425 Quotes by Tom Izzo

Do the little things right to reach the big goals.

The only reason I'd say no to that is because it's the type of player he is. We have other guys that can fill in in certain spots, but it's the athlete, it's the versatile 6-6, 6-7 athlete that can guard inside guys and guards, and that's where it creates some problems for us. It's not really replacing apples to apples. Anybody else that we replace him with is a completely different kind of athlete.

Talking about sacrificing in terms of giving up a couple of hours compared to giving up a life, they just don't match.

We still played good defense and pretty good offense. We shot 50%, 40-something from three.

We weren't the prettiest -- Illinois really pressured us and it bothered us some -- but the defense we played and the job we did, I can't say enough.

I think that will be one of the keys to the season, will we survive if we lose two games, three games, maybe even five? ... The problem nowadays with the Internet and talk radio -- all of a sudden everyone's getting down on you, and your confidence can go down.

You can't even punch a guy in the groin anymore.

It is a win-win-win. I guess on paper, if he goes, it looks like it's a lose for me. It's a lose if you look at the small picture, but a real win if you look at the big picture. The potential of maybe having three first-round picks is pretty impressive.

Turnovers really killed us. We struggled not to turn the ball over.