Following the second half melt down and last second loss to Purdue last night, an extremely disappointed and clearly emotional Izzo struggled to accept the loss. He can never simply credit the opponent without adding excuses. And the little coach did the same last night.
To provide some context, MSU led at halftime 31-16 and scored the first bucket of the second half to go up 33-16. Following that, Purdue outscored them 39 to 21 the rest of the way including an 11 minute stretch during which the spartans did not make a bucket and only scored on free throws. MSU turned the ball over 10 times in that second half including the deciding turnover in the waning seconds. Almost every TO was unforced.
With about 9 seconds left, and MSU leading 54-52, the spartans stole the ball under Purdue's basket, apparently sealing the win. They then immediately called time out. On the in-bounds play, they struggled to inbound it to Henry and had to make a last second pass to Rocket Watts sprinting toward the baseline corner. Watts bobbled the ball out of bounds as he stumbled. A Boilermaker was right next to him. Multiple replays showed that Watts was the last person to touch it and that the Purdue player did not shove him. Despite the review and video evidence, Izzo was screaming and convinced that Watts was fouled "over the back". The next Purdue play led to free-throws by Williams who made one (54-53) and missed the second which led to a scrum and jump ball giving the Boilers the ball back. Williams, the Purdue center, caught the in-bounds pass a made a mid-range shot to take the lead leaving MSU with one last contested Aaron Henry shot which bounced off the rim. Purdue 55, MSU 54.
In the post-game presser, Izzo vacillated between trying to give Purdue credit but explaining why the game was stolen by the officials. He opened by giving credit to Purdue for their win but soon thereafter proceeded to explain in detail why it was the call by the refs at the end that cost them the game.
"... Now I think a guy was over our backs, I am anxious to look at the film ... they [uncalled over the back plays] cost people games all the time and that cost us one ... I thought people were over Rocket's back ... BUT ... we didn't deserve to win. Purdue deserved to win ... BUT we had out best free throw shooters miss down the stretch ... they didn't give us the time out [when there was a jump ball scrum on the floor] ..."
Following a question about the waning seconds:
"I don't know, I couldn't see it but it looked to me like he was over Rocket's back. I don't know. I didn't like the call at all ...I don't know. I don't know ..."
I have rarely seen Izzo give credit to the opponent in an MSU loss without lengthy qualifications. He just can't do it.
To provide some context, MSU led at halftime 31-16 and scored the first bucket of the second half to go up 33-16. Following that, Purdue outscored them 39 to 21 the rest of the way including an 11 minute stretch during which the spartans did not make a bucket and only scored on free throws. MSU turned the ball over 10 times in that second half including the deciding turnover in the waning seconds. Almost every TO was unforced.
With about 9 seconds left, and MSU leading 54-52, the spartans stole the ball under Purdue's basket, apparently sealing the win. They then immediately called time out. On the in-bounds play, they struggled to inbound it to Henry and had to make a last second pass to Rocket Watts sprinting toward the baseline corner. Watts bobbled the ball out of bounds as he stumbled. A Boilermaker was right next to him. Multiple replays showed that Watts was the last person to touch it and that the Purdue player did not shove him. Despite the review and video evidence, Izzo was screaming and convinced that Watts was fouled "over the back". The next Purdue play led to free-throws by Williams who made one (54-53) and missed the second which led to a scrum and jump ball giving the Boilers the ball back. Williams, the Purdue center, caught the in-bounds pass a made a mid-range shot to take the lead leaving MSU with one last contested Aaron Henry shot which bounced off the rim. Purdue 55, MSU 54.
In the post-game presser, Izzo vacillated between trying to give Purdue credit but explaining why the game was stolen by the officials. He opened by giving credit to Purdue for their win but soon thereafter proceeded to explain in detail why it was the call by the refs at the end that cost them the game.
"... Now I think a guy was over our backs, I am anxious to look at the film ... they [uncalled over the back plays] cost people games all the time and that cost us one ... I thought people were over Rocket's back ... BUT ... we didn't deserve to win. Purdue deserved to win ... BUT we had out best free throw shooters miss down the stretch ... they didn't give us the time out [when there was a jump ball scrum on the floor] ..."
Following a question about the waning seconds:
"I don't know, I couldn't see it but it looked to me like he was over Rocket's back. I don't know. I didn't like the call at all ...I don't know. I don't know ..."
I have rarely seen Izzo give credit to the opponent in an MSU loss without lengthy qualifications. He just can't do it.
