Tom Izzo Illinois Quotations

I did not feel that we were in sync. I think you have to give Illinois some credit for that but I also think you have to give us some blame.

I think I got kind of a worn-out team right now. I can come up with a lot of different reasons, excuses, but we were just flat-out beat. And I did not think we played with the energy we needed to play. We still hung in there, and then we had the knockout punch of that three-minute span, and Illinois deserves a lot of credit for that.

We played pretty well in both Illinois games and he just made some plays. Tonight, we found a way to clamp down a little bit more. Defensively, we didn't really give him a single look.

What are they best at? They seem to be a good defensive team, which concerns me because that's usually what wins at this time of year. Not a lot of pressing, but just solid, get-after-you-a-little-bit defense. Maybe a poor man's Illinois in that respect.

I'm really proud of the effort these guys gave coming off last night. We weren't the prettiest. Illinois pressured us and it bothered us some.

Illinois and Michigan State are both going to play pretty good defense. They're playing a little better than we are defensively right now, and I guarantee you both teams are going to run.

Illinois is not going to be worried because they beat us two times or three times. They're not going to have a letdown. They've got a great team.

You know me, I don't feel like we're ready, but I do think we can get ready in four days. Illinois is playing awfully well, they haven't lost many games in the last couple years, but we're gonna be ready on Thursday, I can promise you that.

We weren't the prettiest -- Illinois really pressured us and it bothered us some -- but the defense we played and the job we did, I can't say enough.