Tom Izzo refused history in 71-67 losses

On February 12, 2025By Littum

East Lansing – The story will have to wait for Tom Izzo.

Bob Knight’s ghost would not allow Michigan State Basketball Trainer to achieve history at his expense against the Indiana program he built. Even if Izzo and his team fought like hell in the waning minutes to throw away the spirits.

Lame-Duck coach Mike Woodson, a former knight player, made a perfect game plan-tangle the 11-ranked Spartans and their fought shooting games to beat Hoosiers from the outside. And they couldn’t.

Indiana Outscored MSU, 24-9, during the last 10:28 of the first half to delete a 12-point deficit and overtake the Spartans, then held on in the last three-plus minutes for a 71-67 win on Tuesday night at the center of Breslin.

It was the third loss in the last four matches for MSU (19-5, 10-3 Big Ten), and it holds Izzo at 353 conference victories. He stays tied with Knight at the most early time, with the Spartans’ next chance to break it an even harsher task-a repeat Saturday night at Illinois (8 pm, Fox). MSU defeated Illini, 80-78, January 19 in Breslin.

On Tuesday, MSU 4-for-23 went from 3-point reach and struggled to find a lot of rhythm against Indiana’s Half Court 2-3 defense and zone press that removed every chance that Izzo’s team had to run in the transition.

The Spartans put together a fierce comeback in the last 3:17 after falling afterwards by nine points and cut it to two points twice, including on a Jaden Akin’s ADS of 32.7 seconds left and two Frankie Fuilder Free Throws with 23, 9 to play.

Fuilder hit two more with 14.7 ticks left to pull MSU within 65-64, then went Mackenzie Mgbako, and the Indiana tip both hit 13.3 to go. Izzo called timeout.

But Hoosiers made nine of 10 free kicks in the last 31.4 seconds and held the Spartans to prevent a potential bond or go-ahead 3-pointer.

Akins scored 14 points and Jase Richardson had 13 points, but the two starting guards combined to only 11-for-27 shooting and 3-for-15 from 3-point reach. Fuels added 12 points.

Malik Reneau had 19 points and 12 rebounds for Indiana (15-10, 6-8), who had lost five equal and seven of his last eight who came in Tuesday. Oumar Ballo added 14 points and 10 rebounds before GROING.

Big problems

MSU quickly jumped on Hoosiers with a pair of backlash buckets from Szymon Zapala and Jaxon Kohler, who finished a three-point game. The Spartans scored the first seven points and eventually opened a 20-8 lead with another 10-point race that included a few Carson Cooper free kicks.

Indiana had four violations and MSU went 7 for 7 on the line in the first 7:19. The Spartans also had eight points in the second chance in this stretch. But Momentum certainly changed after a Richardson set -up to close the sprint at the 11:17 -mark.

The Hoosians deployed a 2-3-zone defense that sealed the position and dared to shoot MSU from the outside. The Spartans completed the first half 2-for-12 from Deep.

Meanwhile, Ballo started balling inside. MSU found a few answers to slow down the Arizona transfer that utilized Zapala, who picked up two errors in using its 7-foot, 265 pounds of pushing around and back down the slimmer Cooper. Cooper picked up his third error with 53.4 seconds to go, and Kohler also picked up two violations and forced Izzo to juggle with his big men to avoid bad trouble.

It continued after the break. Kohler picked up a quick mistake to start the second half, then Cooper was whistled to a fee and his fourth at 13:35 mark. Cooper would eventually violate with 5:07 to play, and Kohler picked up a fourth with 2:47 back.

Ballo picked up his fourth error with 8:04 pm to play and sat and then went out with 23 seconds left. But Renau had 16 points in the second half, including nine of them just after Ballo went to the bench with four violations.

Hard starts

Richardson started another start, with three Holloman taking a seat, and Jeremy fears that Jr. returned from illness.

Things were not almost as smooth the second time for Freshman, who scored a season-best 29 points on Saturday in his starting debut against Oregon.

Richardson missed his first two shots leading to Zapala and Kohler-Putbacks, then sounded a few 3-Pointers before his first brand. The 6-2 Combo guard finished the first half 0 for 4 behind the arch and 2 for 8 for six points with four rebounds, a block and a turnover.

Meanwhile, Jaden Akins missed his last four 3-point attempt at half after an early brand.

Fear also struggled with the zone with the offense that stagnates and found some flow. And Indiana took the Spartans out of their transitional violation by using 2-2-1 pressure on inbound passes to prevent outbreaks after six early MSU points during the break.

In the second half, the Spartans began to solve it some when Ballo went on the bench with four violations with 8:05 to play. A Richardson 3-Pointer made it a four-point game, and one Akins-Layup and two Cooper Free throws it to 50-48 Indiana with 6:17 back.

But the MSU defense struggled with Reneau from there as he partyed in the post with four layups, one of them a three-point game. Izzo called Timeout after the fourth pushed Hoosiers’ pillow back to 61-52 with 3:12 to play.

The Spartans committed 11 revenue that led to 13 Indiana points. They also ended with 19 Fastbreak Points, though they had no one in the last 12:08 of the first half and the first 9:35 in the second half.

Contact Chris Solari: [email protected]. Follow him @Chrissolari.

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