EAST LANSING - Even in victory, MSU's tough-as-nails head coach Tom Izzo was not at all happy despite the fact his Spartans whipped Toledo 75-62.
Izzo felt that MSU's 13-point win should have been much greater and took it as a sign that his team has work to do before it can truly be called "elite."
"I'm very disappointed in how we played," said Izzo
"and I feel bad for the couple of guys who did play well."
Izzo bemoaned the team's shot selection and lack of a complete defensive effort. "The blame should fall squarely on me, its my team and I wasn't very happy with them."
One factor that particularly bothered Izzo was the fact that MSU only outrebounded the smaller Rockets by four (40-44).
The coach said it appears some of MSU's players think they are better than they are.
"You would think you'd learn a lesson after you got physically beat up against Gonzaga, but sometimes winning cures all evils. I just hope they can learn it before it goes the other way."
"Since you all want to know what I think this program has to do to become an elite program, you saw it tonight. Duke beats this team bad, gets 'em down and beats 'em bad, Michigan State doesn't. We are not where we need to be to have this program to be thought of as elite status. Great teams don't have those letdowns."
Look for the Spartans to respond to Izzo's criticism and come out firing on Sunday when they face Valpariso in the opening round of the Legends classic at 12 noon.