Tom Izzo has high praise for his team's effort and roster continuity following win over Kentucky
Michigan State had plenty to celebrate Tuesday night following its win over Kentucky, and head coach Tom Izzo took note of it in his post-game press conference.
No. 17 Michigan State went into Madison Square Garden Tuesday night with most viewers and pundits expecting No. 12 Kentucky to send the Spartans packing with their first loss of the season. Instead, MSU left with a 17-point victory, downing the Wildcats 83-66 for the program's first win in the Champions Classic since 2022 when it beat UK 86-77 in double overtime and its first ever win in the event by a double-digit margin.
The win came over a team that had the fifth best portal class in 2025, per 247Sports. MSU, by contrast, was No. 56 in those rankings. The Wildcats had dropped a road game to intrastate rival Louisville just a week prior but also dismantled Purdue at home in an exhibition matchup before the regular season started.
"It was a heck of a win for us," Izzo said after the game. "Kentucky did not play as well as they've been playing. I hope we get some credit for that, but I think they just missed some shots and did some things early. The things we wanted to do was take away the three and rebound the ball. I think they only had six offensive rebounds."
Michigan State Spartans head coach Tom Izzo reacts during the first half against the Kentucky Wildcats at Madison Square Garden. © Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images
Indeed, the Wildcats shot a miserable 27.6% from the field and went just four-for-15 from 3-point range in the first half. On the glass, UK grabbed just six offensive boards that led to six second-chance points compared to MSU's 10 offensive boards that led to eight points. Crashing the boards was a big point of emphasis in the team's game plan, though. While Izzo briefly hinted at that, he in standard fashion focused more on the areas his team needs to improve.
"Give our guys and my coaching staff a lot of credit; I thought we executed things pretty well," Izzo praised of the team's execution. "We turned it over a little bit more, and as good as we played defensively in the second half, those turnovers, some of them were for touchdowns."
Kentucky managed to grab 13 points off MSU turnovers, one of which also capped off the best run UK managed the entire game, cutting MSU's lead to 10 around midway through the second half. A bad pass by Trey Fort ended in a dunk by UK's Kam Williams to make it 58-48. Fort turned right around and made a jumper to end the run, though. Then a few possessions later after UK cut it back to 10, Jesse McCulloch hit yet another trey for MSU.
"The positive for us was we made some shots, and those of you that are at Michigan State, I don't know, did we make more threes today than we made all year," Izzo jested with media about. "Yeah, that's not meant to be funny, but it is funny. 11 of 22, you know. We just shot the ball better and rebounded the ball pretty well."
