Over the past 4-5 years, it's felt like Tom Izzo has been playing a safe game with the media regarding his teams and he's even said that he's felt the need to coddle his players because of the way he's perceived by the media when he's hard on them.
But a true sign of Michigan State being back is Izzo reverting back to his old style of never being content and even when things are going well, making sure everyone knows he's not happy with imperfection.
So you could guess that he probably wasn't too happy with his team's play in a 90-85 win on Wednesday night in East Lansing over a Penn State team with a hobbled star player and riding a three-game losing streak.
The Spartans were 11.5-point favorites and yet couldn't seem to hold double-digit leads for more than a few seconds throughout the game.
After the final buzzer, Izzo ripped into his guys in the post-game presser.
Tom Izzo was significantly disappointed in his team’s performance vs. Penn State last night😯
— Michigan State Content (@msucontent) January 16, 2025
“We cannot handle success right now.”
“We’re not anywhere yet.”
“I’m not resting good on anything. I’m not sleeping good on anything.”
“We’ve got a long, long, LONG way to go.”
🎥… pic.twitter.com/PYfOtq4GkO
"I love my team," Izzo said. "I love my guys."
That was the only positive phrase he had to say about his team in the presser other than the fact that he mentioned they're a good team with a long, long, long way to go.
Other than that, he didn't hold back, stating that his team can't handle success right now and that this was the third straight game in which his Spartans have allowed over 40 second-half points. He admitted "that's a problem" when he heard that stat confirmed and he said "don't worry about the rankings" and said that they need to worry about where to get better.
Izzo then sent a message to his team about where it's at and where he doesn't want to be. He mentioned that there have been times over the years when the Spartans had close wins over bad teams and overtime wins over poor squads but he doesn't want that anymore. He challenged his guys to "be different" which is code for "be better".
As a fan, this is great to see. He's no longer content with the "ugly win is still a win" idealogy and is more in the "foot on the gas, don't stop" phase of his career.
We'll see how Michigan State comes out to play on Sunday against Illinois.