Tom Izzo is well acquainted with the Michigan-Michigan State rivalry as a piece of the Spartan coaching staff since 1983. Since becoming the head coach in East Lansing in 1995, Izzo has been a strong proponent and supporter of the Spartan football program.

On Monday night, Izzo and MSU basketball opened the 2022-23 season with a win over Northern Arizona. After the game, Izzo took time to address the ugly scene following this year’s rivalry contest.

He went on to praise Mel Tucker’s handling of the incident and quick action in reprimanding the players:

“I think Mel did what he was supposed to do,” said Izzo. “He reprimanded the guys that didn’t do their job right. There’s other people who should be reprimanded for not doing their job right.”

He went on to further explain his remarks and admitted he’s fed up with “Michigan State always looking like the bad guy.”

“The decisions (Tucker) made on the players was awesome. There’s not an excuse in the world why players should act like that, but I have some problems with some other things… That’s my stick-up for Mel and for our program. I get tired of Michigan State always looking like the bad guy, there’s been other bad guys.”

While some of Izzo’s comments were left admittedly cryptic, he certainly was not shy about his respect and support of Tucker’s handling of the situation while condemning the actions of the Spartans involved.