Tom Izzo Players Quotations

If this place isn't Duke and North Carolina with the number of good players in the state, it's the coaches' fault.

Shannon (Brown) was very unselfish today and Maurice (Ager) came to me at halftime and said, 'I made some good shots in the first half and in the second half I'm going to go out there and put them down.' That to me is a great feeling knowing that the relationship between the coaches and the players is that confident.

Let's not anoint us a finished product because we're not. But I like the steps we're taking. I like the fact that players are having some fun doing it.

He'll be out three to six weeks. It's a big loss for us. We're not the most physical team, and he brings a little physicality. And maybe more importantly, he's a guy who can cover people on the perimeter or inside. We don't have many players who are quick enough to do that, like Alan Anderson did.

I respect their program, I respect their coach, I respect their players and recruited some of them, and yet I want to beat their brains in. That's just the way it works.

Paul, Mo, Shannon were just not the same players tonight. For 12 of 13 games, I thought that our three star players were as consistent as any group I've coached over the years, and tonight for whatever reason, we weren't as consistent.

I think he's really improved his three-point shooting and just his awareness of the game. I'd say he is one of the more improved players I've seen in this league.

I thought football players were tougher than that.

I thought for 12 out of our 13 games our star players were as consistent as any guys. Tonight, for some reason, we just weren't as consistent. We looked like a team that came off a four-day break.

When the players want to win more than the coach, that's a great sign, and I see that.

That's what you're supposed to do with good players that have been around for four years.

There's no reason we can't get the job done. We've got enough players to get it done.

I'm really excited. A lot of our older players were here. I felt like the old guys were back and we played our old style.

Do I feel as confident as last year? Last year, I really was confident. I'd say it like this. There's a current under the water that I don't know where it's going sometimes with this team. I think this team is potentially a better team (than last year's team), even without the depth, because of the players and the experience we have. Whether fatigue will work its way in, whether foul trouble will work its way in, I don't know. But I like the chances for us to play for a while.

There's that delicate balance between wanting the players to feel like they can make a run, yet not making them feel that it's their right.

You've got a guy like D.J. White, who is not only a great player . . . but he had matured a great deal. You just don't lose players like that and have the same team. I thought Indiana, when we played them, was still playing awfully well.

It's a nice honor to have three players recognized. I think it speaks not only to the talent of those players but also their unselfishness to be willing to share awards with their teammates, much like the Detroit Pistons had four all-stars, but no one who started in the all-star game.

It's back to the drawing board on defense. We have good enough athletes and good enough players to get it done. But they're going to be coached harder in the next three-and-a-half days.

He's one of the more improved players in the league. I loved him as a freshman. Now he's putting the ball on the floor and shooting threes. He's a tough cover because he grew up an inside four-man and is starting to be a three man. He can do both.