin (@kylebaustin) November 27, 2023
Izzo on Presidential search
Izzo says he also was on the search committee that got the MSU presidential search to five finalists, and now it's down to "one or two." He adds, "There are brighter days coming up" for MSU after calling the Board of Trustees' recent issues "crazy and a little bit embarrassing."
— Chris Solari (@chrissolari) November 27, 2023
Izzo on... Izzo
Izzo: "Izzo and two of my upperclassmen need to do a better job."
He's talking about himself in third person and not Steven here.
— Chris Solari (@chrissolari) November 27, 2023
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