Former Michigan State standout Paul Davis apologized on Tuesday for his behavior that led to him being ejected from the Spartans’ Big Ten win over Southern California on Monday night in East Lansing, Mich.
Davis, 41, who was sitting three rows from the Breslin Center court, was booted for saying something inappropriate to veteran referee Jeffrey Anderson with the No. 12 Spartans leading 67-46 with 6:01 to play in an 80-51 victory.
Michigan State coach Tom Izzo, after Anderson informed him what Davis had said, gestured across the court toward his former player and yelled at him, asking Davis what he was doing.
Davis was escorted from the court by a Michigan State administrator. On Tuesday, he made amends. Davis said he called Anderson in the morning and then apologized in the afternoon at a press conference with Izzo.
“I want to, first, apologize to the officiating crew,” Davis said. “I talked with Jeff Anderson this morning. Short conversation, but amazing conversation. Amazing guy. I want to apologize to Coach, the team. Current guys, I told them the focus was taken off you, taken off USC.”
Davis averaged 13.2 points, 7.0 rebounds and 25.8 minutes per game for Michigan State in four seasons from 2002-06. The Los Angeles Clippers selected him in the second round of the 2006 NBA draft. Davis appeared in 82 games spread over four seasons with the Clippers (2006-09) and Washington Wizards (2009-10). He averaged 2.6 points, 1.9 rebounds and 8.6 minutes.
On Monday night, Izzo offered this take on Davis’ verbiage: “But what he said, he should never say anywhere in the world. That ticked me off.”
On Tuesday, Izzo appreciated Davis’ eagerness to try to set things right.
“I think that the way you measure a person is how they bounce back,” Izzo said. “I’ll give you an example that he won’t or will remember, but 22 years ago or so, we’re down at Ann Arbor and I didn’t think he went after a ball hard enough — and I made a fool 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. As I looked back on it years later, I said, ‘God, what a jerk you were.’ Then I looked at how he turned out and made The League and this and that, I said God bless me and God bless him.”
