Instead of his classy suits and ties or MSU warm-ups, Tom Izzo went for a darker, more gruesome look Friday night.
With slicked-back hair, white makeup and a long red-lined cape, the MSU men's basketball head coach was ready to suck some blood as a vampire at the MSU men's and women's basketball teams' annual midnight madness kickoff event.
Playing off the "Fright Night" theme, students and community members came out in costume to meet the teams and see them scrimmage. The pope, Donald and Daisy Duck and a little Napoleon Dynamite could be spotted in the crowd.
The players also came in costume. For the men's team, the centers used their tall statures as part of their Frankenstein get-up, the forwards came out as werewolves and the guards dressed as the ghoulish killers from the "Scream" movies. Junior guard Drew Neitzel was the obvious crowd favorite when he was announced.
"When you lose three guys to the NBA, it is hard to rebound from that," Izzo said. "These guys are ready for the challenge."
Joanne P. McCallie, head coach of the women's team, was dressed in a long, black dress and a wide-brimmed hat. She joked that she is "going to be such a witch" this season as she welcomed fans to Breslin Center.
The women began their introductions by showing off their dance skills in a rendition of Michael Jackson's "Thriller." They crawled around the court and did the classic stiff arm movements in their morbid '80s attire of stretch pants, ripped sweatshirts and side-ponytails. Sophomore forward Aisha Jefferson moonwalked around in a red vest, playing Jackson's part.
Two familiar faces — former MSU center Kelli Roehrig and former guard Lindsay Bowen played with the women's team during the scrimmage. Allyssa DeHaan, MSU's acclaimed 6-foot-9 freshman center, did not play.
Izzo mixed up the event's usual routine by giving fans a first-time peek at some of his team's drills, including the infamous "war drill" for rebounding. Izzo called on Spartan Marching Band director John Madden to throw up a shot for that drill, joking that he knew it would never go in.
Still in his vampire face paint, Izzo said he appreciated the fans' response to poor shots and mistakes in the drills.
"To build a championship program, it is going to take a lot of people," Izzo said to the audience. "It has been a great run for us and the run is starting all over again."
Both teams will start regular practice this week and play their first exhibition game in November. The men's and women's team will face Grand Valley State on Nov. 1 and 2, respectively, in Grand Rapids.
Laura Collins can be reached at colli313@msu.edu.
