Izzo: Senior leadership helping MSU hoops excel

EAST LANSING -- About five hours after the bus from the airport got to Breslin Center on Monday morning — a tidy 7 a.m., after Sunday’s 10 p.m. game in Anaheim, Calif. — Tom Izzo stood in front of reporters and talked about his 7-0, No. 3-ranked Spartans.

And Izzo really didn’t look tired at all. There’s an energy around his team right now, which has matched the second-best start of his 21-year tenure entering Wednesday’s ACC/Big Ten Challenge home game against 5-0 Louisville.

That’s aided by MSU football, which plays Iowa on Saturday in Indianapolis for the Big Ten championship and a likely College Football Playoff spot — Izzo and his team watched Mark Dantonio’s Spartans crush Penn State on Saturday with about 850 MSU alums in California — and by fans Izzo said made up about 90% of the crowd for the Wooden Legacy Classic his team just won.

Mostly, Izzo is excited about his group, which came back  to beat Providence, 77-64, on Sunday  in the tournament championship game, after toughing out a win over Boise State in Friday’s semifinals, after making a statement in the second game of the season with a comeback win over Kansas.

This is one of his deepest teams, as shown by the key plays made late Sunday by players such as Kenny Goins, Matt McQuaid, Deyonta Davis and Eron Harris. More important than that, it might be as strong a locker room as he has had.

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“I think we’re making progress, and I don’t think that’s coaching,” Izzo said. “I think that’s leadership with our seniors, especially Denzel.”

Denzel Valentine was named tournament MVP and is averaging 19.9 points, 8.9 rebounds and 8.6 assists a game, with two triple-doubles already to his credit. He’s getting early discussion as a national player of the year candidate, and he is Big Ten player of the week (Davis is Big Ten freshman of the week) and NBC Sports’ national player of the week, both for the second time in two weeks.

Valentine had an off night against Providence, but he still finished with 17 points and key passes late, then impressed Izzo with a discussion they had on the plane ride back.

Defenses are going to focus more and more on stopping Valentine, Izzo said, and he’ll have to adjust. Valentine agreed and talked about other parts of the team that are coming together — such as Harris attacking the rim and making unselfish plays to help beat Providence.

“I wasn’t always pleased with the way he played last night, but I give Zel a lot of credit,” Izzo said of Valentine. “He has truly taken over this team with his leadership, and maybe more important, his will to win. … You have to go through things to learn things, and he’s doing that at an incredible rate. And that’s been fun to watch. It’s been the great part about watching a kid grow right in front of your eyes.”

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Valentine did show some frustration at the end of the Providence game when Providence's Kyron Cartwright grabbed him and Valentine responded by turning and throwing the ball at Cartwright. Valentine said he texted Providence star Kris Dunn, a friend, to apologize to Cartwright.

"Everybody makes mistakes, man. I made a huge mistake," Valentine said. "I let frustration get to me. He kind of grabbed me and I was ... mad a little bit how they were defending me and I felt a little bit disrespected. He grabbed me and just reacted the wrong way...

"I should be more classy than that. It was a mistake from my part. But I’m human, I make mistakes and I’m just going to learn from it."

Valentine also said he felt he "let my team down" by getting two early fouls in the game, but "my teammates responded and we grinded it out."

On the injury front, MSU will be without Gavin Schilling for at least another week, Izzo said, as Schilling tries to let his turf toe heal completely. Izzo said Schilling is out of his protective boot this week for the first time.

Graham Couch of the Lansing State Journal contributed to this report. Contact Joe Rexrode: jrexrode@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @joerexrode. Check out his MSU blog at freep.com/heyjoe.