Tom Izzo hammers MSU's head-scratching turnover problem, social media praise after Nebraska win
Michigan State basketball won again Wednesday night, knocking off Nebraska 79-67 in East Lansing. The Spartans are now riding an 8-game winning streak since losing to Baylor and are 4-0 to start B1G play.
Though the final buzzer came with the score well in hand, how Michigan State got there was not particularly impressive. At least, not to Tom Izzo. Despite the win, the Spartans committed 19 turnovers in the win, a problem that has consistently plagued Michigan State early in the season.
After the win, turnovers were a common theme in Izzo’s assessment of the victory. According to Chris Solari with the Detroit Free Press, Izzo asked which media members would like to start for MSU’s next game, provided they do not commit any turnovers.
Izzo also said he was “frustrated” with turnovers, said those miscues kept the Huskers in the game early on, and claimed the eye test of the win “wasn’t very good” for the Spartans. He also admitted a lot of the miscues were true head-scratchers.
Tom Izzo comes in and asks the media who wants to start Sunday if they don’t turn the ball over. “I’m frustrated with it,” he says of the Spartans’ turnover problems.
— Chris Solari (@chrissolari) January 6, 2022
Izzo: “Tonight, (Nebraska) made some shots early. And they made some shots early because we turned it over.”
— Chris Solari (@chrissolari) January 6, 2022
Izzo says he doesn’t want to “say any more until I look at the film. But the eye test wasn’t very good.”
— Chris Solari (@chrissolari) January 6, 2022
Izzo liked what he saw from rebounding and shooting from his team tonight, “but these turnovers have been a problem all year.” A lot of them left him “scratching your head – what were you thinking?”
— Chris Solari (@chrissolari) January 6, 2022
Izzo also pointed out the praise players receive on social media has a negative impact on the team’s mindset. He went on to say he’ll wait until March to praise his team, but he will spread it around when the time comes:
Izzo laments how players react to praise in the social media era: “I’m going to reserve that credit for my team from now on until March. And then we’ll spray it all around.”
— Chris Solari (@chrissolari) January 6, 2022
