Why Michigan State basketball's Tom Izzo is 'disappointed' despite win over Rutgers

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After the 81-74 win over Rutgers on Saturday, it now marks 12 straight wins for the Michigan State basketball team with highlights like the victory over Illinois, North Carolina, and others. With many people impressed with the Michigan State basketball team like Magic Johnson, one would think that head coach Tom Izzo is one of them, but that couldn’t be further from the case.

Despite the hard-fought victory, Izzo would say that he was “disappointed” by the team’s performance against Rutgers but said that he is “happy” that they won according to the Detroit Free Press and Spartans Wire.

"I’m just happy we won," Izzo said. "I’m not excited for how we played. … We have to improve now, because it’s gonna get harder. I mean, we’re going to get everybody’s best shot."

“I was happy we won, because you have to win games like this for sure, but I was really disappointed, I felt for the first time we looked entitled, we looked like we were reading our own press clippings,” Izzo continued. “We didn't move the ball smoothly. We looked a little selfish. So, you know, this is a new thing for these guys too. You know, dealing with failure is hard, dealing with success is sometimes harder.'”

Michigan State basketball’s Tom Izzo says team is “not great”

Izzo would be blunt about his team, even saying that they are “pretty good,” but “we’re not great” despite being a top ten-ranked team in the country and with 12 straight wins. However, Spartans freshman Jase Richardson, who led the team with 20 points which is also a season-high for him, would have some positivity about the winning streak.

"I mean, it feels great to win 12 in a row and go 8-0 in the Big Ten right now. It feels amazing," Richardson said. "But we still got a lot of season left, and we’re still trying to win that title. So we’ve gotta worry about the other games that are coming up."

Another producer for the team was sophomore Coen Carr who came off the bench and had 14 points and eight rebounds and said after the game that they showed “resilience.”

"We’re showing resilience. And I feel that’s a big thing, resilience, keeping our composure," Carr said. "We know they’re at home, they’re gonna have their runs because it’s a game of runs. So we just have to weather their runs, weather the storm, and just stay doing what we do and doing the things that got us here."

Michigan State basketball’s Tom Izzo on learning to deal with success

While the Spartans are going through a major high right now with the winning streak, Izzo would make the case that while rolling with the punches while losing is hard, there are some occasions where dealing with “success is sometimes harder.”

"Learning how to deal with failure is hard. Learning how to deal with success is sometimes harder," Izzo said. "We found a way the second half to get better. … I didn’t feel we had the same grit. And sometimes that happens when you start winning and everybody starts telling you how good you are. So thank God I won’t tell them that."

The team is now 17-2, 8-0 in conference play, as they look for their 13th straight win when they take on Minnesota on Tuesday.

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