Tom Izzo was not thrilled with the way Kur Teng was playing defense on Tuesday night at Oregon, so much so, in fact, that he was caught in the huddle telling his sophomore guard that he couldn’t even guard the Hall of Famer’s mother.
That interaction went viral on social media, and the Michigan State head coach doubled down on his statement in his post-game presser. That, too, went viral.
Izzo said in the post-game presser that he wasn’t joking, and that he was hoping that it would tick him off and make him play better. He also said that rest of the team would be flying back to East Lansing while Teng would be headed to Appleton to play his 99-year-old mother 1-on-1.
Obviously that was a joke, but Izzo hardly cracked a smile.
Steven Izzo, however, is getting a good laugh out of this whole situation. He posted an “update from Appleton” for the 1-on-1 game between Teng and his grandma.
Update from Steven Izzo on Kur Teng vs Izzo’s Mother💀 pic.twitter.com/9UeASHcVkW
— Michigan State Hoops (@michsthoops) January 21, 2026
Everyone is having a lot of fun with this, but I can safely say that Tom is probably still fuming over the lack of defense he saw from his backup shooting guard on Tuesday night in Eugene.
At least Steven is getting a good laugh in with one heck of an AI image, which originated from an interaction between David Harns and Ant Wright.
Good stuff.
Michigan State needs more out of Kur Teng
That interaction between Teng and Izzo seemed to shake the young shooting guard a little on Tuesday night. He took zero shots in eight minutes, and he’s in the game to hit threes.
If he can’t play defense to the level that Izzo demands, he will see his minutes reduced. I mean, all you have to do is look at what happened to Trey Fort’s minutes this season. He did, however, see more of the floor in place of Teng on Tuesday, scoring nine points in 15 minutes which is the most he’s played since the Cornell game in December.
Teng needs to improve on the defensive end or he’s going to see his minutes disappear, and the offense truly needs him to provide a spark off the bench.
All jokes aside, Teng needs to step his game up on that end.