EAST LANSING – While Coen Carr might be known for his dazzling dunks, Tom Izzo has someone else close to him who has become famous for posterizing others.
His mom.
In the three weeks since the Michigan State basketball coach was captured by TV cameras in a huddle during a win at Oregon telling guard Kur Teng that “you can’t guard my mother,” the legend of Dorothy Izzo has continued to grow.
Her grandson, Tom’s son Steven, on Tuesday, Feb. 10, posted a photo to his Instagram of his 99-year grandmother posing in front of a 24-by-36 inch poster of AI-generated, social media images of Dorothy Izzo putting on a scoring clinic against Teng.
Raining jumpers. Ripping crossover dribbles. Elevating for a slam.
“Even at 99,” Steven wrote, “she’s still a bucket.”
During his press conference Wednesday to preview No. 10 MSU’s game Friday at Wisconsin (8 p.m., Fox), Izzo was asked about the new wall decorations in his mother’s retirement home in Appleton, Wisconsin. He called it, “a hell of a poster.”
“When most of the people around you are 85, 95 and 100 years old – and she’s in a great place – that’s a conversation piece,” Izzo said with a grin. “They don’t care about who her son is, they care about who she is. The stance, the dunking, the dribbling, the shooting, it’s awesome, isn’t it? Awesome.”
Izzo added that hearing other coaches around the country use his mother as a benchmark for their own players has been fun as well. Illinois coach Brad Underwood complimented Dorothy Izzo’s game while talking about his player Ben Humrichous’ defense after a win over Washington on Jan. 29.
“Last year, I’m not sure Ben could guard a dead man,” Underwood said. “Probably would give up 20 (points) to Izzo’s mom last year.”
“My mom owes me a lot, man,” Izzo joked. “She famous. She owes Kur a lot. And Kur’s been great about it. It’s one of the things that you can have fun with in this job. And it’s not insulting. You know why? Because you’ve all been at practice. That’s one of the cleaner things we can say about somebody. And every coach in the country has one of those – ‘You’re weaker than my mom,’ ‘You’re weaker than my 1-year-old child.’
“It just our way of trying to give motivation to somebody. It happens a lot of different ways.”
Teng, by the way, hit a big 3-pointer in the waning seconds of regulation Saturday during MSU’s 85-82 overtime win over No. 7 Illinois.
“I’m gonna call her and say, ‘Mom, you know Kur’s shooting it better now. Maybe you couldn’t guard him today,’” Izzo joked. “I talk to her every day about it. I’ll keep her humble. I’m usually pretty good at keeping people humble.
“Although it’s a little harder when it’s your mother.”
Contact Chris Solari: csolari@freepress.com. Follow him @chrissolari.
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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Tom Izzo’s mom, 99, gets AI-generated poster of her scoring on Kur Teng
Reporting by Chris Solari, Detroit Free Press / Detroit Free Press
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
