The unspoken fourth element the Hall of Fame coach demands from his Michigan State basketball players is communication. About which he had plenty to say with the first real game looming – starting with getting his guys to stop being so quiet.
“That is one of our problems. And who would ever think that?” Izzo said before practice Thursday, Oct. 29. “If you wrote that Izzo is worried about communication, most people would say you better worry about your jump shots or turnovers or guarding somebody or getting a rebound. It’s a very important part of the game and one we’re spending some time on, because it’s been a few more guys than normal.
“And so if that’s their personality, then we’re gonna try to change some of their personality.”
Izzo’s team exited the exhibition season with two losses in three games, and he is concerned about his players showing more of the holy trinity of the Spartans’ staples.
He needs to see more from his fastbreak. He wants Jeremy Fears Jr. to turn up that tempo; as Izzo is pushing his All-American point guard to become more of a pest on the other end. He continues to try and coax more and more rebounding out of a frontcourt that, he admits, remains a work in progress.
But Izzo’s biggest order ahead of No. 6 MSU’s season-opener against Quinnipiac is for the Spartans to become louder and talk more while on the court.
“You can’t play defense without communication. So that’s first,” forward Coen Carr said after Thursday’s practice. “Communication might even be before you defend, to be honest. That’s the most important thing.”
When the season tips off at Breslin Center on Monday, Nov. 2 (7 p.m., BTN+), Izzo wants the Spartans to look sharper defensively after Connecticut and Marquette combined to make 19 of 50 3-point attempts in MSU’s two exhibition losses. The Golden Eagles shot 50% overall and from behind the arc in their 86-79 win Sunday in Milwaukee.
“I think we realized we had a couple moments in that game where we were making a run and we would kill ourselves,” Fears said after Thursday’s practice. “Or we were showing fatigue and you’re not talking. And our communication can be a lot better. So just overall, it’s understanding that we still got a lot of work to do.”
That extends to the other three areas Izzo has historically harped on as well as the Spartans prepare to open against a Quinnipiac team that went 19-13 a year ago and is picked to finish sixth in the preseason Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference poll.
“We defend, we rebound, we run. It’s been the same mantra for all my years. … It’s been there for a long time,” he said. “In neither [UConn and Marquette] game did we do a very good job of that. And it starts because we didn’t defend as well.”
To Izzo, that begins with Fears out front and carries over through the rest of the unit. He vented frustration with how MSU’s big men struggled with pick-and-roll coverage both Sunday and in the 78-70 home loss to the fifth-ranked Huskies.
Izzo also was disappointed in how the Spartans ran in transition, though they improved to 23 fastbreak points against Marquette after scoring only five against UConn, which retreated on defense repeatedly to prevent Fears and Carr from electrifying the Breslin crowd. Fears got off to slow starts in both games, however, though he dished out 15 assists with his 41 points in the two losses.
“I think we have one of the best point guards in the country and one of the best ones I’ve had,” Izzo said. “We are not pushing the ball. Some of that’s on Jeremy. We are not running. Some of it’s on the other guys. … It’s almost like I felt a little complacency in there right now that I’m gonna be aware of. Because we’re not doing what our stamp is. Our stamp on this basketball world is our fastbreak.”
Izzo continues to be wary of the outside noise of fans and pundits predicting MSU to be among the top contenders to get to the Final Four in Detroit come April. He said he hears about it daily as if “people think I’m living in a vacuum.”
“I know where it’s at. And the same pressures are for Michigan and, hell, probably Detroit and Oakland and Western and Central and Eastern. Everybody who’s in this state. Because it’s like Halley’s Comet – it doesn’t come around very often. …
“But the questions and that, I’m gonna be a jerk because I’m gonna quit answering those questions pretty quick. Only because we have no right to. We’re just one of 20 teams that’s good enough to get there. And I do think we are one of those.”
Yet while staying mum about Detroit is on the horizon, Izzo also wants his players – “I’ve never had so many quiet guys,” he added – to speak up more frequently now that the games begin to count.
“It’s just understanding that it’s something that you can control,” Fears said. “We can control our energy and effort, we can control communicating and talking every possession. It’s trying to demand that and to get guys to do it every possession.
Contact Chris Solari: csolari@freepress.com. Follow him @chrissolari.
Subscribe to the "Spartan Speak" podcast for new episodes on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or anywhere you listen to podcasts.
Next up: Bobcats
Matchup: No. 6 Michigan State (27-8 in 2025-26) vs. Quinnipiac (19-13 in 2025-26); season opener.
Tipoff: 7 p.m. Monday, Nov. 2; Breslin Center, East Lansing.
TV/radio: BIG+ (online only); WJR-AM (760).
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Tom Izzo: Michigan State basketball must improve on-court talking