Wisconsin Badgers coach Greg Gard came to their game with the Michigan State Spartans sending high praises to his counterpart Tom Izzo and the team they built.
“He’s got the most wins in Big Ten history. I mean, I don’t know what else I need to say. He’s been in the Hall of Fame for a long time. He’s been a great mentor for me prior to being a head coach and since then,” he said before the weekend.
With the game done and Badgers going toe-to-toe with Big Ten’s number one team until the third minute mark of the fourth quarter, it is time for Izzo to return the praise.
The Basketball Hall of Fame member mentor thought Gard changed the culture in Wisconsin and he did it successfully.
I give Greg Gard a lot of credit. Not only did he adjust his team – and most of those guys are homegrown – but he adjusted his team, but he adjusted his style. I mean they ran us off the court there early. Their fast-break really did a good job against us, and we did a poor job during that time. He deserves a lot of credit, too, for changing something that they’ve done there forever when he was an assistant and I give him a lot of credit for that.
Wisconsin Badgers looks to redeem themselves
The Badgers lost but they are not worried.
The team will look to bounce back on Wednesday when they take on the Minnesota Golden Gophers who are at the bottom half of the Big Ten standings.
The Spartans came out with the win but for guard John Blackwell, there are takeaways they can use for their next game.
“We’re totally fine. We’ll get back at it,” Blackwell said. “We’ve got another big game coming up against Minnesota. We’ve just got to look at the film and see opportunities to score, where we’re best at.”
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