WATCH: Tom Izzo takes out his frustrations on Michigan State whiteboard in 2nd half vs. USC
You could feel Tom Izzo’s blood starting to boil over the course of the second half of Michigan State’s game in the NCAA Tournament versus USC. He hasn’t completely flipped his lid yet but we do now have a casualty.
After some rough officiating going against the Spartans, Izzo decided to not take his anger out on the referees anymore. Instead, he directed his frustration upon his whiteboard during the last TV timeout.
Having the lead is obviously providing little solace to the Spartan’s head coach. He has been there and done that in March Madness but, with the game coming down the stretch, Izzo has been very dissatisfied with some of the calls that have, or have not, been made. Now, all he can hope for is that the Spartans find a way to close the game out before he has to take any more of his anger out on any other objects.
Refs stick with controversial foul call in USC vs. Michigan State
A big call took place early in the second half of Michigan State and USC’s game in the NCAA Tourament. Based on what he saw, Gene Steratore didn’t agree with it one bit on the call.
While defending AJ Hoggard, Trojan guard Kobe Johnson appeared to take a shot to the neck. It was already key because it was Hoggard’s third. However, upon review, it became obvious as a flop by Johnson and, in turn, Steratore thought the call would be changed. Instead, no change came and no unsportsmanlike technical was called.
“What I see here honestly from the angles that I have? I really don’t see contact up to that area,” said Steratore in his analysis. “You’ve got someone that appears to impact that he’s been hit in the throat. They’ve called a foul. But, when they go over to review this, they could actually remove any foul that was called and go with no foul whatsoever. In my opinion, I really don’t see a lot of contact here at all. I could possibly see them removing any foul here whatsoever.”
“When you go over there and a player gives you this impression like they’ve really been hit in a severe way? But there doesn’t appear to be any contact? That becomes an unsporting technical foul for embellishing something that didn’t exist,” Steratore said. “I don’t know, if there’s slight contact, if you can say he’s completely embellishing or pretending as if there’s contact. I can see them just wiping everything away here and just playing basketball without a foul at all.”