ANN ARBOR – I don’t think you’ll find a better three-game, seven-day stretch of regular-season basketball from Michigan State in Tom Izzo’s career. I couldn’t find one that rivaled it. Izzo couldn’t think of one. Not one this meaningful, one that tested the Spartans to this extent and required such a response following one of the low-point losses of Izzo’s tenure.
MSU’s 75-62 win over Michigan on Friday night was a massive win on its own. But also because it capped a week that proved the Spartans have what it takes to win the Big Ten and to be dangerous in March.
It’s the way they closed three straight games. The adversity they overcame in them. The defense that took Illinois, then Purdue, then Michigan out of what they wanted to do. The offensive rebounding. And, Saturday, the star that led the way.
MSU had the best player on the court Saturday in freshman guard Jase Richardson, the guy who looked like a pro playing the college game. When you add to that to everything else the Spartans bring to the table, you’ve got a team that has a chance.
“Jase was phenomenal,” Izzo said.
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Izzo is realizing that it’s time to lean into Richardson for as long as he has him. Richardson seems up for it. He sure as heck did Saturday, when his team needed someone to carry them for a while. They were looking to him. He sensed it.
“I just feel like they’re leaning on me a little bit more,” Richardson said in the locker room at Crrisler Center after putting up 21 points on 7-of-12 shooting, scoring inside and out, off the catch and on the drive. “It’s really special when you’ve got a group of guys and a coaching staff that are able to trust you and lean on you, especially in crucial moments.”
What’s special is Richardson, who was leading huddles in timeouts and was self-aware enough to take himself out twice when he was running on fumes, but also had the stamina to give an MVP performance in a team-high 33 minutes. Nobody else played more than 25.
“Strength in numbers” has gotten the Spartans this far. “Strength in numbers surrounding Richardson,” while a clunky slogan, might get them a Big Ten championship, and then who knows.
Izzo thought Richardson took “another big step” Saturday in areas beyond his scoring — his defense (including three steals), leadership, how he carries himself, his rebounding. He had six rebounds. Only Carson Cooper, with eight, had more for MSU.
“I don’t think he gets nervous,” Izzo said of Richardson. “If Michael (Jordan), Larry (Bird) and Magic (Johnson) came back, I don’t think it would bother him. I mean, I’m not saying he can do everything, but he’s so mature beyond his years.
“Defensively, I never think he’s a great defender, and he just keeps fooling me, because he did a damn good job defensively, too. … He did it in all phases — pull-ups, 3s, passes. He did it in all phases.”
To be a go-to guy, this is the sort of stage you have to do it on. Richardson was really good against Purdue and brilliant two week ago against Oregon — another game when MSU needed him. But this was on the road in a hostile venue, against a first-place rival, with MSU’s dreams at stake.
Richardson has grown into this, giving the Spartans an essential element they lacked — a guy who you believe is going to make the shot every time he takes it.
With him playing at this level, this team has nearly everything else it needs, including several attributes that are the stuff of champions: Offensive rebounding, which showed up against Illinois and again Saturday, this time a 14-7 advantage; perimeter defense, seen in Michigan’s 1-for-10 3-point shooting in the second half; and an ability find momentum and then not let go. That’s happened three straight games now, all in one week, with little prep time. Saturday, Tre Holloman’s three 3-pointers on three trips down the floor pushed MSU’s lead from 48-47 to 57-49 just before the midpoint on the second half. Michigan got back to within three points for a few seconds, but never had the ball within a score of tying the game the rest of the way. And the Spartans outscored them 13-3 from then on.
This past week, MSU outscored Illinois, Purdue and Michigan a combined 30-9 over the final four minutes of those three games. Illinois and Michigan didn’t score at all.
“We have like a six-point lead … we’ve done a good job at closing down and keeping that lead,” Coen Carr said.
“They answered every run,” Michigan coach Dusty May said. “They were the aggressor.
“I thought they played very, very determined. Their guards were able to break down our defense and get us in rotations and therefore had some free runs (at the basket).”
Richardson, Holloman (18 points), Jaden Akins (11) and Jeremy Fears (10) scored 60 of MSU’s 72 points.
MSU’s interior players did just fine, too. Michigan center Vladislav Goldin might have had 21 points on 7-for-11 shooting, but that was partly by design. He’s a load on the low block and MSU decided to play him one-on-one, worried more about keeping fellow 7-footer Danny Wolf in a box and limiting the Wolverines’ 3-point shooters. The Spartans did both of those things well in the second half. And Cooper, Jaxon Kohler and Carr controlled the offensive glass, combining for eight offensive rebounds.
MSU’s big men are never the reason MSU loses games anymore.
“Most of the credit should go to my assistant coaches and my players,” Izzo said of the 3-0 week. “The job they did with the quick turnarounds and what we went through was unbelievable. We beat a damn good team today. They are hard to guard.
“(We made) no excuses. We had meetings and practices and walkthroughs. They didn’t complain. … I think they’re starting to realize …”
They’re starting to realize how close they are to something special and tangible and lasting. Something they’ve been talking about in the locker room since October.
“I’ve said it, I don’t know how good we are,” Izzo said. “Sometimes I really don’t, because you’ve got to shoot the ball a little better (than we do). And if we shoot it and don’t turn it over, I think we could be really good, because I think we will defend and rebound.
“I’m just excited that we’re in a position — my goal since the day you’ve known me, two weeks left to go this season, are you in a position to win a championship? I’ve been very fortunate that a lot of years we’ve been in that position where we have a chance.”
It’s been a while, though. This one would be as significant as any since his first, 27 years ago. The road ahead is still tough — at Maryland, then Wisconsin at home, before going to Iowa and hosting a rematch with Michigan. The Badgers are playing like the best team in the Big Ten. Maryland is in the top tier.
But after this these last three games in seven days, would you doubt this team could finish the job?
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Contact Graham Couch at [email protected]. Follow him on X @Graham_Couch and BlueSky @GrahamCouch.
