WATCH: Michigan State's Tom Izzo Talks Oakland, More

Michigan State men's basketball is getting ready for its annual meeting with Oakland.
Aidan Champion, Michigan State Spartans On SI

EAST LANSING, Mich. -- Michigan State is in the middle of a 10-game break, a long stretch that separates its first two games in Big Ten play and its final three games before the new calendar year.

The upcoming stretch starts with a matchup with Oakland, which will be played at Little Caesars Arena on Tuesday.

Michigan State coach Tom Izzo spoke about Tuesday's game and more when he addressed the media on Friday.

You can watch below:

Below is a transcript from Izzo's opening statement:

Izzo: "Well, interesting week. You're playing well and then you get 10 days off. And you got to play my good friend [Greg] Kampe and a team that's been a little up and down. But they've kind of gone through what we went through -- they're missing some shots early, and guys that have shot 35 and 36%, so it's always scary. Plays that funky zone; I don't know where he got it from, but it's hard to scout. The good news is I don't know what he's doing, and sometimes, I don't know if he knows what he's doing with it. But it's been very effective, and that's why he made a run like he made last year. A very good coach. I'm pleased to say our guys made it through finals well. We practiced a couple days during finals just to get a sweat up, and then yesterday, pretty good, and today was a very good practice for us. And now, we'll go Saturday and Sunday and then go down there on Monday and play Tuesday. So, go a lot of days without playing a game, it's always worrisome, but at the same time, I think it was a good little break after the Maui, after the things we did. We're trying to correct some things, get a little better defensively with our ball screens, improve a couple people right now and how they're shooting, like Tre [Holloman] and Book [Xavier Booker], and that's what you do when you have some time off."

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Aidan Champion
AIDAN CHAMPION