Tom Izzo calls out 'ridiculous' foul calls in Michigan State's loss to Duke

Tom Izzo had a bone to pick about a couple of calls in Saturday’s loss against Duke. In his opening statement after the 66-60 defeat, the Michigan State coach pointed to two instances where he believed his team got the short end of the stick.

“I thought there were a couple of bad calls,” he said. “The dunk, the travel. One is a three and one is a critical play on (Carson Cooper). That’s not good either.”

Later in his press conference, Izzo was asked about another foul that was called on Jordan Scott with less than a minute remaining on a 3-point shot attempt from Isaiah Evans. The foul allowed Duke to turn a 57-55 lead into 60-55 as Evans made all of the foul shots.

The Spartans coach said he believed that was the correct call. However, he didn’t waste another opportunity to again mention the two that he did not agree with, while adding that it wasn’t the reason Michigan State lost.

“The foul call was right then,” Izzo said. “There were a couple of other ones that I thought were ridiculous. I’m not blaming the officials, but ridiculous. Cooper’s was ridiculous. The travel that he hit a three on was ridiculous. But that’s neither here nor there. It didn’t cost us the game.”

Cooper’s only foul in the game came with 18:40 to go in the second half. It sent Cameron Boozer to the line for a pair of free throws, and he made one out of two.

As for the other play, it appears that Tom Izzo believes there was a missed traveling violation that resulted in a Blue Devils 3-pointer. Regardless, he believes his team still could have put themselves in a better position to win.

After the three free throws that put Duke up 60-55 with less than a minute to go, Michigan State quickly went down the court and scored to make it a one-possession game again. However, the Blue Devils would drain another 3-pointer on the ensuing possession to go up 63-57 as time simply ran out for the Spartans.

It was a disappointing defeat for Michigan State, as it also happened to be their first loss of the season. But it cam at the hands of a worthy opponent, and they’ll be another opportunity to get back in the win column soon. The Spartans take on Penn State on Dec. 13 on the road.