The Michigan State Spartans exited the Big Ten Tournament in the semifinals on Saturday, falling to the third-seeded Purdue Boilermakers, 75-70.
The Spartans played hard and gave themselves a strong chance to win the game and an opportunity to play for a Big Ten championship. Ultimately, the Spartans didn’t have enough to pull off the upset but showed a lot of strong play in the game.
Tom Izzo took the podium to talk about his team’s run in the Big Ten Tournament and what he thought about the game his team had against Purdue:
Izzo says he believes Purdue “has a chance to make a serious run” in the NCAA tournament. For MSU, “Can we get consistent enough to make a little run? Who knows where we’ll be seeded, who cares where we’ll be seeded….Nothing matters except us getting a little better.”
— Chris Solari (@chrissolari) March 12, 2022
Izzo on the loss to Purdue: “It was an interesting day, but hopefully one we can learn and grow from. We feel we can play with anybody, but we still have some things to correct.”
— Chris Solari (@chrissolari) March 12, 2022
Izzo: “This team’s gonna get better in a week and we’ll see if we can do some damage.”
— Colton Pouncy (@colton_pouncy) March 12, 2022
Izzo: “I’m proud of this team and what they did. I’m chomping at the bit to get to the NCAA Tournament.”
— Kyle Austin (@kylebaustin) March 12, 2022
Izzo said he believed his team and coaches all thrived in the tournament atmosphere in Indianapolis, both playing and prepping. “We just fell short to a team that’s probably better than us.”
— Chris Solari (@chrissolari) March 12, 2022
Izzo on Walker’s ankle injury: “I don’t know how bad it is. It’s not broke or anything but bad enough that it will be some time here, and that’s disappointing.”
— Matt Charboneau (@mattcharboneau) March 12, 2022
Izzo says not to kid yourself, Hoggard was hurt, too. But “he’s from the streets of Philly and just played.”
— Matt Charboneau (@mattcharboneau) March 12, 2022
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