Tom Izzo’s Comment During Post-Game Interview With Allie LaForce Draws Ire

The Michigan State coach attributed bad luck to the reason his team lost in overtime in the Sweet 16.

No. 7 seed Michigan State’s season ended in a highly-competitive Sweet 16 tilt with No. 3 seed Kansas State on Thursday night, a men’s NCAA tournament game which ended in overtime and saw the Wildcats advance to the Elite 8.

Kansas State star point guard Markquis Nowell stole the show, as he finished with 20 points and an NCAA tournament single-game record of 19 assists, as the Wildcats disrupted the Spartans defensively with the pick-and-roll.

Spartans coach Tom Izzo lamented the breakdowns his team had defensively, but attributed some of the loss on Thursday night to bad luck.

“Yeah I’m so proud of these guys for a lot of reasons, but I mean give them credit,” Izzo said. “But I mean they banked in two shot clock threes, and they made some big plays, but some of those plays weren’t big plays, they were lucky plays. And I didn’t think we played our best. Some of it was them, but I think some of it was us. But boy, we bounced back in that second half. I’ve been part of a lot of wins. I’ve been part of a lot of losses…tough losses…but I’ve never been prouder of a team because we didn’t really have it tonight and yet we still found a way to battle back and I was proud of our guys.”

Wrong.

It was only when Izzo brought up K-State's luck a second time he stumbled into talking about the randomness of close games.

Context was appropriate. pic.twitter.com/0mm2Tpk4q6

— Kyle Boone (@kyletheboone) March 24, 2023

Izzo went on to commend Kansas State for their ball screens and mentioned that he didn’t believe the Spartans played their best game defensively.

“That’s a good basketball team,” Izzo said.

The first part of his quote about the luck that was on the Wildcats’ side spread throughout social media as “sour grapes” by the longtime Michigan State coach. Here are some top reactions to the clip of Izzo’s interview with CBS Sports.

Tom Izzo postgame on TBS: "Give [Kansas State] credit. They banked in two shot clock 3s. They made some big plays, but some of those big plays weren't big plays, they were lucky plays."

The grapes are sour!

— Kyle Boone (@kyletheboone) March 24, 2023

Michigan State coach Tom Izzo calls Kansas State “lucky” after Sweet 16 defeat against the Wildcats.

Another game, another sour grapes remark from the losing side

🦅 https://t.co/xid1bVsGPt

⭐️ https://t.co/4S3mClNAKP

— Kellis Robinett (@KellisRobinett) March 24, 2023

If someone really wanted to be cold-blooded they would tell Tom Izzo that the luckiest thing that happened to Kansas State last night was getting to play Michigan State instead of Marquette.

— Kellis Robinett (@KellisRobinett) March 24, 2023