WATCH: Michigan State's Tom Izzo Previews Season Opener, More
EAST LANSING, Mich. -- Michigan State men's basketball is gearing up for the real day as it prepares to host Monmouth in its season opener on Monday.
The Spartans had a rather lackluster couple of exhibition games leading up to the season, but fans can only hope the start of the official season instills a sense of desire and energy in this team, which will only matter if it's displayed on the court on Monday.
Michigan State coach Tom Izzo previewed the upcoming matchup with Monmouth when he addressed the media on Friday.
You can watch below:
Below is a partial transcript from Michigan State coach Tom Izzo's opening statement from his postgame press conference that followed the Spartans' exhibition game against Ferris State on Tuesday:
Izzo: "You'd think after 30 years I'd be smart enough to not kind of sub like we subbed. I think I hurt our momentum. But we went into the game, we went into these two games with one thing that we needed to do, and that's -- nobody's kind of raised their head above anyone else, as you saw tonight. Kur [Teng] and Jase [Richardson] maybe played as well as some of our veterans. And so, when nobody does that, you're giving everybody a chance. But I was disappointed. I was disappointed in our bigs being able to guard somebody. I thought Jaxon Kohler was pretty good, other than guarding a little bit. But I thought him and Coen Carr were real good. Our best lineup was when I had the three small guards and the smaller Coen Carr Jaxon Kohler. So who knows? They went real small, too. We had the 17-point lead early and then, we just subbing, we had a thing, we wanted to see different lineups. We wanted to see guys playing against different people. We did what we wanted to do. And I'm sure that hurt us a little bit. ... I'm happy for our guards, both Jeremy [Fears Jr.] and Tre [Holloman]. Between the two, they had 17 assists and two turnovers, and nobody made any shots. We had 16 offensive boards. That's a lot, and we should have [had] 18. But the kickouts, we just missed wide open 3s. And so, that's gonna happen, and now it goes for real. So, we got a lot done, we got a lot of tape to watch, we got a lot to figure out, got a lot of bodies with a lot of moving parts, and there may be lineup changes. So don't be surprised if -- guys who are going to play well. It's not the best players, it's who plays the best. So, it's pretty simple, and I think I've done a poor job holding my own guys accountable. And so, it will be interesting to see what the next four or five days look like. Maybe we'll have a quarterback controversy. It'll be fun."
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