Izzo hoping to work turnaround magic once again

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Spokane, Wash. – Tom Izzo’s program isn’t built on winning NCAA Tournament games.

It’s built on winning weekends.

The MSU men’s basketball coach is 14-3 in his career on the back-end of a NCAA Tournament weekend, with all three losses coming against No. 1 seeds.

But for all the March magic Izzo is known for, he’s quick to shift the credit.

“Well first of all, the managers and my video guys and my assistants, they’re like elves this time of year,” Izzo said. “It’s like preparing for Christmas Day… They do deserve 90 percent of the credit. I just deal with the finished products.”

The beneficiaries of all the preparation are the players, who learn everything they need to know about their opponent in about 48 hours.

“We watch a lot of film, walk-though, we know their players, their favorite moves, favorite shots, their tendencies, everything,” junior guard Chris Allen said. “It’s just (up to) us going out and executing.”

Izzo and the No. 5 seed Spartans will have to churn up some more magic if they want to advance to their third consecutive Sweet 16.

Fresh off a nail-biting 70-67 win over No. 12-seed New Mexico State on Friday night, MSU will take on No. 4-seed Maryland, the co-champions of the ACC, on Sunday with a trip to St. Louis on the line (2:40 p.m., CBS).

The Terrapins run defensive sets similar to New Mexico State, something the Spartans said will help their preparation.

“Considering we played New Mexico State for the first game, it helped a lot because they are similar teams,” Allen said. “Considering their defenses, they press and they get up in you so we were doing a lot of stuff preparing for both teams (last week).

Allen unknown
Allen did not practice Saturday and Izzo said the junior guard will be a game-time decision after injuring the arch of his right foot late in Friday’s victory.

Allen was confident he would play Saturday – although not start – but Izzo was more skeptical.

“It will be a day-to-day, minute-to-minute thing and I just don’t have any idea where he’ll be in and I’m glad he’s thinking that way, though,” Izzo said of Allen’s optimism. “I think that, too, is a step in the right direction compared to maybe where he was a year ago.”

The injury is a tough break for Allen, who had put a recent suspension behind him and was ready to start clean.

“It was like a dagger in your back,” Allen said. “Everything clears up and then this happens. Basically you just have to get past and get ready for the game tomorrow.”

Summers starts

Junior guard Durrell Summers started Friday night, one game after being benched against Minnesota for poor defense.

Summers scored 14 points, grabbed three offensive rebounds and had two steals in an improved defensive effort.

“The tournament is a different season,” Summers said. “The regular season is over with so you can’t bring that into the postseason. I think we all just tried to start over and try to be the team that we should’ve been the whole year.”

Izzo has called Summers his “end-of-the-year project,” and thought Summers took a step forward with his performance Friday night.

“I thought he’s been as focused as I’ve seen him at practices, the walk-throughs,” Izzo said. “He knows exactly what he’s doing and he had a great first half last night.”

Izzo said Summers’ problems have stemmed from a lack of focus, something that reappeared Friday night.

After scoring 10 of the team’s first 12 points, Summers disappeared for stretches throughout the rest of the game.

“I think he struggles to stay focused on the tasks that need to be taken to be the kind of player that I think he can be and I think you need to be a champion at this level,” Izzo said.

Still standing

After No. 2-seed Villanova’s loss to No. 10 seed Saint Mary’s on Saturday, the Spartans are the only team remaining in the tournament that participated in last season’s Final Four.

North Carolina and Connecticut did not make the tournament.

The consistency of his program (13 consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances) is something Izzo doesn’t take for granted.

“I think consistency is is what anybody wants,” Izzo said. “It’s what I want from my players… It’s probably what fans and media want from me, consistency is really the key. Anybody can do something once or twice.”

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