Ole Miss forward Jaemyn Brakefield hit a jumper with just under four minutes left in the first half to give the sixth-seeded Rebels a 10-point lead in the Sweet Sixteen against No. 2 Michigan State on Friday night.

When that shot went in, and the Spartans found themselves on the wrong end of a double-digit game, there was doubt once again in Spartan Nation.

Was Michigan State going to be able to come back, once again, and advance?

Was Tom Izzo's quote from last March going to ring hollow?

"I’m gonna get back to a deeper run in this tournament, or I’m going to die trying.”

Those were the words of Spartan head coach Tom Izzo after his 2023-24 team — seeded ninth — were beaten by top-seeded North Carolina in the second round of the NCAA Tournament on March 23, 2024.

Before we get back to the game, it is good to remember that context is important, of course.

The Sweet Sixteen is a real accomplishment for the vast majority of college basketball programs, but it is - mostly - an average season for Izzo. In his 30 years as the Spartans’ head coach, this is the 16th time he’s made it to this point.

Back to the game, with the Spartans trailing by ten points.

Sure, MSU has won multiple similar games this year, coming back from as much as 16 down at Illinois, 14 against Oregon, 14 at Iowa, and 10 versus New Mexico in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. Indeed, it was going to take another comeback to keep the season alive.

“(I) asked them what the hell they're doing,” Izzo said afterwards when asked what he told his team when he called a timeout after the deficit had reached double-digits. “We went out dirty. We went out not doing a good job offensively. They hit slips. The real killer was the turnovers. We had turnovers, and they were kind of ridiculous turnovers.”

Ole Miss was playing like the more physical team and was out-rebounding the Spartans, despite the Rebels entering Friday ranked 330th nationally in rebound margin (Michigan State was ranked second).

The fastbreak points that were usually there also weren’t: MSU only had three points in transition.

“(Ole Miss) was the toughest, most physical defensive team that we've played in years,” Izzo said. “It reminded me of the old Gene Keady, Clem Haskins teams (at Purdue and Minnesota, respectively) when I started in this profession. (Ole Miss) did a good job. I didn't think we did a very good job. We got stymied a lot.”

Down 10 in the final minutes of that first half, MSU did what it had done all year in these situations: it found a way to make it a close game going into the break. Using four made three-pointers, two coming from freshman guard Jase Richardson, the Spartans ended the first half on a 12-4 spurt to go into halftime only down by two.

“I love these guys because they kept grinding,” Izzo said. “They kept grinding. Getting close before half was very critical. At halftime we felt like we could drive the ball a little bit more. Tre (Holloman) drove it. These guys drove it. Jase made some big shots.”

After Michigan State had been able to tie the game up a couple times, Ole Miss went on an 11-2 run to get its lead back up to nine with 12 minutes remaining.

At that stage, the Spartans turned to the things that had given them success all year: stifling defense and making their free throws.

In those final 12 minutes, MSU outscored Ole Miss 34-22, making just one three in that span and hitting all 10 of its free throws, the last four coming from Tre Holloman.

“I’ve gotta do this for my team, being the captain,” Holloman told Spartans Illustrated after the game about what he thought while shooting those critical free throws. “I want the ball in my hands to make the last free throws, and shoutout to my teammates for giving it to me.”

Coen Carr concurred.

“We were just trying to play tough, rebound,” sophomore forward Coen Carr said about the team’s defense down the stretch. “We gave up a couple of crucial rebounds in that segment. We were just trying to make sure we're in our gaps, not let (Ole Miss’ Sean) Pedulla get open threes and (Matthew) Murrell. We were just trying to burn them out on defense and get some key stops because the offense was rolling at that time.”

After the Rebels hit a too-little, too-late three pointer as time expired, the scoreboard read Michigan State 73, Ole Miss 70.

The Spartans had done it again.

Michigan State is one of the last eight teams standing for the first time since 2019 and the 15th time in program history.