Spartans came back from 19-point deficit before falling, 67-63
WASHINGTON, D.C. – For the second year in a row, Michigan State’s season ended in the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament. The 3-seed Spartans’ run stopped a game short of last year’s, with a 67-63 loss to 2-seed Connecticut on Friday night.
The game started out miserably for MSU, as UConn got easy looks and hit them while the Spartans struggled to ignite their offense, before a desperate comeback turned a 19-point deficit into, briefly, a second-half lead. The Huskies would lead for the final 8 minutes, 58 seconds, though, as MSU on three occasions got within a point but never regained the lead.
MSU heads home with a final record of 27-8. UConn moves forward to the Elite Eight, where it’ll face 1-seed Duke on Sunday.
Everything MSU head coach Tom Izzo said in his post-game press conference is below:
OPENING STATEMENT
“It’s very hard to be disappointed and yet proud in the same statement. I give them a lot of credit. I said they’d come out and punch us in the mouth, and they did. I feel like they deserve a lot of credit for that.
“I feel like they weren’t shooting the ball well these past couple weeks. It’s important that we stop the 3s early, and they hit the first two they took. So it was an onslaught there with six out of seven 3s they made. Give them credit.
“Give our guys credit. We bounced back and picked away. The goal with six minutes left was to be under ten, we were to eight, cut it to six. Our goal in the second half was to play much better. We just kind of wore down. I played Jeremy so many minutes and Coen, but it doesn’t get away from the job that these two and the two seniors have done for me, my program over the last two years.
“A lot of credit to Danny, his team. I like his team. Got an inside guy that can score, and they’ve got some guards. But I thought our guys played their ass off, I really did. I thought they played hard as hell after the first ten minutes. Why we were down, we looked a little nervous, and that’s got to fall on me.
“There’s some bright things in the future and that’s what I’m going to look forward, to learn from the mistakes. Appreciate the job that UConn did and appreciate the job that my guys did to come back. That’s it.”
ON MSU LOOKING UNCOMFORTABLE AND UNSETTLED EARLY IN THE GAME
“I would say that’s a good statement. Listen, you don’t want to call out guys, but Jordan has struggled a little bit lately because he’s a freshman. I don’t even know, they played one freshman who was a McDonald’s kid that we recruited a little bit in Mullins. He hit one big 3, but it wasn’t like he had a great deal either.
“Then I thought that — where you’ve got to give them some credit is they hit the first two 3s, and they were complete breakdowns on our part, things we’ve done over 15 times, and our seniors just didn’t react to it. Then you’ve got to give them real credit when Stewart comes in, hasn’t played in a month, and he knocks down a 3.
“Meanwhile, we were missing some shots, missed a couple layups, missed a couple free throws.
“But I thought they wore us down a little bit. Danny kept throwing those guards in there, and I don’t know how many minutes Smith played, but he dogs you. Jayden Ross is a helluva player. He’s 6’7” and athletic. He was 0-for-2, but defensively he’s very good.
“So what they did, I think with those two or three guards, they just wore us down a little bit. As Jeremy said, he made a couple mistakes there. When we were down one and we had the turnover, that led to a touchdown on the other end. You can’t do that in this game against good teams.
“Mark my words, they’re a real good team, but we didn’t look like ourselves. We started coming back a little bit with eight minutes left in the half. Then we came back a little, and then they went ahead then. Then we said with four minutes left, let’s see if we can get this thing under ten and make it realistic, and we did pretty quickly. Finished some things off in the second half, but it wasn’t enough.”
ON WHERE HE SEES HIMSELF IN 5 YEARS
“Trying to win a National Championship, plain and simple. That’s it. Those things usually start after your last loss. Nowadays it’s a little more screwed up, but not at Michigan State.
“After our last loss, we all talked about what we’ve got to do next year and how we’ve got to learn from this. It is — I’ve got to give UConn a lot of credit, but man, we didn’t look like ourselves early. You’re right. That’s got to fall on the coach. I’ve got to get them ready to do that.
“So I plan on — I don’t know, I’m feeling good. We all talk about retirement. Why? What the hell am I going to do? The minute I don’t feel good, the minute I don’t feel like I’m giving my AD or president or school every ounce of energy I have every day or that energy drops, you don’t have to worry about it. I don’t steal money. I won’t steal anybody’s time.
“But it’s sure as hell not going to be now. I’ve got some things to accomplish. I’m going to make damn sure that — I said a couple years ago that I’ll find a way to get back there. We’ve knocked on the door twice. We haven’t gotten back. We’ll get back.”
ON WHAT HE LEARNED ABOUT HIS TEAM AFTER COMING BACK FROM A 19-POINT DEFICIT
“There was a disappointing part, if I have to be honest. The disappointing part was I just couldn’t believe. My young guys — although Cam played pretty well early, but young guys are supposed to make those mistakes, but old guys aren’t.
“But then like hardened guys that they are, because they’ve been through the wars and they’ve been through the years here, they reared their real heads and fought back against a really good team, and they showed me a lot of character. They showed me a lot of why I love them and why it’s so important to me to have relationships with guys. That’s what I got out of tonight. That’s the most I got out of tonight.”
ON WHY HE FEELS THE FUTURE IS BRIGHT FOR MSU
“In this day and age, everybody — you know what, I got seven or eight guys coming back. I’ve got a good recruiting class. Whether we go or get another one or not, that will be yet to be seen. I’m going to the portal right away. Tomorrow I’m going to the portal. The only difference is the portal at Michigan State is different than the portal at most places.
“I’m going right to my frickin’ locker room, and I’m going to talk to each and every player right there. I’m going to make some decisions about what we’re going to do that I feel very comfortable with. Then I’m going to make sure that every one of them call our four freshmen that are going to be coming in next year and set the table on what’s going to be expected and how we can, not do better than this year in a lot of ways, but how we can learn from maybe the mistakes we made.
“In saying all that, the better team won tonight. He’s done a helluva job. He’s got some guys that have played for National Championships. I really like his team. They’ve got toughness. They’ve got shooters. They’ve got guys inside.
“But we didn’t take a backseat to anybody. To be down that much against a good team, and not only fight back, but take the lead, and then stay right there. It’s why some of these programs, like his, like mine, like Purdue’s, that’s why I think they’re special because, you know what, he coaches them hard. He cares about them. It will be a helluva game, Duke and Connecticut, and I think both Duke and Connecticut deserve to be there.
“We made a run at it, fell a little short, but all in all, I’ve been blessed to have an incredible couple years with those seniors, Coop and Jaxon, and then Nick Sanders. He’s been — if you know what our scout team had to do, he’s been so unbelievable. I’m the luckiest guy in the world. I’m just not lucky enough to be playing on Sunday.
“I’ll get to play on another Sunday. Hang around. I appreciate you all. Thanks a lot.”
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