Don't let Michigan State basketball coach Tom Izzo catch you downplaying his team's accomplishments. Even if you're a member of his team.
Television stationWXYZ.com in Southfield, Mich., was reporting on second-ranked Michigan State's 78-74 victory Tuesday night over No. 1 Kentucky at the United Center in Chicago and talked about the reaction from the Spartans side.
WXYZ.com showed postgame news conference comments from Izzo, sophomore guard Gary Harris and senior point guard Keith Appling. Izzo and Harris
In his sound bite, Izzo hailed the season-opening win as a special victory.
"Our program needed a program win, and that was one," Izzo said.
Harris was next and said, "We wanted to put a big emphasis on - we wanted to punch them in the mouth first, and that's what we did. They made their run in the second half. I mean, we stayed poised and we were able to pull out the game."
Then came Appling, who was trying to say the right things by letting the media know that the win was only one game in the start of a long season.
"It's a great win, but at the same time, we didn't accomplish anything tonight," Appling said with a shrug. So it's still a long season ahead of us and we've still got to continue to get better."
The comment, however, drew a playful open-handed slug from Izzo, who was sitting next to him at the news conference.
"We didn't accomplish anything? What the hell are you talking about," Izzo said, drawing a smile from Appling and laughs from the media members at the news conference.
It was the second time Izzo made a joke in reference to the matchup of No. 1 vs. No. 2 to start the season. A few days before the game, Kentucky coach John Calipari said it wasn't fair for his team, composed of freshmen who were high school All-America honorees last season, to face a veteran-laden Spartans team this early in the season.
"I agree," Izzo fired back, according to a tweet from Detroit Free Press reporter Joe Rexrode. "I think he should forfeit. If Johnny doesn't want to play it, I'll take a win."
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