[Bette]

Tom Izzo still hasn't gotten over Alando Tucker's dunk that finished off Wisconsin's 64-53 win over Michigan State at the Kohl Center in 2003.

Izzo told reporters in Michigan this week that it bothers him that Wisconsin has a winning record against his team since Bo Ryan took over the program. Michigan State plays Wisconsin in a Big Ten Conference game Sunday afternoon at the Breslin Center.

"It really started with the dunk in the last 10 seconds of a game -- when you see every other Big Ten team holds it up and that didn't happen, that ticked me off," said Izzo, whose team is 3-11 against Wisconsin since Ryan took over. "I said something about it, so that made every Wisconsin fan mad at me and every Michigan State fan mad at him. I brought it up and he acted like it was no big deal. Well, you know what? I didn't like that and I may not for the rest of my life.

"I don't want you to make a big deal about it, but he never ever said a word about it,'' Izzo continued. "Even when people said, 'Did he call and apologize? Did he do this and that?' No. Well ... we didn't do that when we beat them nine times in a row or 11 times in a row. And you know what? He beat us in the one Big Ten championship year, and that hurts, but we got Wisconsin in the Final Four and that was for a national championship."

Izzo said Wisconsin's dominance over the Spartans under Ryan is a motivating factor. "It bothers me, but I don't play the game," Izzo said. "Do I sit there and say it doesn't bother me? No, of course it bothers me. But all it makes me do is work to do what I can do better and try to prepare them better, and eventually the players play the game.''

Izzo also said he doesn't dislike Ryan. "We're not hanging out, but I'm not enemies with Bo. We're on a board together, and I get along with Bo," he said.

Since Izzo expressed how he feels about the Badgers, it wasn't a surprise that his players followed suit.

"I don't like Wisconsin," said senior forward Goran Suton. "That's no secret. I don't think they like us, either. They're dirty, they push, they hold. Actually, I like Michigan more than I like them. That's pretty bad."

Senior guard Travis Walton also said the rivalry with the UW ranks with the Michigan rivalry. "If you look at the last couple of years when we didn't win the Big Ten, it's had something to do with Wisconsin," he said.

BadgerBeat.com - Wisconsin Badgers men's basketball: Spartans still hate UW

[Bette]

I saw this game and it looked like there was a lot of pushing, shoving and holding on both sides. It was a wild game.