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EAST LANSING, Mich. — Indiana basketball managed to hold off Tom Izzo’s pursuit of Bob Knight’s storied Big Ten wins record for at least a few more days.
The Hoosiers (15-10, 6-8 Big Ten) ended a five-game losing streak by knocking off the No. 11 Spartans, 71-67, at the Breslin Center on Tuesday night. The victory came with IU players still reeling from news of coach Mike Woodson stepping down at the end of the season.
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It would have been a full-circle moment for Izzo, who picked up his first win in the Big Ten against Knight and the Hoosiers on Jan. 4, 1996, but ended up being a rare bright spot for IU. Woodson is now 3-2 record in head-to-head matchups with Izzo.
“He’s won a lot of games,” Woodson said of Izzo. “To be mentioned in Bob Knight’s arena, it means Tom Izzo is pretty goddamn special, I mean really special.”
While Woodson is Knight’s former pupil — he’s in IU’s Hall of Fame and remains one of the school’s all-time leading scorers — he mentioned protecting the record to his team leading up to the game. Woodson felt the team had enough motivation given the recent events without bringing it up.
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“Never once did,” Woodson said. “… I didn’t think I needed to tell our guys that. We’re just trying to get off this slide and get a win. I thought we had a total team effort from everybody.”
This was IU’s first win over a ranked opponent since beating then No. 5 Purdue on Feb. 25, 2023. The Hoosiers had lost 11 straight regular-season games to top-25 teams.
Izzo, who took over for Jud Heathcote in 1995, will get another chance to break the record when No. 11 Michigan State (19-5, 10-3) visits Illinois on Saturday. He’s 726-300 and 353-173 in the Big Ten. He’s taken the Spartans to eight Final Fours (fifth most all-time) and won a national title in 2000.
Michael Niziolek is the Indiana beat reporter for The Bloomington…
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Author : IndyStar | The Indianapolis Star
Publish date : 2025-02-12 05:12:00
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