Famous quotes by Tom Izzo:

"I thought we had it won a couple of times and let it slip away."

"Even the officials looked at me before the game and said this is special. It was a big win."

"I'm really excited. A lot of our older players were here. I felt like the old guys were back and we played our old style."

"He probably tried to do too much because he was forced into that position."

"It will be good to be home, and we have to find a way to get back to what we've done. It's not like we have to reinvent the wheel, but we just have to get back to playing the offensive basketball we've been playing instead of the standing around that we've been doing [lately]."

"I'm not sure how many people would have picked us to win either road game. We played at the two toughest road places."

"I think it was one of the most incredible performances I've seen."

"I did not feel that we were in sync. I think you have to give Illinois some credit for that but I also think you have to give us some blame."

"When we won the national championship (in 2000), it was an incredible run and an incredible week, but when I walked off the airplane and pulled up to the hotel and someone pokes his head in the bus and says 'Thank you,' I knew what this was going to be about,"

"I'm looking at this as a miniature Bob Hope tour. We're going to get a chance to bring a little bit of America over to them, since they've done so much for us."