It hasn’t been the smoothest of sailing for Tom Izzo and the Michigan State Spartans.
Not only did they suffer their worst home loss in 30 years against Iowa last week, but they also just lost out on 5-star center Enoch Boakye, who had previously committed to the school.
However, Izzo and the Spartans intend to continue to press on. With just three weeks remaining in the season, there’s still plenty of basketball to be played, and could help their bleak Tournament hopes.
“My job with two weeks left is to keep us in the hunt,” Izzo said. “I am ready to accept that I have to fight my tail off for the last eight games.”
Their current Tournament berth streak stands at 22 years.
“Records are made to be broken,” Izzo said. “Of course the streak is important to me, because it is something special. The streak of every senior going to a Final Four was special, and when that ended with one of my favorite teams (in 2014)…that was tough.”
Coach Izzo continued, “Every streak here, since the day I came here means something to me. Every win means something to me. But I don’t look at success or failure on streaks. I look at consistency over years.”
With a 4-8 record in Big Ten play, Izzo continues to search for the proper tweaks in the linup that will improve things on the scoresheet.
“What you do with a team is that you hope that in the preseason that you get guys to separate themselves, and as we know there wasn’t as much of that,” Izzo said. “We have a lot of guys who haven’t separated. I have tried to give each guy a chance and it is hard to live with things if they are making the same mistakes.”
The Spartans will have the chance to get back into the win column when they take on Purdue tomorrow night.
– – Quotes via Paul Fanson of SBNation Link – –
