Legendary Michigan State coach Tom Izzo was quite furious with a former player Monday night and let him know.
Paul Davis, a former star center for the Spartans from 2002-06, was sitting courtside at the Breslin Center in East Lansing and was ejected by his former coach during Michigan State’s dominant 80-51 victory over USC.
Davis was apparently thrown out for some inappropriate comments he made during the game, although Izzo stopped short of revealing what the actual comments were.
“I love Paul Davis. I really do,” Izzo told reporters postgame.
“He’s one of my favorite guys. He’s always calling and doing things, but what he said … he should never say anywhere in the world. And that ticked me off.”
Referee Jeffery Anderson immediately blew the whistle with the Spartans up 67-46 and 6:01 left in the game, and pointed at Davis before going over to Izzo to tell him what was said.
When they pointed at Davis, who was drinking a Twisted Tea, other Michigan State fans sitting around him began clapping.
Izzo immediately threw his hands up in the air and appeared to mouth, “What the f–k are you doing?” to his former player.
The Spartans’ coach then raised his hand and pointed for Davis to leave.
Izzo added that Davis got after an official in a way that he did not like, although he said that Davis’ comments were not racially charged.
“So he kind of got after the official, and he was 150 percent wrong. For a guy like me to 150 percent agree with the officials — it’s almost illegal,” Izzo said.
“So it was nothing — when I said he shouldn’t have said it, you just shouldn’t say what he said. But it wasn’t, you know, let’s not get carried away. It wasn’t something racial, it wasn’t something sexual. It wasn’t, you know. So it was just the wrong thing to say, and I’ll leave it at that.”
Izzo added that he expects to call Davis and discuss what happened and receive an apology.
Davis earned Mr. Basketball of Michigan honors as a prep star before heading to East Lansing, and was drafted by the Clippers in 2006.
He has since moved on to finance, where he is a partner at The Podium Group.
