After falling to Wisconsin in the Big Ten tournament championship Sunday, head coach Tom Izzo was adamant that there were no moral victories to be taken from the loss.
When he addressed the media Tuesday, his tone was a little different.
The Spartans were seven minutes away from securing Izzo’s fifth Big Ten tournament championship banner before Wisconsin flipped the script and stole the game in overtime.
Though he said the team got over the hangover of losing on Monday, he admitted that given the injuries and other problems the Spartans have dealt with, winning the championship would have changed his interpretation of the season.
“I think I said it to you guys after, I can’t remember, I was kind of brain dead after that game, but that banner in my mind would have been as significant as any banner hanging out there,” Izzo said.
“I just mean I know those injuries and I know how hard it was to come back and I know we weren’t as talented in certain areas and I know what we went through,” Izzo continued. “That one would have been one if I would have walked out for 10 more years and ever was questioning a team midway through the season where we are, I would just glance up and say, ‘Oh, yeah, we’ve still got a chance’ and that’s the way I looked at that.”
The Spartans won’t be hanging a new Big Ten tournament championship banner, but Izzo said out of the 125 minutes of basketball the Spartans played in Chicago, there were 110 minutes where MSU played “pretty damned good.”
From the loss, Izzo has vowed to become a better coach. The weekend has forced his hand on his stance on fouling at the end of games, and said he will re-evaluate his approach after the season.
At age 60, Izzo is still learning. And he believes that’s a good thing. After returning from a recruiting trip on Monday, he sat down and watch video of the tournament with senior guard Travis Trice, senior forward Branden Dawson and junior guard Denzel Valentine — not as a coach talking to his players, but as equals.
Izzo said when he sat down to speak with his trio there was a feeling of equality between the coach, currently in his 20th season, and the players.
“It was talking with them instead of down to them,” he said. “Or up to them more often than not. Yeah, partnership, very good, and you know, I haven’t had to do that for a few years, and so it was good.
“I left there feeling good. Kind of got me over the hangover that took a little longer than normal and today has been a good day. Been a good day and hopefully we can grow from it.”
