Michigan State hosts Indiana in full-circle moment for Tom Izzo with history on line

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EAST LANSING – More than 29 years ago, when Tom Izzo stepped on the sideline for his first Big Ten game, Bob Knight was there to greet him.

It ended up as the first conference victory for the young Michigan State basketball coach.

On Tuesday, when Indiana once again visits Breslin Center, the aura of Knight again will loom large, with a chance for Izzo to overtake “The General” and become the winningest coach in Big Ten history.

The 11th-ranked Spartans host the Hoosiers with Izzo tied with Knight at 353 league victories. It is a threshold the 70-year-old Naismith Hall of Famer has tried to ignore in his 30th season leading MSU’s program, but it is one even his young players – all of whom were born after Knight left Indiana in 2000 – understand the significance of.

“He’s gonna downplay regardless, that’s kind of the guy he is,” sophomore Coen Carr said Monday. “We kind of have made a little pact or whatever, so it means something to us. It means a lot to us and to the coaches, we definitely are thinking about it. But we still want to go out there and win the game and do what we need to do.”

Michigan State’s head coach Tom Izzo, right, talks with Tre Holloman during the first half against Oregon on Saturday, Feb. 8, 2025, at the Breslin Center East Lansing.

Tipoff is 9 p.m. Tuesday, and the game will not be televised but streamed only on NBC’s Peacock app.

While Izzo mostly has tried to keep his focus pointed toward this year’s team, which is off to the program’s best start since 2017-18, he said he allowed himself time – during and after Saturday’s epic 86-74 comeback win over Oregon – to be in the moment. That partly came from celebrating his 2000 national championship team during an alumni reunion weekend, but it also stems from both being on the precipice of more history and soaking in the atmosphere he’s helped create inside Breslin Center since beating Knight’s Hoosiers in his Big Ten debut Jan. 6, 1996.

“When I was standing there with about…

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Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/michigan-state-hosts-indiana-full-110859608.html

Author : Detroit Free Press

Publish date : 2025-02-11 11:08:00

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