Lost Opportunity: Spartans Lose Outright Big Ten title On Senior Day 72-70 to the Buckeyes

Breslin Center East Lansing, MI The last home game of the year for Spartan basketball is always set aside for the honoring of seniors. That was what happened

Breslin Center

East Lansing, MI

The last home game of the year for Spartan basketball is always set aside for the honoring of seniors. That was what happened today. Perhaps it was over shadowed by the loss of the out right Big Ten title when the Buckeyes won 72-70. The Spartans end the season as tri champion of the Big Ten with Ohio State and Michigan.

The loss of the game and the loss of the outright title was disappointing, but to think that to start the season MSU wasn’t in the top 25 and may had them in the bottom half of the Big Ten it was a great achievement. I have often said that any season you hang a banner is a good one and this was.

Tom Izzo acknowledged the disappointment, “Disappointed, but I give credit to OSU. Questions.”

Izzo also reflected on the success, “Mixed (emotions) I wish I didn’t have to have this press conference. Just can’t express in words how disappointed I am and how proud I am of how much we have accomplished this far and the two don’t go well together.”

Perhaps even bigger than the loss today was when super star freshman Branden Dawson went down with an injury to his knee. He was on crutches with it heavily iced after the game and Izzo said of the injury, “I don’t have any update, but they X rayed.”

You can’t have senior day without talking about Draymond Green. OSU head Coach Thad Matta had high praise for the young man saying of Green, “He’s one of my all time favorite Big Ten players. I saw his body (before the game) and just the commitment he made to his body over four years. He has a great great future ahead of him.”

Matta won today his fifth Big Ten title in seven years. An amazing accomplishment and when asked how he did it he took time to honor the Spartan Nation. “One of the programs I have always looked at is Michigan State. The job Coach Izzo has done is incredible.”

The Spartans are now the #1 seed for the Big Ten tournament that starts in Indianapolis on Thursday. They will play Friday at noon against a yet undetermined opponent.