Michigan State basketball clinches share of Big Ten title with U-M loss to Maryland

Posted by author March 6, 2025 Basketball

Spread the love

Michigan State basketball has clinched at least a share of the Big Ten regular season title.
The Spartans can win the title outright with a win against Iowa on Thursday.
Coach Tom Izzo has tied the record for most Big Ten titles with 11.

Michigan State basketball has won the Big Ten regular-season title. Well, at least a share of it.

With Michigan’s loss to Maryland on Wednesday night, the Spartans have a two-loss lead over the Wolverines with two games to play, meaning even if they lose their both of their last two contest to Iowa and Michigan, the worst they can do is tie for first.

It’s a big accomplishment for a program that just last year barely escaped the NCAA tournament bubble.

But the Spartans have bigger goals than a shared title. Thursday’s game against Iowa means MSU can now claim the outright Big Ten regular season crown by beating the Hawkeyes, which would also take all the pressure off a rematch with Michigan on Sunday.

With the Wolverines’ loss to the Terrapins, Izzo has tied Indiana’s Bob Knight and Purdue’s Ward “Piggy” Lambert —both of whom predominantly predated the league’s postseason tournament that began in 1998 — for the most regular-season titles in Big Ten history, with 11. The 70-year-old Izzo earlier this season passed Knight for the most conference victories and now has 358.

However, only four of those have been as the sole champion. Izzo’s first two Final Four teams, 1999 and the 2000 national title team, won outright league titles, as did the 2009 team that finished as NCAA runners-up. The Spartans’ last outright Big Ten crown came in 2018, when they lost in the second round of the NCAA tourney to Syracuse.

Iowa (15-14, 6-12) is fighting for its Big Ten tournament life with two games remaining. With the expanded 18-team league this year, the bottom three teams won’t make the postseason event in Indianapolis that begins next Wednesday. The Hawkeyes enter Thursday tied with USC for the final spot in the 15-team field, with Washington (4-14) and Penn State (5-14) already eliminated and the Trojans having a head-to-head win over Iowa.

Win or lose against Iowa, Michigan State will have plenty to play for against a Michigan squad that will be out for revenge. The Spartans bested the Wolverines on their home floor last month, 75-62, and will tip off again at noon on Sunday on CBS in the regular season finale for both teams.

Subscribe to the “Spartan Speak” podcast for new episodes weekly on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or anywhere you listen to podcasts. And catch all of our podcasts and daily voice briefing at freep.com/podcasts.