Greg Kampe gives incredible answer to question about his relationship with Tom Izzo

There may not be a more heartwarming friendship in college basketball than the one between Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo and Oakland’s Greg Kampe.

The two have been going head-to-head for decades now, and Kampe has never been able to beat Izzo. In fact, the Michigan State head coach has a perfect 24-0 record against the Golden Grizzlies over his career, and that 24th win came on Saturday afternoon at Little Caesars Arena.

Michigan State was able to hold on despite getting Oakland’s best shot. The Golden Grizzlies played one of their best games of the season, playing some really good transition defense and also hitting 10-of-22 threes. Plus, holding Michigan State to 79 points after giving up an average of over 84 on the year was somewhat impressive.

Izzo can always expect to get Kampe’s best shot, so Saturday’s close result wasn’t all that surprising.

Kampe’s praise of Izzo in the post-game press conference was also unsurprising.

The ugly Christmas sweaters, however, were pretty unbelievable.

Greg Kampe gives perfect answer to question about Tom Izzo

It’s no secret that Kampe and Izzo have a fun relationship, and the former touched on that in the post-game press conference that he did with Michigan State’s head coach.

Kampe was asked about his relationship with Izzo and what he means to him, and Oakland’s head coach gave one of the best, most heartfelt answers that you’ll ever hear. It almost caught Izzo by surprise.

First off, I love the idea of a two-coach post-game presser when the coaches are as close as Izzo and Kampe. I doubt we’ll ever see it become a regular thing, but it’s a treat when these two do this every December. And second, this answer from Kampe was just incredible.

Kampe said that his friendship with Izzo is “the single most important relationship” that he’s had in his professional career. Izzo means a lot to Michigan State fans, but it’s cool to hear that he has the same effect on his fellow coaches.

Izzo was sitting there, taking all the praise in with a growing smile on his face, and you could tell that he was trying not to get choked up.

Hearing this heartfelt answer while both coaches were wearing those sweaters made it even better.