Paul Davis, ex-Michigan State basketball star, apologizes for ejection

EAST LANSING — Tom Izzo brought out a familiar face as Michigan State basketball wrapped up practice Tuesday, Jan. 6.

Paul Davis talked to the Spartans, apologizing to them and Izzo for stealing their moment less than 18 hours earlier. Izzo’s 750th career win and No. 13 MSU’s resounding blowout of USC should have been the story.

Instead, Davis getting removed from his courtside seat after saying something to a referee – then receiving a cross-court scolding from his former coach on live national TV with the game stopped – turned into one of the most surreal moments in Breslin Center history.

And, a day later, that provided an opportunity for a lesson from the former MSU star and a crystalized example of the family Izzo has built within his program over 31 seasons.

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Davis delivered a heartfelt and emotional public apology Tuesday after Izzo’s press conference previewing the Spartans' game against Northwestern on Thursday (6:30 p.m., BTN). The 41-year-old Davis called Izzo early Tuesday morning and also said he spoke with referee Jeffrey Anderson to make amends for what happened Monday night.

“Yesterday shouldn’t have happened, but today needs to happen,” Davis said, his 6-foot-11 frame trembling as he quivered behind a podium he hadn’t stood at in 20 years. “I’m not up here to make any excuses, I’m up here to take accountability, to own it. There’s a lot of people, obviously, that know me. Some have been here for 25 years and know that’s not me.

“But last night it was.”

With 6:01 to play in the Spartans’ 80-51 blowout of the Trojans, Anderson whistled to stop play after Davis was seen standing from his courtside spot in the alumni Izzone, saying something toward the 30-year veteran referee. It is unclear what specifically was said, and neither Davis nor Izzo would repeat it.

MSU event staff removed Davis from his seat, putting him in a concourse level suite.

Davis played at MSU from 2002-06, helping the Spartans in 2005 to Izzo’s fourth Final Four and going on to become a second-round draft pick of the Los Angeles Clippers. The Rochester native played four seasons in the NBA and professionally until 2015 and remains MSU's 10th scorer all-time, with 1,718 points, and fifth-leading rebounder, with 910.

The incident happened around 10:30 p.m. Izzo said Davis called him around 6:30 a.m., before his former coach even had a chance to reach out. Davis said he wanted to “make sure that people hear what I was saying” rather than issuing a statement about the incident.

“This was the easy part. The hard part was every minute leading up to this,” Davis said. “If anything, the lesson – whether it’s for myself or young kids – is taking accountability. That’s what we do here. Whether it’s good, bad or in between, we have each other’s backs. …

“As terrible as a situation as it was, you try to find what good can come out of this. And I hope the accountability – whether you’re a 20-year-old MSU basketball player or a 9-year-old wanting to be – that this is what in Spartan Country we do.”

Davis said he sought out Anderson’s number after talking to Izzo, and he felt they had a good conversation.

“It had nothing to do with the game, with Jeffrey Anderson,” Davis said. “The next time we’re at a game together, we said we’re gonna have a big hug. It’ll be the first time I ever hug a ref. He couldn’t have been nicer on the phone. Nothing toward anything or anybody, it was a bad day.”

Izzo said to Davis that how he handled addressing the media and the situation start to finish on Tuesday “impressed me.”

“There’s one thing that’s in my office, there’s a sign there that says to self-evaluate. And none of us are great at it, you or me,” Izzo said. “None of us will have ever been perfect. I’m definitely not. I’ve done some embarrassing things myself in my career.”

Izzo then reflected on a moment in an MSU game at Michigan while Davis was a player in which “I didn’t think [Davis] went after a ball hard enough, and I made a fool out of myself in front of 13,000 people at his expense.

“I was young and dumb then. I didn’t feel bad about it at all,” Izzo continued. “As I looked back on it years later, I said, ‘God, what a jerk you were.’ And then I looked at how he turned out. He made it to the league and this and that, and I said, ‘God bless me and God bless him.’”

Izzo said Davis has remained active with the program over the decades, helping mentor players in offseason practices and during seasons regularly for games “offering his advice and his experience.” Davis said he and current MSU bigs Jaxon Kohler and Carson Cooper regularly text each other.

Which was a big reason Davis wanted to speak publicly. Not just for current Spartans but for “that kid that is pretending to be Mateen (Cleaves) or pretending to be Jaxon Kohler that wants to wear the Block 'S.'”

And not just to apologize, but to use it as a moment of growth and understanding.

“I think that just shows the type of culture we have here,” MSU freshman Cam Ward said of talking to Davis after practice Tuesday. “I mean, nobody’s perfect. But the fact he could build up his own confidence to come in here, to speak to the media, to speak to Iz, to speak to just the people that matter here and just apologize and be a man about it was pretty impressive.”

Both Davis and Izzo said he will be at the Northwestern game Thursday. Ward joked that Davis’ situation and how he and Izzo have handled it, “means when I leave here, he’ll probably still call and cuss me out.” And for Izzo, that type of lifelong connection always has been at the core of his coaching philosophy since he took over for Jud Heathcote in 1995.

“Everybody preaches the family atmosphere. We walk the talk,” Izzo said. “We walk the talk as good or better – no, we walk the talk better – than any institution I know of. …

“We do hold each other accountable. But we will always support one another.”

Contact Chris Solari: [email protected]. Follow him @chrissolari.

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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Paul Davis, ex-Michigan State basketball star, apologizes for ejection