Michigan State was growing desperate with a record looming and a chance at a title starting to slip away.
Illinois was demolishing MSU for the first 11 minutes or so of the first half in Champaign on Saturday. During a road game in the Big Ten, a 31-15 deficit usually means the game is already on the verge of getting wrapped up. A fourth loss in five games would have potentially been a dagger to the Spartans' conference title hopes with a crazy schedule ahead.
After the team’s worst loss of the season - and while facing one of the most hostile crowds in the conference - MSU finished by outscoring the Fighting Illini 64-34 the rest of the way to win 79-65 and get head coach Tom Izzo his 354th Big Ten win, surpassing the previous mark set by Indiana’s Bobby Knight.
“There’s no question that my loss to Indiana was one of my lowest (points) in my career because of the way we played,” Izzo said after the game. “Give (Indiana) credit, the way they played and disappointed a lot of people at (our) home. To get back off the ground and do it — these guys did it tonight, especially when they got down 16. The place was hopping.”
This is the game that shows the stuff inside a program that can’t be measured by stars or rankings.
A mentally soft or materialistic program lays down and dies when that happens on the road.
The record aside, it’s the type of game that is the product of years and years of Izzo building up Michigan State the way he wants.
“I think I’ve had 148 players that I’ve coached that have been a part of these 350-some wins,” Izzo said about what he was the proudest of about the record. “I’ve had six and seven (university) presidents and (athletic directors). I’ve had, I think, 18 assistant coaches, trainers and different people.
“They’re all a part of this thing," he continued. "But the greatest one for me — and I was impressed with the (Illinois) crowd tonight — I think there were (around) 6,600,000 people that helped me win 354 games. Fans, fans in the stands, and that’s what I think is building a program, and I’m proud of that.”
That’s what it’s always been about for Tom Izzo.
Izzo hasn’t stayed at MSU for decades just to be able to one-up Bobby Knight. No. 354 is just something that has come along the way, and it’s something even Illinois head coach Brad Underwood had to recognize after the game.
“You knew you were going to get their best after their game the other night,” Underwood said. “When people do it the right way and they care about people (in a way) that’s genuine and it’s honest and it’s for the well-being of that person — Tom and I come from a generation where that’s why we got into this business. It wasn’t always about winning. Yes, we’re competitive, but it was about seeing young people grow."
Underwood harkened back to his first year at Illinois and when he knew that he wanted his program to take after Izzo's.
“I’ll never forget (it)," he said. "We played senior night there (in East Lansing), and I saw Tum Tum Nairn kiss the floor and I said, ‘That’s the program I want,’ because that goes beyond a game. Those are lifetime relationships that you go through.”
As for just this game, a big reason Izzo and his team were even able to record the win was because of Jaxon Kohler. The junior forward exploded for a career-high 23 points and 10 rebounds on 9-for-13 shooting and a 4-of-5 day from beyond the arc. Before Saturday, Kohler had only hit two threes in a game once — let alone making four.
“His (performance) was phenomenal,” Izzo said. “I thought a lot of guys played pretty well; my guards did some good things. But Jaxon had one of those career nights. He went and he hit a couple of threes, opening things up for us a little bit when they were struggling (and) down. Then we went to him in the second half and I thought he responded.”
Izzo said that Jase Richardson and other players were telling each other to get Kohler the ball during timeouts, as well.
“When you have players talking about other players, it’s always a positive,” Izzo said.
“I really enjoy a hostile crowd,” Kohler said after the win. “It is something that I actually draw strength from and draw motivation and draw energy from because it’s kind of a challenge. Like, they’re challenging you; they’re talking to you.
“And when the crowd was getting going after their big run in the first part of the game in the first half, it’s like, ‘OK, we started off pretty shaky. We know what we’re doing wrong and how we need to adjust,’ and the first big thing was energy. It was crucial to find some energy somewhere, because the way they were playing against us and the way we were kind of playing, we just needed a spark.”
But it wasn’t just Kohler.
“Strength in numbers” has been the motto of this team this year, and it especially showed towards the end. MSU’s key players were better-rested as crunch time neared; six players in orange ended up playing 25 or more minutes compared to just three for Michigan State.
That contributed to the Spartans going on a 15-0 run to end the game, holding Illinois scoreless for the final eight and a half minutes. The Illini ended up missing its last 19 field goal attempts and was 1-for-16 from beyond the arc in the second half.
“We’re not gonna quit,” said sophomore forward Coen Carr about the team's attitude when they were down 16-points and during games like these. “No matter how much we’re down, we’re going to keep fighting. Our togetherness helps a lot with that and our chemistry, for sure.”
More challenges will be ahead in Michigan State’s attempt to grab a Big Ten title. The 11th-ranked Spartans will return to East Lansing to take on No. 7 Purdue on Tuesday. That game will tip off at 7 p.m. and can be streamed on Peacock.
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