MSU's Izzo Passing Knight vs. IU Would Be Poetic

The Michigan State Spartans will face the Indiana Hoosiers on Tuesday night in an important Big Ten clash.

While the game is important for the Spartans to maintain their position in the conference race, a win would carry a little extra weight.

Tom Izzo is tied with legendary Indiana coach Bob Knight for the most Big Ten wins, with 353. A win would put Izzo in first place in conference history.

To do so against the Hoosiers, the program Knight turned into college basketball royalty, would be an incredible feat for the Hall of Famer Izzo.

Izzo has 29 wins against the Hoosiers in his career as a head coach, so picking up No. 30 would also be significant. Indiana is struggling right now, the loser of its last five games and seven of its previous eight.

Izzo downplayed his chances of surpassing Knight in a historic stat at a press conference but discussed his relationship with the late Knight.

“Of course, the first win was against them,” Izzo said on Monday.

His Spartans took down the Hoosiers 65-60 in 1996 for his first-ever conference win.

“We weren’t that good, and we found a way to win that game," Izzo said. "That was a great memory. Probably one of my best memories is when we beat him down there the year we won the championship. He told me that we were good enough to win a championship after the game. He was great about everything.”

Izzo has the utmost respect for Knight, who helped him become the coach he is today.

“When I look back at some of the guys that I respected in the profession that I’m in, both football and basketball, for me, it’ll be an honor and a privilege if that day comes," Izzo said. "It’s already an honor and a privilege that it came to tie somebody like that.”

Izzo did not get the chance to pass Knight on the West Coast road trip, as he would have had the Spartans beaten USC and UCLA.

However, it worked out in an almost serendipitous fashion that he could break the record against a team built by one of the greatest coaches the sport has ever seen.

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