Tom Izzo came into Sunday’s post-game presser seemingly chipper given how unsatisfied he was with Michigan State’s performance.
Izzo was pretty harsh on his team, saying he was disappointed with how they played. He essentially said that the team has to be better or it’s not going to do anything in March. He also said that he was disappointed in himself because what he tried didn’t resonate with his guys apparently.
Michigan State struggled throughout the game and played a very poor brand of basketball that got wandered from what Izzo preaches. They did rebound, but they didn’t run as much and the Spartans’ half-court offense was really bad. Ball movement was OK, but there were a lot of rushed shots and just sloppy turnovers.
This was the latest disappointing performance from a team that began the season 19-2. The last month has shown us a different team outside of wins over Illinois, UCLA, and Maryland.
The Rutgers and Ohio State wins did not feature your typical Michigan State team. The wins were sloppy and the Spartans played down to their competition.
Izzo is not pleased with his team right now.
Tom Izzo says there will be a team meeting
We don’t often hear Izzo talk about “team meetings” because he’s usually pretty private about what tactics he uses to motivate his team behind the scenes.
However, he’s planning a team meeting on Sunday night to voice his frustrations after the OSU win.
Izzo says he plans to have a team meeting tonight to discuss some of the frustrations after this win.
— Chris Solari (@chrissolari) February 22, 2026
This is a good idea, especially since the team has really only played well 50 percent of the time over the past month. The inconsistency has been killing the Spartans’ confidence. On Tuesday, they were hitting a season-high 14 threes and on Sunday they were trailing for a good chunk of the game, needing a second-half run to put a short-handed Ohio State team away.
I don’t know what will be said, but I’d assume Izzo will open the floor to his players to speak on what’s frustrating them, too. This comes at the right time with Purdue approaching this week.