Although the MSU basketball team defeated Binghamton 76-33 on Saturday afternoon to move to 9-0 on the season, with a potential No. 1 ranking coming their way Monday, MSU men's basketball coach Tom Izzo was not thrilled with the win and said he is excited to get back to practice.
Saturday's game marked MSU's eighth game in less than three weeks, a span which included trips to Chicago and California.
"I'm looking forward to tonight, going down to Indy, coming back and having the hardest, toughest, best, longest practice of the year here tomorrow, and that's what we're going to do," Izzo said. "We're going to start working on us. We've been working on everybody else but us -- we're going to start working on us."
Izzo said the lack of practice has especially made it difficult to really get progression and improvement from the team's freshmen -- Deyonta Davis in particular.
Izzo said the lack of practice is part of why he thinks Davis has not yet reached his full potential.
"Dwayne Stephens, we figured Deyonta did not really bear down and give the effort that he needed to," Izzo said. "Dwayne Stephens laughed at me with three minutes left. He said 'Deyonta didn't play real hard and he got 10 rebounds already.' And I think that tells you how talented a kid he is, but we need to get guys playing at a different level."
Izzo even said despite Davis' 11 rebounds on Saturday, he thought Davis was only giving about two-thirds of his full effort, and was making too many effort-related mistakes.
"This kid is talented and we're going to get it out of him," Izzo said. "In fairness to him, he hasn't had a chance to practice. I told him, 'Tomorrow, saddle up, it's going to be a big day for you Deyonta.' I might borrow those pads from (Mark) Dantonio tonight, if they're winning pads. I'll bring them back and use them with Deyonta. He's got a chance to be a special player."
MSU now has three days before its next game against Maryland-Eastern Shore on Wednesday, Dec. 9, and Izzo said in addition to working his team hard, he thinks he has to work harder in order to find out the right lineups to use.
Izzo has used countless different lineups already in the young season, but he said he has not been able to figure out which rotation of players works best. This is why Izzo said he is excited to get back to practice, so he can work harder and figure things out.
"My players would agree with this wholeheartedly," Izzo said. "They're doing a pretty good job. The coach isn't doing a very good job because this is what I keep telling you and I keep not doing it. ... Tomorrow's a big day for us. I'm not kidding you, we just need to get some practice time in and it will help shrink that group down."
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