STATE FARM CHAMPIONS CLASSIC: KENTUCKY VS MICHIGAN STATE

November 10, 2026

Tom Izzo

Michigan State Spartans

Press Conference

Michigan State 79, Duke 73

TOM IZZO: In these preseason games, it's so hard to play these kind of games this early. I want to first say that I made a lot of comments that I absolutely love Duke's team. I still love them. They missed a lot of shots early that I thought were wide-open shots for them and we didn't make some plays defensively.

For Jordan Scott to get nine rebounds and six blocks, I'm sure Grant Hill isn't happy since he came from his high school, but that was a big thing for him. These two guys are really good, and yet Jeremy missed five free throws. He didn't miss that many in half a year last year.

So we did some things that were really good and we did some things taking care of the ball. I don't know what we ended up with in turnovers. I need my glasses now. It was 13, about the same as them. Rebounding, they got a couple at the end. That was a pretty good battle rebounding.

But I really believe that we played our best basketball of the year. But we're three games into the year, so big deal.

Questions?

Q. The defensive performance from your group, in particular Jordan Scott and the way he played, he had six or seven blocks. The whole night with him, what did you see from his performance?

TOM IZZO: It wasn't just him. I mean, our other guys, I mean, we're still struggling a little with our bigs, getting up on ball screens and things like that. It's going to be a process here, maybe a long process, but we're going to get better at it.

This was a good test. They are such a good team and he's such a good coach. You guys don't realize how hard it is to do what he's done, taking over for arguably the best coach maybe that ever coached the game. So that's not easy.

I think Jon has done it with class. They will be very, very good. But at the same time, it just goes to show our defense, what we've been talking about for 20 years, defend, rebound, and run. If you defend, you usually rebound better. The first half we defended better, we rebounded better, we ran better, and we got some easy buckets. And that's what we had to do.

Q. In particular that 11-2 start and the beginning of that first half that Jordan had with his length, what was he doing to be so disruptive in the passing lanes as well as kind of blocking some of those shots in and out?

TOM IZZO: Yeah, he got ones down. He tipped ones. I don't know how many deflections he had. But that was about as good as game as you can have for a guy that went 2 for 7, 1 for 4 from the three. Not impressive, and yet he probably changed the whole game himself with his defense, with his rebounding, with his effort-related stats. That's what we talked to our team about. You can put up with mistakes early in the year not effort related.

I thought Jeremy was challenged this week a lot, and because you're given a rank, you have a responsibility to live up to that ranking.

I thought he was okay in the first couple games. I didn't think he was Jeremy-like. Tonight I thought he played hard. It was nice that a CJ comes in and makes a couple shots, Jasiah makes a couple shots early. Even Ethan, a couple big plays, we've just got to get those bigs better at the ball screens and the things they've got to do defensively. Right now that's a little bit of a work in progress.

Q. Talk a little bit about your team's toughness tonight, and did it seem like a home game late in the second half?

TOM IZZO: Yeah, it really did. I want to thank our fans in Chicago. We had a lot of people that came from a lot of places. That's the advantage of this tournament. Like at the NCAA time, you figure out where you're going and everybody has got three days to get there and flights. Here you can plan for this, fraternity brothers, sorority sisters, they can plan for this, coming to Chicago.

That's why this game has been so important to me. I know the other three teams in it maybe been there for a lot of years. We arrived 20 years ago or so, and we've maintained, and I don't know what we are in this thing now, but we're not -- we've held up our end of the bargain, and that's what I've been most proud of.

We've been consistent over time, and right now consistency means a lot to me.

Q. What about never really letting them get momentum --

TOM IZZO: Yeah, I did think we played with a little more toughness. The young guys, I mean, Jasiah had to do some things, and I thought when Caleb came in he did some things; Kur. We battled them, and that's what we had to do. It's a very talented and very good team.

They just, to me, some of it was us, some of it was them tonight. Don't bet them against.

Q. There was a narrative built about a year or two ago about how Michigan State doesn't belong in these types of events. You combine that with Michigan State's not so great record against Duke, how gratifying is wins like this tonight?

TOM IZZO: The other one is I think we're 9-7 in this thing now, and I think Duke is -- I think we're 7-9, I think they're 9-7 or something like that. So I'm not apologizing for that.

But as far as beating Duke, I'm apologizing to our fans, to my wife, to my kids because they've beaten us like a drum. Now, the last four or five times we've kind of gained momentum because a lot of people are saying that so it pisses me off and maybe I've done a better job.

Now, they deserve what they've gotten against us, but we haven't taken a backseat to anybody either, and I don't plan on taking a backseat in the near future or in the far future, to be honest with you.

Q. What does it say, second straight year Cam has had a big game early. Does he just need to snap into it a little quicker or what did you think of his performance overall?

TOM IZZO: Remember last year he had that injury with the wrist and that really set him back. Cam is another one that got challenged last week. I know Doug challenged him, and Doug did a great job with the scouting report and he spent a lot of time with Cam on his free-throw shooting, and maybe one of the unsung heroes was the fact that he went 4 for 4 from the free-throw line, you know.

That stretch he had before halftime was big for us. That's what he should be doing. Guys get better. Some of the guys that they've had that have gotten a lot better did not play as well tonight, and that's what happens in some. Ngongba, God if you look at him from last year to this year he's improved a lot. He didn't have a great game tonight. Some of it was probably us, some of it was them. That's what happens in these early-season games. You know I am still a Blackwell fan. He almost brought him back at the end. Great kid.

You know, it was two good teams, and we found a way to get ahead early and kept the momentum, and I think that's why we won the game.

Q. Tom, obviously it's been a big few days for Michigan State athletics. Michigan State takes home Paul Bunyan against Michigan and you get this one in Chicago. Talk about how excited you are to be a part of these big moments and coming back to East Lansing the students are going to be really excited?

TOM IZZO: That was very well said, but if you think that this win over Duke is as big as our football team's win over Michigan, you're on dial-a-clue.

So I just appreciate it, but now what I'm going to do is add on to what Pat Fitzgerald did. I'm not going to try to surpass that. There's just some things about rivalries, and this is a good rivalry. But this is a love affair rivalry. That's a Hatfield and McCoy rivalry. So there's a big difference in rivalries.

Q. Talk to us about being curious to start seeing how Jasiah would handle this game and moment. Now that you've seen it, what did you think about his poise and how he showed up on a big stage?

TOM IZZO: Yeah, I love Jasiah. You really look at all my freshmen, big kids, got some work to do yet. But if you look at Jasiah and you look at -- that was CJ's best game and he did a good job. Hit a couple of big shots. That's going to make him better.

We put him in at the end hoping he'd get fouled because he's struggled from the line and he's a really good free-throw shooter. Jasiah is a gamer but he's a practice player too.

The intensity level, you don't know it when you're a freshman until you play in games like this, and there was times he got caught. But he took it, and he understood it. He's going to be a hell of a player; mark my words.