Big Ten record ‘sitting right there’ for Tom Izzo as Michigan State basketball heads west

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EAST LANSING — Happy birthday, Tom Izzo. A present awaits you in Los Angeles.

But you have to earn it. Just the way you’d appreciate.

If No. 7 Michigan State basketball beats USC on Saturday, the Hall of Fame coach who turns 70 on Thursday will tie the Big Ten mark for the most conference victories by a coach. And if the Spartans can pull off a pair of wins, facing UCLA on Tuesday night, Izzo will pass Bob Knight’s record of 353 victories.

Legendary company and a legendary accomplishment. And Izzo’s players have been buzzing about it.

“These last two or three games, we were aware of the record for coach and making an emphasis on these games, specifically, for coach,” junior Jaxon Kohler said after Tuesday’s 73-51 win over Minnesota. “For everything he’s done for us, we want to repay him back by getting him those wins as soon as possible.

“He’s a great coach and a great person.”

FOOTLOOSE: What was the writing on Michigan State basketball coach Tom Izzo’s shoes?

The timeline toward another milestone moment for Izzo has accelerated with everything happening for the Spartans. They are 18-2 overall and riding a 13-game win streak, sitting at 9-0 in Big Ten play.

All of those are superlatives that Izzo’s program last achieved during the 2018-19 season en route to his eighth and most recent Final Four appearance, the fifth-most by a Division I coach. MSU swept its December and January games for the first time in his 30-year career with the win over the Gophers, which equaled the best start in program history set by Izzo’s 2019 and 2010 eventual Big Ten championship squads.

“It is sitting right there,” Izzo said on his weekly radio show Wednesday night on catching Knight, “but there’s some obstacles in the way.”

A victory Saturday against the Trojans (12-8, 4-5) would equal the Spartans’ 14-game win streak from the 2017-18 season, which also featured a 13-game win streak. MSU last won 15 straight in 2011-12, Draymond Green’s senior season, while…

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Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/big-ten-record-sitting-tom-110839405.html

Author : Detroit Free Press

Publish date : 2025-01-30 11:08:00

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