MSU's Izzo Says He's 'Nobody's Damn Little Brother' After UM Loss

ANN ARBOR, Mich. --- This one obviously stung for Tom Izzo after the game. It's his second loss to his arch-rival this year, of course that's the case.

Michigan State hadn't lost to Michigan on the road and at home in the same year since 2013-14. That changed on Sunday evening when the third-ranked Wolverines bested Izzo's eighth-ranked Spartans, 90-80. UM ended up winning the Big Ten title by four games, with MSU settling for the No. 3 seed in the Big Ten Tournament.

"I guess the crowd didn't watch the game, because I'm nobody's damn 'little brother,'" Izzo said, referencing chants from Michigan fans towards the end of the game. "Neither is my team. I'm really proud of my team, how they played, what they did."

Izzo discussed where he felt his team fell short, though, among many other things during his postgame press conference. A complete video of Izzo's presser has been provided below.

Full Tom Izzo Press Conference

Comments on Fears' Kick

One of the first things that Izzo had to answer for was the kick Jeremy Fears Jr. had to UM's Elliot Cadeau's groin area early on in the first half. The officials reviewed it an assessed Fears with a deadball technical foul. It was virtually an identical play to one involving Fears at Minnesota earlier in the year, where a defender fouled Fears from behind and with Fears --- intentionally or not --- kicking that defender.

"I don't think he did anything on purpose," Izzo said. "I think it was a reaction [to the foul]. I don't know the whole deal about it... I did what I was going to do: I chewed him out for it, but I watched it on tape, and the guy's pushing him in the back, and sometimes that stuff happens, you know."

This wasn't the only potentially "dirty" play that got called in this game. Michigan's Aday Mara got a technical for shoving Carson Cooper during the first half while both went for a rebound and then got a flagrant 1 foul for a quick grab on Fears' shoulder after Fears was set to go unimpeded to the basket on the other end after poking the ball out of Mara's grasp. UM's Trey McKenney got a technical for knocking the ball out of Jaxon Kohler's hands while he was inbounding the ball, but that's an annoyance, not anything dirty.

"I'm sick of it being one-sided, though," Izzo also said. "That's what upset me about the first time [we played Michigan]. Fears will get his lunch from me. I wonder if some of their guys will get their lunch from what happened in the first game that didn't get public. But I don't condone anything. I don't think he tried to kick him on purpose."

Ball Screens, Ball Screens, Ball Screens

Mar 8, 2026; Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA; Michigan State Spartans head coach Tom Izzo reacts during the second half against the Michigan Wolverines at Crisler Center. | Rick Osentoski-Imagn Images

There was one thing Izzo kept pointing to as the thing that was driving him up a wall from Sunday's game: ball-screen coverages. He brought it up multiple times while speaking after the game and did it to the point where it might become an earworm if you watch the entire press conference.

"What we didn't take care of is our damn ball screen coverage," Izzo said. "And I don't know what happened. We went brain-dead because we just weren't up, which we've done a lot. So it's got to be the coach, because we just didn't do a good enough job. So you've got to blame us."

Next Steps

Michigan State's Jaxon Kohler, center, tries to get position on Michigan's Yaxel Lendeborg, left, and Nimari Burnett during the second half on Sunday, March 8, 2026, at the Crisler Center in Ann Arbor. | Nick King/Lansing State Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

At the end of the day, Izzo still seemed relatively fine with how his team played. He had called Michigan a "really, really, really good team" earlier this week, while he just seemed to described his own team as a "really good team."

Losing to the Wolverines is always sour in these parts, but, in a vacuum, teams can do much worse than a relatively competitive loss to the No. 3 team in the country while playing on the road.

Izzo did also emphasize that "moral victories" are not a thing for him, though. He's beyond that thinking at this point in his career, especially as he chases that elusive second national title.

It's off to Chicago for the Big Ten Tournament now. Getting the third seed in the conference means that Michigan State will play the final game of the quarterfinal round, where it will play one of No. 6 seed UCLA, No. 11 seed Minnesota, or No. 14 seed Rutgers at approximately 9 p.m. ET (8 p.m. CT) on Friday night.