“I’m sorry to his family, his daughter”: Tom Izzo pays respect to late high school legend Steve Finamore

Michigan State men's basketball head coach Tom Izzo paid his respects to Steve Finamore on Thursday. The high school basketball coach died at the age of 60 on Nov. 14.

Finamore was a head coach at East Lansing High School, Portland High School, and Jackson College. He coached the East Lansing boys team from 2010-18 and led them to back-to-back undefeated seasons in 2016 and 2017, per WKAR.

He also served as Izzo's graduate assistant at Michigan State. His time with the Spartans from 1999 to 2001 gifted him the experience of seeing the program win the national championship in 2000.

Izzo talked with media reporters after the Spartans' practice session, having heard the news about Finamore's death hours before the practice. Before responding to a question related to his team, Izzo took time to honor the moments he had with his former assistant. (Start at 2:11)

"I just want to say to Steve Finamore's family on how saddened I am. He's a guy that worked for me a while, was a phenomenal coach at East Lansing High School and some other places, I don't know all the details, you guys might know more than me.

"But from me, my program, Helen, Ganya, a lot of the guys that were around him back in the championship years, I just want to say I'm sorry to his family, his daughter, and how saddened I am by the news," Tom Izzo said.

Tom Izzo shares thoughts post-practice after Kansas defeat

Tom Izzo's Michigan State team suffered its first defeat of the season, going down to Kansas 77-69 in the Champions Classic on Tuesday. The Spartans struggled mightily from the field, shooting just 35% overall and 3-of-24 on 3-pointers.

After practice Thursday, Tom Izzo had some positives to take after watching the Kansas game film, but he stressed the need for the Spartans to hit their shots. (Start at 0:50)

"You've got to make open shots. As I looked at the film, there were still a few mistakes getting back, but I thought we played awfully well in a lot of ways. If just two of those 11 would have gone in, who knows? We got a lot of things to work on."

Izzo's team will have an opportunity to return to the win column against Bowling Green at the Jack Breslin Students Events Center on Nov. 16 at 6 p.m. ET.