The question wasn't about the fans, but Tom Izzo took the time to send them a message anyway.
In particular, those fans who've been coming after his players on social media amid the team's 3-4 skid that continued with Tuesday night's loss to Penn State. Izzo said he's "sick" of all the negativity.
"I'm going to tell you something guys, and I really mean this from the bottom of my heart. If there's any Michigan State people out there that are abusing some of my players on that frickin' Twitter, I'm sick of it. I'm sick of dealing with what I have to deal with on that. So if they are Michigan State fans, I'll be more than happy to buy their tickets, and I mean that.
"Some of the stuff that my guys have put in front of me the last couple days, I mean, we're still 16-7. We're not 5-20. I'm pretty proud of this place, I'm pretty proud of the 550,000 living alumns, and it's despicable some of the things that have gone out there about some of our guys that have given more to this program than most of those alumns or most of those people sitting behind a chicken keyboard."
"If there's any Michigan State people out there that are abusing some of my players on that freakin' Twitter...I'm sick of it."Following Tuesday's loss to Penn State, Tom Izzo addressed some of the criticism he's seen on social media: pic.twitter.com/KQgPwLCgHB
— Michigan St. on BTN (@MichiganStOnBTN) February 5, 2020If fans want to air their frustration, Izzo said, he should be the target.
"I'm asking all Michigan State fans, real fans, to understand, I get paid a lot of money so take your shots at me. Don't take them on a kid who's a 3.7 student and done more for this university than most of those people have. I's despicable to me. That's my shootout to the people who either love me or hate me," he said.
The Spartans' loss Tuesday dropped them to 8-4 in the Big Ten, a half-game behind co-leaders Maryland and Illinois. While it hasn't been a season of roses for a team that began the year ranked No. 1 in the country, Michigan State remains on solid ground entering the stretch run. A quick glance at the comments on the team's Twitter account would suggest otherwise.
Xavier Tillman, for what it's worth, said he hasn't been aware of any outside negativity, though he stays off Twitter during the season. And if it's weighing on any of the younger players, Tillman doesn't sense it.
"They never talk about it, and they do a good job of not getting frustrated too easily about different stuff," he said. "Definitely I'm a fly on the wall to make sure that guys are good mentally. That's huge for us just to make sure that everybody has that mental toughness, but at the same time know that this is just a game. You still have a life after this so you can't be caught up on if you missed a layup or you got dunked on or something. It's just a game."
