Tom Izzo Playing Quotations

Now you start playing for the excitement of it. I'm not worried about it. I'm anxious to get home and start looking at some film and just see how bad I can look in the morning.

I feel real comfortable that who we are playing and who we could play does not throw up any red flags. I'm looking at it like I'm definitely packing for two days the first weekend, and then I'm not going on spring break the second weekend. There's no plans in the foreseeable future, so I'm planning on playing some basketball.

He was good. That's what he can do: He can shoot it. And I think it was good for him to get a little a confidence, some shots up and a little playing time.

It is a brutal schedule, and if you've been through everybody's, as I've done, it's not even close. But so be it. If there's one thing these seniors and juniors are used to, it's playing tough schedules.

We have an opportunity of a lifetime, ... to be home and playing for at least a share of the Big Ten championship.

I'm not a record guy. I don't need to win 700 games, I don't need to have 20 straight 20-win seasons ... and I don't need to get in the NCAA tournament every year if we're not worthy of being in it. If we're not playing good enough or we can't win a game, it just doesn't turn me on.

In our losses to Illinois, Michigan and Wisconsin, we've had serious foul trouble at key times. Maybe we've had leads or were playing good, but it changed the complexion of the game.

I'm definitely packing for two days for the first weekend, and then I'm not going on spring break the second weekend. I plan on playing some basketball.

The best news for me is we are playing the best defensive basketball we've played. I'm very optimistic because I do like what this team has to offer. ... (But) I think we're a mixed bag of nuts right now, to be honest with you.

This is just as much a must-win for them. They've got to be hungry. They've never been in this position in quite a few years now, this late in the season playing for a Big Ten championship. I'm sure that's going to be motivating for them.

I look at our record and eight losses is more than I'd like to see, but I also look at it like, I haven't lost any confidence in this team. I'm disappointed maybe in the consistency of a couple guys, but I haven't lost confidence in what I think we can still do. ... There's nobody I'm afraid to play, and I just want to start playing better, consistently, ourselves.

If you're always going 11-0 or 12-0 in the preseason, you can get 20 wins easier. If you're playing other people, it's a lot more difficult to do that. I'm proud that we did it the hard way. When you do that, your kids get mentally tougher.

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.

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.

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.

It was good for him to get a little confidence, get some shots up, get a little playing time in.

It's a big loss for us in games coming up. It's disappointing because he was playing better. We're not the most physical team, and he brings a little physicality to us. He's a versatile guy who can guard on the perimeter and guard big guys inside.

We were out of energy. Playing Thursday-Saturday is a joke.

Those two statistics are ridiculous. But as down as I am and as our fans are, this season wasn't a total disaster. We won 22 games and had some good wins playing maybe the toughest schedule in the country.

They're playing for a Big Ten championship. They haven't done that for a few years now, and they're playing a team that beat them handily. The schedule is somewhat in their favor, somewhat in Ohio State's favor.