Michigan State arrives early for quality team bonding time

Michigan State coach Tom Izzo thought it was the right idea to arrive in the Twin Cities two days before playing the Gophers on Sunday.

If the Spartans lost the game, Izzo admitted late he would've been fine being called out for the decision, but the results ended up being in their favor, a 70-52 win at Williams Arena.

"For some reasons, I decided to do that," Izzo said. "If we lost the game, everybody would've thought we were just on a vacation. I could only tell you I had some serious reasons why I wanted to. Just get our team together."

The Spartans played their third time on the road in four games Sunday, but they hadn't spent that much time as a team bonding. They attended Friday's Timberwolves game against the Houston Rockets at Target Center.

Izzo said the Wolves and the Gophers allowed Michigan State to use the U's facilities to practice earlier than on the day of the game.

"We haven't had a lot of time to spend together with all that we've been through," he said. "Sometimes we have half our team, or three quarters of our team. We needed to have our whole team there."

Senior guard Cassius Winston lost his brother earlier in the season, so Izzo was hoping the team really came together with this entire trip to Minnesota.

"You know how it goes," Izzo said. "You lose, you're the dumbest human being on the planet. I've won a few times being the dumbest human being on the planet."

Marcus Fuller