WATCH: Tom Izzo gives crazy visual on potentially eliminating handshake lines
Tom Izzo can’t imagine college basketball without handshake lines. The Michigan State coach offered a humorous response Monday when addressing the possibility of eliminating one of the oldest traditions in the game.
“If some team doesn’t want to shake hands, you’re gonna see 15 of my guys walk around and shake air and I’m gonna shake air and then we’re gonna leave,” Izzo said.
The discussion came after a brawl broke out Sunday afternoon at the end of a game between Michigan and Wisconsin. Wolverines coach Juwan Howard exchanged some heated words with Badgers coach Greg Gard before winding up and throwing a punch at him. That resulted in the suspension of Howard for the remainder of the regular season, which for the Wolverines is five games. Gard was fined $10,000, but was not suspended.
Howard was reportedly not happy with Gard’s decision to call a timeout with 15 seconds left in the game and a sizable lead. The Badgers held a 15-point lead at the time and would go on to win by a score of 77-63.
The Wisconsin coach later defended his decision to call the timeout, saying he wanted to reset the 10-second clock and give his reserves time to get the ball up the court against a press.
“I had all the reserves in and I was not gonna put them in a position when the ball had already been knocked out of bounds to have to break a press with four seconds when they’re coming in cold off the bench,” Gard said. “So I took a timeout, which I’m allowed to do. I brought them over and tried to get them organized. They had all been on the floor in pressure situations before and I wanted to give them the best chance to have success. I told them, ‘We’re not gonna shoot the ball. All we’re doing is breaking pressure, then we’re gonna come up and dribble out the clock.’ We were on our spot, we got organized and that is the situation that he was apparently upset with.”
Michigan State is one of the remaining five games for the Wolverines, with the rival schools set to tip off on March 1. Despite the recent scuffle, handshake lines aren’t going anywhere for Michigan State, so expect Tom Izzo and the Spartans to line up after that one for a show of sportsmanship.