Michigan State basketball is headed to its first Sweet 16 since 2019 after the Spartans fended off No. 2-seeded Marquette, 69-60.
This will be Hall of Fame head coach Tom Izzo’s 15th Sweet 16 in his 28th season as the head man in charge in East Lansing. Izzo spoke to the media after the game.
“That was as intense and tough a game as I've been in my career,” Izzo said in his postgame press conference about Marquette. “And a lot of credit goes to Marquette and (head coach) Shaka (Smart) and how they played, too.”
A lot of credibility is behind that statement. Izzo has played in his fair share of Elite Eight and Final Fours appearances
“I think we beat a damn good team,” Izzo said. “They were tough.”
Stats back up that intensity level. The two teams combined for a total of 37 fouls and the game saw a great start by MSU, a comeback by the Golden Eagles and a late surge to pull away by the Spartans.
“But that was a war, that was a 2000 game,” Izzo said. “I felt like Mateen Cleaves (was playing). It was a physical game.”
Michigan State guard A.J. Hoggard had a rough start to the game as he was stripped of the ball after MSU controlled the opening tipoff. Izzo thinks Hoggard responded well, and he ended the game with 13 points and four assists. Hoggard also helped take control down the stretch.
“To A.J.'s credit, that's where I think he's grown, because I said to him, he could have just died then,” Izzo said. “Then he made two great plays in a row. And I think he made some big steps and was the key.”
Joey Hauser was playing his former team on Sunday evening. While no player or coach remains on the team from when he was playing his college ball with the Golden Eagles, it still felt like the spotlight was on Hauser throughout the game because of that storyline.
Toward the end of the game, while Hauser stopped to tie his shoes, MSU fans around Nationwide Arena started chanting his name.
“It's so fun to hear people chanting when people weren't chanting a couple years ago,” Izzo said about when MSU fans chanted Hauser’s name. “And I think he's deserved every bit of it.”
Mady Sissoko had a number of mental mistakes throughout the game. Most notably, he got into foul trouble and ended the game with four fouls. However, Sissoko rallied and finished the game with eight points, 10 rebounds (three of them on the offensive glass), two blocks and two steals. The players rallied behind Sissoko as well, according to Izzo.
“I think that's where this whole team has grown,” Izzo said. “That kind of tells it all. (Sissoko) was so down and these guys all rallied around him. And he went out and made big play after big play, got big rebounds. And that's the difference in the team now than maybe a month ago.”
Izzo also referred to Sissoko as the team’s “anchor” and a “key” because of the amount of ball screens that Marquette uses in its offense.
“I thought Mady, after he made a couple of mistakes stepping up on ball screens and they hit two big (3-pointers), he was really upset in the huddle — upset like I've never seen Mady,” Izzo said about Sissoko. “And I think the coolest thing is he went out and did something about it. And that's growth. That's growth as a person, growth as a teammate. And the team rallied around him.”
If people only watched the first several minutes of the first half, a 69-60 final score might not have been that shocking. However, MSU had to dig deep and win the mental battle as well as the physical battle on the court against a team in Marquette that didn’t go down without punching back.
At the under-four media time out, MSU was only up by two points, 56-54. It was anybody’s game to win. Izzo had a message for his team in that huddle during the time out.
“I did tell them something in that huddle,” Izzo said. "We've had a heck of the last couple of weeks. We've learned. We've spent time together. I said, 'You're two up; it's your game to win.'"
After Malik Hall wrestled down a rebound on the offensive glass, MSU called a timeout to regroup. Izzo let loose and did a patented fist pump, which sent the Spartan fans in attendance into a frenzy.
“You know, it must have been raw emotion because I'm one of those (glass) half-empty guys,” Izzo said.
While Izzo is the face of the program, having been at MSU as the head coach for 28 seasons, the players seemed to have led the charge down the stretch.
“I always said the best teams are the player-coached teams,” Izzo said.
The Spartans will celebrate this win. For how long, who knows? MSU eventually has to get back to work as the Spartans will play in the Sweet 16 against No. 3-seed Kansas State on Thursday night in New York City.
“We've still got some dancing to do,” Izzo said. “And we're going to New York.
“After watching the tournament, it doesn't matter who we play, when we play, where we play, or how, it's going to be a hell of a game,” Izzo said.