Tom Izzo’s quiet moment at the podium said everything about how shocking it was that Michigan State lost to Nebraska 58–56. A championship team had just fallen apart in the last few seconds, and their coach’s uncomfortable silence spoke louder than any words ever could.
Izzo admitted that he had a part in the failure: “Let me show my maturity. I’m going to pause for a minute and think about how I want to say it,” before adding, “When it’s effort-related, toughness-related, coming up with a big rebound, coming up with those things — that bothers me. That shouldn’t happen in this program. It did, so I’ve got to do a better job, and I promise you I will.”
The numbers tell the tale…