[jwplayer oG4NqUBk-XNcErKyb]
ANN ARBOR, Mich. — It was a stark contrast between head coaches.
Over the course of his tenure at Michigan, Juwan Howard has constantly given credit to his players, win or lose. Had a bad game? He’s not calling anyone out. He’s not making excuses. With Isaiah Livers having been out for the better part of two months, Howard has frequently said, ‘No one is going to feel sorry for us’ about the Wolverines being without one of their best players.
But MSU head coach Tom Izzo went the other way with it.
In his 13 minute press conference, he often noted how injured his center Xavier Tillman is, how much point guard Cassius Winston has on his mind. Assuredly, both things are quite true, and both are reasons for the Spartans’ struggles at Crisler Center on Saturday.
But when asked how much of what Michigan did, in this case, specifically with forward Isaiah Livers returning to the lineup — Livers did not play against MSU in early January — Izzo demurred entirely.
“Listen, how much different would we be with Josh Langford?” Izzo shot back. “Almost everybody’s got one of your two best players out. You’re gonna be different. But, at the same time, I think today, what we did with other players: Simpson goes 4-for-7 from the three. He hasn’t done that in weeks. That’s — give him credit. He’s a competitive kid. Isaiah — love Isaiah. I think he’s a very good player. But Isaiah didn’t beat us. Johns has been playing very well. They’re gonna be better with a veteran in there. But our freshmen just aren’t ready. Our freshmen have been struggling a little bit. It’s gonna happen.”
Michigan State didn’t do as well in transition as it normally does. The Spartans are 25th in the country in offensive efficiency, but only got 4 points off turnovers and 2 fast break points against the Wolverines.
It was a point of emphasis, Michigan coach Juwan Howard said after the game, but Izzo said he wasn’t confident that the Wolverines did much to stifle MSU defensively as much as his team was stifling itself.
That’s where he really got into some player blame — again, an odd contrast.
“I don’t know if people are taking it away or if we’re taking it away, to be honest with you,” Izzo said. “I think that’s where the fatigue of Winston and Xavier are hurting this team. And then the freshmen go in there, and they’re not just ready for that.
“We’re going to have to do a much better job. We probably did a decent job with Cassius the first half, trying to get him open for timeouts, stuff like that. He’s not the same yet. He’s working his way back in. We expect a lot of him because he’s got a lot to give, but he’s been through a lot. We’re trying to understand some of the decision-making and trying to help him through it. Fatigue becomes a factor. Part of fatigue has been sleeping and resting and doing the things in particular that are difficult for him to do.”
At the end, Izzo decided to give a closing statement, where he seemed to indicate that Michigan point guard Zavier Simpson — who hit 4-of-7 three-pointers, as mentioned, wasn’t supposed to have a solid game from deep as he did.
“Our start was poor, middle was really good, our end was poor and Michigan played good,” Izzo said. “Some guys hit some shots that weren’t supposed to. And I thought we missed some layups that you’re supposed to make.”
To each their own, we guess.