Izzo Cements Himself in Big Ten History With 11th Conference Title
The No. 8 Michigan State Spartans (24-5, 15-3) are Big Ten champions as they clinched at least a share of the title on Wednesday night. Coach Tom Izzo earns another historical mark in the Big Ten this season, tying the all-time record for most Big Ten regular season titles (11).
Izzo and his team looked on as their bitter rival, No. 17 Michigan (22-8, 14-5), fell on its home floor to the No. 13 Maryland Terrapins (23-7, 13-6). The loss puts the Spartans in a comfortable position to win the title outright, as the Wolverines are now 1.5 games back of first place with one to play.
Izzo ties the late, great Indiana Hoosiers coach Bobby Knight and Purdue's Ward "Piggy" Lambert with his 11th title in 30 seasons as Michigan State's head coach. He reaches another one of Knight's records after breaking his all-time Big Ten wins record (354), three weeks ago against Illinois.
The greatness of Izzo continues to shine as he has taken a program that many ruled as fading or less dominant than what they were in past years and brought it back to the forefront of college basketball. This team is being considered as one of the top choices to reach a Final Four.
Izzo reminded the Big Ten and the rest of the nation who the king of the conference is and has put together one of the more impressive conference performances of his career. The Spartans are not done yet, as they will seek sole possession of the title, as well as a Big Ten Tournament title.
What the Spartans have been able to do over the past five games directly won them the conference this season. Izzo deserves immense credit for how he prepared his group to navigate one of the toughest final stretches of any team this season.
The Hall-of-Fame head coach was in a similar position in the 2019-20 season, winning the final five games of the year to clinch his 10th conference title. Not to mention, the last four wins of that season were against Top-25 opponents, eerily similar to what has transpired in this recent winning stretch.
Michigan State will have two chances to win the conference outright and become sole winners for the first time since 2018. It will battle the Iowa Hawkeyes (15-14, 6-12) Thursday night, with a second opportunity on Senior Day against the Wolverines on Sunday afternoon at the Breslin Center.
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