Tom Izzo jokes about Carson Cooper having the green light on three-pointers: 'Are you on drugs?'

Michigan State center Carson Cooper knocked down his first career 3-pointer in the Spartans’ 91-48 win over Maryland on Saturday. After the game, MSU head coach Tom Izzo delivered a hilarious response when asked if Cooper now has the green light to fire up shots from downtown.

“Does he have the green light? Are you on drugs or what?” Izzo said. “You know, depends what the score is. I was happy for Coop. Like I said, those guys have given me a lot. And seeing them have some joy once in a while, because it’s not going to happen very often, and it wasn’t like it was screw-around time. It was still in the game.

“But, I will say this, all kidding aside, Carson Cooper has improved his shot and his free throws. … He’s done a hell of a job. So, if he wants to negotiate with me and say that he’ll cover the ball screens and get 10 rebounds if I let him shoot a 3 or so, maybe we can negotiate that. Nowadays, everything is negotiable.”

Cooper’s 3-pointer was in the flow of the game. With just under six minutes remaining in the first half, he trailed the ball as the Spartans pushed it up the court. Michigan State rotated the ball back to Cooper, who at the top of the key.

Instead of initiating the offense, Cooper made Maryland pay for sagging off him. The 6-foot-11 senior tallied 14 points, eight rebounds and three steals in the win.

Cooper not only connected from deep, but was a perfect 5-5 from the free-throw line as well. As a team, Michigan State shot 9-19 (47%) from beyond the arc.

It was a stellar shooting performance for the Spartans, who are shooting 35.8% from 3-point range this season. With the win, Michigan State improved to 8-1 in conference play and 18-2 on the season. Tom Izzo doesn’t plan on allowing his team’s success to go to their heads.

“I’d rather be the hunted, but I don’t always know if players can handle it, if media can handle it, if fans can handle it, parents can handle it,” Izzo said. “Now, let’s see, agents can handle it, NCAA can handle it – there are a lot of people that gotta handle it.

“And yet, that’s my job. My job is to make sure we do handle it. I can promise you in tomorrow’s meeting, it’ll get turned right back around and we go into Rutgers with the same mentality.”

Michigan State will square off against Rutgers at 6:30 p.m. ET on Tuesday. The game will air live on FS1.