Izzo: B1G title within Michigan State basketball reach 'if we take care of our business'

Izzo: B1G title within Michigan State basketball reach ‘if we take care of our business’

Posted by author March 1, 2025 Basketball

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No. 8 Michigan State is tied with No. 13 Michigan atop the Big Ten basketball standings with tough games remaining for each rival, including their regular-season finale against each other March 9
The Spartans (23-5, 14-3 Big Ten), who have won four straight and five of their last six games, face a fourth straight ranked opponent Sunday when they host No. 11 Wisconsin.
A win over Wisconsin would secure a double-bye to the Big Ten tournament for the Spartans.

EAST LANSING — It is a championship chase few could have foreseen before the season, let alone in January. Or even three weeks ago.

Fate and fortune does not ascribe to preseason predictions, though. And in the span of a little more than 24 hours, less than a week after their first of two increasingly important meetings, both Michigan State basketball and rival Michigan firmly established themselves as the top combatants for the Big Ten title as the final regular-season games dwindle toward their eventual March 9 rematch.

The No. 8 Spartans have the upper hand on the 13th-ranked Wolverines by virtue of last Friday’s win in Ann Arbor. The only problem?

Both have to play two more games before they meet again. And after Tre Holloman drained a 60-foot 3-pointer to beat Maryland on Wednesday night, Nimari Burnett answered with a buzzer-beating 3 of his own Thursday to stave off Rutgers — a harbinger that neither plans to fade as they enter the home stretch tied atop the standings.

“Like I told my guys early, once we beat Maryland, we don’t have to hope for anybody to win, we don’t have to hope for anybody to lose,” MSU coach Tom Izzo said after practice Friday. “Don’t worry about what anybody else does. Go earn everything yourself. The ball’s in our court — they know that — if we take care of our business. That’s what I told them. So it’s one game at a time.”

The Spartans (23-5, 14-3 Big Ten), who have won four straight and five of their last six games, face a fourth straight ranked opponent Sunday (1:30 p.m., CBS) when they host No. 11 Wisconsin (22-6, 12-5).

It didn’t take long after Wednesday’s 58-55 thriller over the Terrapins for Izzo to remind his players that the Badgers have won six of their past seven and eight of nine. They also still have an outside chance of sneaking past MSU and U-M into the title race. And coach Greg Gard’s team swept last year’s two meetings and has won three straight at Breslin.

“You all know Wisconsin’s playing as good as anybody. … They’re a good team,” said Izzo, who would tie Bob Knight and Ward “Piggy” Lambert if the Spartans can finish off his 11th regular-season Big Ten title. “Just because we got them at home doesn’t mean anything. They beat us here more than a couple times.”

A win over Wisconsin would secure a double-bye to the Big Ten tournament for the Spartans. Following Sunday’s showcase showdown with the Badgers, MSU faces Iowa on Thursday for the Hawkeyes’ senior day, then makes another quick turnaround three days later when U-M visits.

It all requires the Spartans to keep their focus solely on the next opponent and not what may or may not be looming to close the regular season.

“It’s kind of hard to really look forward,” redshirt freshman point guard Jeremy Fears said after Friday’s practice. “Obviously, the next three games are (against) great teams.”

MSU was picked fifth and U-M ninth in the annual preseason Big Ten media poll. The Spartans played their way into the driver’s seat by opening league play with nine straight wins, and they re-established themselves after losses at USC and UCLA and at home to Indiana. It took winning at Illinois, beating Purdue at home and then taking down the Wolverines and Terrapins during the recent stretch.

Yet Fears felt any shock of being in the title race for the first time since 2020 wore off quickly for him and his teammates.

“I don’t think it was any surprise just by the way we started really well. We were rolling and on a heater, I think,” he said. “And just now, it’s like, take your time. Be in the moment. Don’t look forward or past no team.

“We’re too close to the finish line, I think, to mess it up, or to be looking forward for games and weeks and stuff like that.”

After facing the Spartans, Wisconsin has the easiest final week slate with a Wednesday trip to Minnesota and a season-ending home game with Penn State next Saturday. Both Badger opponents could be eliminated from inclusion in the first 15-team Big Ten tournament, which starts March 12 in Indianapolis.

The Wolverines (22-6, 14-3) rallied from a 13-point deficit Thursday at home to fend off Rutgers, 84-82, on Burnett’s shot at the horn to draw back into a tie with MSU. That came after a 49-46 escape at Nebraska following falling at home to the Spartans, 75-62. U-M faces pivotal tests Sunday against dangerous Illinois and Wednesday against the No. 15 Terrapins, but both of those are at Crisler Center before the noon finale at MSU.

Maryland is among three teams at 11-6 in league play and gunning for a double-bye in Indianapolis, so there remains much at stake beyond just who will get to hang a banner for a regular-season title.

Ask Izzo, though, and he feels the Spartans are right where he wants them to always be: With a chance to win it all.

“You did what this program should do. It’s done it probably 10 times, 20 times — and that’s you get the last two weeks, you get the last four games, now it’s three games and you have a mathematical chance to win the league,” he said. “And that’s what I said the first time I won the league. I haven’t felt any different. I think that pressure should be on, if it’s pressure. I think we should expect that because of where the program is. And it’s not always gonna work out your way.

“But they sure as hell don’t think they’ve accomplished anything. I mean, look at the banners — there hasn’t been one hung in a little while.”

Contact Chris Solari: csolari@freepress.com. Follow him @chrissolari.

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