Tom Izzo explains Michigan State rotation decisions vs. Michigan

Tom Izzo had some interesting rotation decisions for Michigan State in the Spartans’ win over Michigan.

In the 73-63 win, Michigan State had just a two point lead at halftime, but ran away in the final 20 minutes. Essentially, he wanted different looks throughout the night.

That included Izzo trying to get Coen Carr into the game more, who only played eight minutes.

“Yeah, I did, and I will,” Izzo said postgame. “I kept thinking Jaden’s gonna come back around, too. And Jaden, to be honest with you, has to cover McDaniel. He’s just the guy that can cover him. AJ was in foul trouble, Tyson could but I need him offensively. I thought Jaden did a pretty good job. The second half, he did a real good job. I didn’t know if Coen could do that, then you always got the free throw situation even though he hit some. As it got late, didn’t want to put him in there for that.

“He’s gonna play more, so is Booker. Booker did just fine for me. I know it was only 3 minutes, but they are making progress. Disappointed in Mady, he had a rough night. So it is what it is. Best players are gonna play.”

Down the final stretch, whatever rotation Izzo used was going to get the job done it seemed. Michigan struggled to find the basket.

“It was really good defense, I thought,” Izzo said. “Maybe they thought they missed some shots, I don’t know. But, boy, that one time when Jaden knocked that ball loose in the far corner, we were on a hell of a rotation after a double, and he got there as quick as I’ve ever seen him, and that’s something he can do. That was the other thing, we were running some different things defensively and I didn’t know if Coen could pick up all that.

“It just goes to show how important your defense is, because our defense led to the offense. We got some breaks, we got some plays. It gets depressing when not only they don’t score, but you turn them over. I think they had six turnovers in that (stretch), and that was really good hands on our part.”

Now at 17-9, Michigan State is rolling into the final five games of the season. Izzo and the Spartans will return to action Tuesday at home against the Iowa Hawkeyes.