8 — Tuesday, February 17, 2015
Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

Behind Enemy Lines: Michigan State coach Tom Izzo

Izzo discusses 
in-state rivalry, 
Dawson, one-and-

done rule

By LEV FACHER

Managing Editor

Just over two weeks after a 

76-66 overtime loss to Michigan 
State in East Lansing, the 
Michigan men’s basketball team 
gets another crack at its in-state 
rival 
Tuesday 
night. 
The 

Spartans venture to Ann Arbor 
for a 9 p.m. tip-off at Crisler 
Center, the latest installment in 
a rivalry series that saw more 
parity in the last three seasons 
than it had in decades.

On Feb. 1, the Wolverines 

couldn’t finish the job after 
senior forward Max Bielfeldt’s 
last-second 
tip-in 
sent 
the 

game to overtime. Tuesday’s 

matchup could be just as close, 
considering 
the 
Wolverines 

hold home-court advantage and 
haven’t lost to 
the 
Spartans 

at 
Crisler 

Center 
since 

January 
26, 

2010.

The 
Daily 

sat down with 
Michigan 
State 
coach 

Tom Izzo in 
October at Big 
Ten 
Media 

Day in Chicago to talk about 
Spartans star Branden Dawson, 
the prevalence of the one-
and-done in big-time college 
basketball and the evolution of 
the Michigan-Michigan State 
rivalry in recent years.

The Michigan Daily: 
Is 

Branden (Dawson) ready to 
take the next step and become a 
prime-time player?

Tom Izzo: Not only do I 

think he’s ready, but he has to be 
ready. If we’re gonna be great, 
Branden Dawson has got to take 

a major step. 
But 
I 
think 

he’s capable of 
it. I think he 
proved it the 
last six or eight 
games of last 
year, I think 
he 
proved 

it 
at 
times 

throughout 
… he’s trying 
to do what I 

tried to do when I got this job: 
“Can I stay consistent?” That 
doesn’t mean that every game 
you’re going to get 20 (points), 
but can I be consistent on a 
night-in, night-out basis? If he’s 
consistent and plays with a high 
motor and high energy, I think 
the work he did this summer, 
he’s going to become a star, 
which he should be. So he needs 
to for us, he needs to for himself. 

That’s a pretty good deal when 
both people benefit from how he 
plays.

TMD: With one-and-done 

and the world we live in, when 
did you realize that you had to 
start recruiting players who 
might not see themselves at 
Michigan State after playing 
one or two seasons in college?

TI: My thing has never 

changed. It wasn’t as talked 
about then — they just weren’t 
coming out as often then. 
(Jason) Richardson, you know, 
was a one-(year) or two-(year) 
kid, and he did come out after 
two years. But it wasn’t the 
norm back then, but I’ve never 
changed.

In this day and age, the 

guys that think they’re ready 
to leave early … I mean, you 
(addressing 
the 
reporter 
in 

jest) would have been out your 
first year. Seriously. I’m not 
saying you would have made it, 
all kidding aside. But that’s the 

mentality now. And the other 
sad mentality is if you’re a junior 
or a senior, it hurts you. That’s 
the saddest of all.

But as far as going after one-

and-done guys, the only thing 
I would prefer is to have a guy 
that wants to come to win a 
championship and let that lead 
to being done, not come in on an 
eight-month contract.

But taking one-and-done guys 

and this fallacy that I don’t want 
a one-and-done guy or I don’t 
want a guy who’s going to leave 
after a year … I’ve said it to our 
media, I’ve said it to everybody: 
unfortunately, kids leaving early 
is worth more than winning a 
national championship. So why 
wouldn’t a coach want them to 
leave early if they could?

Some coaches don’t care if 

they leave early and fail. I do … 
it’s a different animal. I call it 
the Twitter generation.

TMD: In terms of the in-state 

rivalry with Michigan, how 

do you see the dynamic being 
different last year as opposed to 
the last few?

TI: I think we both lost a lot of 

players, and yet we’ve both got 
some key, good players coming 
back. It became a rivalry — now 
it is a rivalry. It was a five-year 
non-rivalry on our part and a 
10-year non-rivalry on their 
part, and now it’s a rivalry. Now 
both teams are good, games 
are good. I see that continuing. 
John Beilein’s a good coach, 
they’ve upgraded their facilities 
a lot, they’ve put some emphasis 
on basketball for the first time 
in a while, and they’re getting 
dividends paid from that. But 
we’re not going anywhere.

TMD: Do you see Michigan 

as being one of the Big Ten’s 
more difficult venues to play in?

TI: It’s getting there. It is. 

They’ve done a great job with 
the arena. And I think their 
fans, they’ve taken major steps 
from where they were.

ALLISON FARRAND/Daily

Michigan State coach Tom Izzo thinks his team’s rivalry with Michigan is as strong as it has ever been.

“And I think 
their fans, 

they’ve taken 
major steps.”

Despite down year, rivalry game still brings heat

Michigan State 
matchup presents 

opportunity in 

Michigan’s season

By DANIEL FELDMAN

Daily Sports Editor

Just because the Michigan 

basketball team is having a 
down season doesn’t mean that 
its rivalry with Michigan State 
has lessened. If anything, it has 
become more intense.

After losing in East Lansing to 

begin February, the Wolverines 
(6-7 Big Ten, 
13-12 
overall) 

will host the 
Spartans 
on 

Tuesday night 
in 
another 

round 
of 

what 
has 

become 
one 

of the biggest 
rivalries 
in 
college 

basketball.

With 

Michigan 
currently 
sitting on the 
outside looking 
in at a potential postseason 
berth, the game represents more 
than just a simple rivalry game 
for the Wolverines.

“We need it to keep our season 

alive,” said junior guard Spike 
Albrecht. “We’ve got to protect 
home. We’ve done a good job at it 
in years past, so we’ve got to make 
sure we take care of business 
down the stretch this season.”

In the midst of a four-

game losing streak, this marks 
Michigan’s chance to get back 
on the right track and potentially 
save a postseason bid, albeit to the 
NIT. On top of that, though, is the 
threat of Michigan being swept 
by the Spartans for the first time 
since the 2009-10 season.

It doesn’t help that Michigan 

State (8-4, 17-8) is playing its best 
stretch of basketball all season.

“It seems like every time 

we’re about to play Michigan 
State, they’re playing their best 
basketball,” said Michigan coach 
John Beilein. “They had a great 
week, going to Northwestern, 
winning easily, and then beating 
a really great Ohio State team. 
So they’re playing well. They 
seem to have a really good flow 
right now. I think they’re pretty 
healthy.”

Currently 
leading 
the 

Spartans 
is 
guard 
Denzel 

Valentine, who clinched their 

win over Ohio State on Saturday 
with 
a 
last-

second triple. 
Averaging 
14.5 
points 

per game to 
go along with 
six rebounds, 
Valentine 
currently 
stands at third 
in 
3-pointers 

made 
this 

season in the 
Big Ten and fifth in 3-point 
percentage. Measuring 6-foot-
5 and 220 pounds, the versatile 

athlete has the perfect mixture 

of 
size 
and 

skills.

“He’s 
got 

the 
rare 

combination 
of 
that 
he 

can 
really 

rebound,” 
Beilein 
said. 

“His 
3-point 

shot right now 
is at high as a 
level as it is in 

the league. And he really can see 
the floor.”

In 
addition 
to 
Valentine, 

a player Beilein compared to 
former Wolverine guard Nik 
Stauskas and current junior 
guard 
Caris 
LeVert 
given 

his height and court vision, 
Michigan will have to deal 
with 
a 
Spartan 
team 
that 

outrebounded it by 14 the last 
time the teams met due to their 
superior size and length.

“You’d like to make up for the 

rebounding by just having better 
possessions offensively and not 
turning the ball over,” Beilein 
said. “(But) we don’t have a lot 
of ways to negate rebounding, 
so we’ve got to get a body on 

somebody, do a fundamental 
block-out and hope the ball 
bounces our way. It’s not a jump 
ball as much as it’s a possession 
rebound.”

As much as it seems Michigan 

will have its back against the 
wall against Michigan State, 
that doesn’t mean the quality of 
the game will be diminished.

If the in-state rivals have 

proved 
anything 
in 
recent 

years, the game will be a battle 
regardless 
of 
the 
adversity 

either team faces.

“I don’t expect it to be 

anything different right here,” 
Beilein said. “Both programs 
have gotten to the point where 
they’re really good. People expect 
a great game. But even when I 
first got here, going up there or 
coming here, even though our 
teams were in that building stage 
of our program, I always thought 
these games were the same. … 
It’s a great game. I don’t think it’s 
lost anything.”

Added 
Albrecht: 
“The 

intensity is still there. It’s still a 
heated rivalry.”

Though the contest doesn’t 

have the same implications of 
last year’s affair in Ann Arbor 
— a battle of two top-20 teams 
fighting for sole possession of 
first place in the Big Ten — the 
atmosphere could still mimic 
last year’s high-intensity clash 
of “two gladiators slugging it 
out,” as Beilein put it.

NOTES: According to their 

Twitter 
accounts, 
former 

Wolverines Nik Stauskas and 
Glenn Robinson III will be in 
attendance for Tuesday night’s 
game against the Spartans. The 
duo combined for 40 points 
in Michigan 79-70 win in Ann 
Arbor last year. … Michigan 
freshman Austin Hatch was 
selected to receive the U.S. 
Basketball Writers Association’s 
Most Courageous Award for 
2015. Hatch will accept the 
award during the week of the 
Final Four in Indianapolis.

RUBY WALLAU/Daily

Junior guard Spike Albrecht makes a move to the basket in Michigan’s loss to Michigan State in East Lansing earlier this month.

Michigan 
State at 
Michigan

Matchup: 
Michigan 
State 17-8; 
Michigan 13-12

When: Tues-
day, 9 P.M.

Where: 
Crisler Arena

TV/Radio: 
ESPN

“The intensity 
is still there. It’s 

still a heated 

rivalry.”

