NCAA Tournament 2018: What Tom Izzo said before Michigan State faces Syracuse
In its opening-round game of the NCAA Tournament on Friday, Michigan State basketball defeated Bucknell, 82-78. The Spartans’ win secured a matchup with 11th-seeded Syracuse.
Michigan State coach Tom Izzo met with reporters on Saturday and discussed the win over Bucknell, the upcoming game against Syracuse and more. Here are some highlights of Izzo’s Saturday press conference
Izzo’s opening statement…
“It’s good to play against our old foe Jim Boeheim. He’s back at it. I mean, just doesn’t seem to change. His zone is maybe bigger and taller and better than ever. The size that they present is, I think, difficult for everybody. I don’t think many teams have shot it very well against them or scored very well against them.
“And so one of the good things about our team over the years is we were able to play fast or play slow. And hopefully we can speed up the tempo. But they’re definitely going to slow it down.”
On past meetings against Jim Boeheim…
“There’s been a bunch of them. I remember early on we played at the Garden and must have had 20 turnovers against that zone. I remember the game at the Palace when we were down big and came back and won big. But probably one of the funnier games is, I think in 2003 or 4, I scheduled the world. I thought I was going to have — I did have a good team, but I lost a great big guy in Erazem Lorbek. And he said to me on the recruiting trail, are you crazy? Because I scheduled the world.
“And the last game of that preseason schedule was at Syracuse. And he called me a better choice of words than knuckle head; you can figure out what words he used. And sure enough they beat our brains in.”
On UMBC’s win over Virginia…
“I watched Tony Bennett last night, and in fact I told our media during the week that, I said, it’s going to happen. And part of me almost said, I hope it happens soon because some day, if I’m a 1 seed again, I think that’s going to be unbelievable pressure. And that’s what we talked about, right, in that one meeting.
“And the saddest part is we’ve had a couple times when we beat Tony, our team did — and if you know Tony Bennett at all, he’s the salt-of-the-earth guy. And I thought the class he handled that with in the interviews I saw were spectacular. But like our team a couple years ago with Denzel and them, when you’ve got a good bunch of guys — and the way he talked he’s got a good bunch of guys, you’ve got everything going your way. But I’ve always said in this tournament, you’ve got to be good enough to be knocking on the door but you’ve got to get lucky.”
On Josh Langford’s big game vs. Bucknell…
“Josh went from a great offensive player to a phenomenal defensive player, and I think last week, that week off we had — we talked about, he’s such a good mid-range shooter, but when he does, he’s always kind of kicking his feet and off balance. So we really worked hard on getting him to be straight up and down and get him to look for those 3s a little bit more.”
