Tom Izzo spent pre-game hours on anger management coaching in State College, Pa., where campus police responded to a scuffle between two MSU players.
Sophomore guard/forward Branden Dawson of Gary, Ind., and junior center Adreian Payne of Dayton, Ohio, had facial cuts and were benched for the start of Wednesday night's game against Penn State, The State News reports.
According to Penn State University police chief Tyrone Parham, the two players were involved in a verbal altercation that turned physical as the players exchanged punches, followed by one player shoving the other into the wall at the team's campus hotel.
"I've spent my entire afternoon meeting with the players involved and they are both sincerely remorseful," Izzo said in a statement.
"It was kind of a tough day," he told State News reporter Dillon Davis. "Right now I'm considering a lot of things with those two."
The pair, who are off-campus roommates in East Lansing, sat next to each other on the basketball court sideline during the first half. Payne wound up as the team’s leading scorer with 20 points as the Spartans won 81-72, giving Izzo his 200th Big Ten victory.
