Category: Tom Izzo

Michigan State Basketball vs. No. 3 Michigan: Game details, tipoff times announced

Michigan State will play Michigan two games in a row to close out the 2021 regular season. Here is everything you need to know to watch.

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Michigan State Basketball will close their season out with two straight comes against No. 3 Michigan, and we now know when both games will be played.

The first game will take place in Ann Arbor at 7pm ET on Thursday, March 4th on ESPN.

The second and final game of the regular season will take place in East Lansing on Sunday, March 7th at 4:30pm ET on CBS.

If Michigan State is able to split those games with Michigan, that alone might be enough to propel them into the NCAA Tournament.

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Michigan State Basketball: Bracketology predictions for MSU

Michigan State has played their way back into the NCAA Tournament picture. Check out how MSU is faring in bracket predictions.

Over a week ago no one expected the Michigan State Spartans to be in the NCAA Tournament picture. The Spartans tournament hopes were on life support, almost needing a miracle to go dancing this March.

One week, and three straight wins later, the Spartans have put themselves firmly back on the bubble with a chance to still improve their tournament stock.

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Michigan State took down two straight top-5 ranked opponents, downing Illinois on Tuesday and Ohio State on Thursday, and are now being talked about in the NCAA Tournament picture once again.

Let’s take a look at what the bracketology websites are saying about Michigan State’s tournament hopes:

4 takeaways from Tom Izzo’s post-Ohio State win press conference: Foster Loyer likely out for the season

Tom Izzo spoke to the media on Friday and gave some updates and thoughts on two of his point guards.

Michigan State Basketball and Tom Izzo had two of their best consecutive wins in program history this week with victories over No. 4 Illinois and No. 5 Ohio State, but now Izzo’s attention is fixed on Sunday’s contest against Maryland.

Izzo spoke to the media on Friday following his team’s huge victory on Thursday night and gave some interesting insight into the situation with two of his points guards.

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Below, you can see some of the more interesting tidbits from Izzo’s latest call with the media.

Best quotes after MSU’s upset of No. 5 Ohio State: “Don’t applaud a fish for swimming.”

Aaron Henry had an absolutely epic quote following Michigan State’s upset of No. 5 Ohio State.

Without a doubt, MSU’s last two upsets against No. 4 Illinois and No. 5 Ohio State have led to one of the best three-day stretches in the Tom Izzo era. The Spartans knocked off the Buckeyes 71-67 on Thursday to extend their win streak to three games, but they still have a lot of work ahead of them if they want to make the NCAA Tournament and, hopefully, win some games there.

While the Spartans were predictably excited following their huge win, based on postgame comments from Tom Izzo and Aaron Henry, the Spartans are also very realistic and measured about what must be done.

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Below, check out some of the better postgame comments from Izzo and Henry, including one quote from Henry about fish that might be an all-timer for the program:

WATCH: Tom Izzo celebrates with team after MSU’s massive upset of No. 5 Ohio State

Tom Izzo was once again fired up in the locker room after his team upset another top-5 team.

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The Spartans have every right to be excited right now. Michigan State Basketball watched their season slip away after they stumbled following a tough forced suspension of play due to a COVID-19 outbreak within the team.

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The Spartans are now on a three-game winning streak, with two of those games coming against top-5 teams. The latest win? A physical, competitive, and exciting win against No. 5 Ohio State that had me sweating.

Like he did after his team’s win over No. 4 Illinois, Izzo was back in the locker room with his team celebrating their huge upset with a water shower.

You can watch the fun scene below:

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Michigan State Basketball upsets No. 5 Ohio State for third straight win

Michigan State continues their winning ways with a major upset at home against Ohio State.

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SPARTANS WIN. For the second time in three days, Michigan State Basketball has upset a top-5 team as they continue their journey to resurrect their NCAA Tournament chances. MSU knocked off No. 5 Ohio State at home 71-67 to earn their third straight win. The Spartans are now 13-9 on the season.

This game was largely won through the heroic efforts of Aaron Henry. The Spartans star continued his insane hot streak with an insane stat line of 18 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 blocks, and 2 steals. Due to the struggles of Rocket Watts, Aaron Henry ran point for much of the second half, completely taking over the offense.

On defense, Henry had one of the biggest stops of the night against dominant Buckeye big man EJ Liddell. Liddell finished with 18 points and 8 rebounds but Henry fought him in the post near the end of the game and had a massive block on Liddell.

Gabe Brown was second on the team in scoring with 11 points to go along with 11 points and 5 rebounds. Joshua Langford and Marcus Bingham both had 8 points. Langford added 4 rebounds and 5 assists while Bingham had 5 rebounds, a block, and a steal. Joey Hauser also had 8 points, 5 of which came in crunch time as Hauser has continued to prove that, even if he struggles throughout a game, he can still be trusted in the clutch.

This was an extremely impressive win, and it really felt like this was Henry finally taking full control of this team on the offensive end. Michigan State now controls their destiny and have a great opportunity to make the Tournament. They face Maryland on Sunday.

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WATCH: Aaron Henry throws down huge transition dunk against No. 4 Ohio State

Aaron Henry has been a force in transition against Ohio State, throwing down a nice dunk against the Buckeyes.

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Michigan State Basketball is currently playing to keep their 2021 NCAA Tournament hopes alive against No. 4 Ohio State. Aaron Henry has continued his hot streak for the Spartans, and he has been leading a charge for MSU in transition as the Spartans hang around the Buckeyes heading into the second half.

Two of his best plays from the first half both came in transition. One was an awesome one-handed dunk. The other came after one of Henry’s patented Euro-steps for a nice layup.

You can watch both highlights here.

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WATCH: Tom Izzo walks into locker room fired up after Michigan State upsets No. 5 Illinois

Tom Izzo was fired up as he celebrated with his team following Michigan State’s win over Illinois.

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Michigan State Basketball pulled off their biggest win of the 2020-21 season to date on Tuesday night with a huge upset over No. 5 Illinois. It was a competitive, intensely physical game in East Lansing, so it’s no surprise that Tom Izzo was fired up.

Michigan State beat Illinois 81-72 but the entire game was a fight. After the game, Tom Izzo walked into the Spartans’ locker room, fired up and yelling as the team celebrated around him.

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You can watch the clip below:

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Michigan State Basketball upsets No. 5 Illinois to keep NCAA Tournament hopes alive

Michigan State beats No. 5 Illinois at home in the Breslin Center to keep their NCAA Tournament hopes alive.

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Michigan State Basketball still has a chance to play for a National Championship.

On Tuesday, the Spartans were able to upset No. 5 Illinois in East Lansing to earn their biggest and most important win of the season thus far 81-72.

This was complete team win for MSU as they managed to play an extremely physical game against an Illinois team that usually thrives in the paint. The Spartans held Illinois stars Ayo Dosunmu and Kofi Cockburn to a combined 30 points on 11-for-29 shooting.

Aaron Henry led the way for the Spartans with 20 points, 6 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 steals, and 2 blocks. Langford set a career-high with 16 rebounds to go along with 13 points, 2 steals, an assist, and a block. Rocket Watts also had probably his most impressive game of the year, scoring 15 points and adding 5 assists while running the offense.

Izzo used a revolving door of bigs on Illinois star Kofi Cockburn, but it was Joey Hauser and Marcus Bingham who stood out. Bingham had 7 points, 2 rebounds, and 3 really impressive blocks, including one against Kofi Cockburn that was a highlight of the night.

To his credit, Hauser had 13 points, 2 rebounds, 2 assists, a steal, and a block, and he also helped ice the game with some clutch free throws and this dagger three:

Here are the full highlights from the game:

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Julius Marble starting at center for Michigan State Basketball vs. No. 5 Illinois

Julius Marble is getting the start for MSU’s huge game against Illinois.

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Tom Izzo acknowledged on his radio show during the pregame for Michigan State Basketball vs. Illinois that he would be using a starting lineup of:

  • Rocket Watts
  • Joshua Langford
  • Aaron Henry
  • Gabe Brown

However, he didn’t say who would start at the center position. That information didn’t come out until just before tip, when it was revealed that Julius Marble would start against Illinois’ massive center Kofi Cockburn.

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You can expect to see Izzo throw a variety of players at Cockburn throughout the game.

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