Why Tom Izzo believes Tennessee basketball is a Final Four team
Tom Izzo didn’t hesitate to label Tennessee basketball a Final Four team on Sunday evening following its exhibition win over Michigan
EAST LANSING, Mich. Rick Barnes and Tom Izzo have been good friends dating back to when Barnes was the head coach at Texas. So when Izzo was presented with an opportunity to put a little pressure on his friend, he didn’t hesitate.
“That is a Final Four team,” Izzo told the media on Sunday evening after No. 9 Tennessee basketball beat No. 4 Michigan State, 89-88, in a charity exhibition. “I really believe that. I really do. I think he feels good about that, too. You have to be good. You have to be lucky. You have to be all those things. Tennessee is a team that is going to beat a lot of people.”
The sentiment followed what felt like a statement win for Tennessee in East Lansing. Even it was simply a charity exhibition to help raise money for the ongoing relief efforts in Hawaii following the Maui wildfires.
Tennessee led Michigan State wire-to-wire after jumping out to a 15-1 lead. And when the Spartans cut it to a one-point game on two separate occasions, the Vols didn’t flinch either time in front of a rowdy crowd at the Breslin Center.
“That team was picked to win the SEC and you can see why,” Izzo said. “They have a team that has a legitimate shot because they have enough depth and they have enough different (lineups). They put Josiah(-Jordan James) at the three some and went really big. They can go really big. They can go small and put him at the four. I think when you can do that it is always healthy in the tournament when you run into different styles and different teams.”
“There’s no question that it had to be one of the most physical and athletic teams. There are physical teams and then there’s athletic teams. You’ve got physicality and athleticism and some size, that is what makes them a pretty good team.”
Tennessee’s impressive performance stands out even more when you consider the fact that it did so without Santiago Vescovi and Zakai Zeigler. Vescovi is currently back home in Uruguay tending to a family matter while Zeigler isn’t quite ready to return coming off a torn ACL, respectively.
A pair of new faces led the charge for the Vols in the absence of Vescovi and Zeigler. Northern Colorado transfer Dalton Knecht exploded for a game-high 28 points while USC Upstate transfer Jordan Gainey chipped in 20 points for the duo to combine to score 48 of Tennessee’s 89 points.
“They aren’t going to play better than those two guys,” Izzo said. “(Barnes) told me after that was the best and hardest game that Knecht had played.”
Leave a Reply