Izzo Speaks on Spartans' Gauntlet Schedule

The Michigan State Spartans are in the depths of one of the toughest final stretches to a schedule in the entire country. Coach Tom Izzo knows that everything is right in front of his team and it controls its destiny.

Feb 15, 2025; Champaign, Illinois, USA; Michigan State Spartans head coach Tom Izzo during the first half against the Illinois Fighting Illini at State Farm Center. Mandatory Credit: Ron Johnson-Imagn Images | Ron Johnson-Imagn Images

The No. 14 Michigan State Spartans (21-5, 12-3) earned a crucial home victory over the No. 13 Purdue Boilermakers (19-8, 11-5) earlier this week. It marks the first of four straight Top-20 opponents for the Spartans as they seek to stay in contention for a Big Ten regular season title.

After playing many of the bottom-tier conference teams to start the season, jumping out to a 9-0 conference record, the Spartans have played much better competition of late. Each game has gotten more difficult, and this group must embrace the challenge and continue their success from Tuesday.

Following the marquee victory, Coach Tom Izzo spoke to the media regarding his team's brutal final stretch of schedule. The Hall-of-Fame head coach has been in this spot before and knows that the key to a conference title lies within themselves and how they perform in this final stretch.

"[It] doesn't get any easier. I mean, it's not just the next game; it's the game after that, the game after that, and the game after that," Izzo said. "It is the gauntlet of schedules, but what an opportunity. Like I told my team, when you have a schedule like this, some people sit there and hope somebody beats somebody. We don't need anybody to beat anybody, we just got to take care of our business. It's a task, but if we can take care of our business, what a way to do it. Problem is, we got [the Big Ten's] first place team [Michigan] twice, we got maybe the team that's playing the hottest right now, and that's Wisconsin, and Maryland in there, and then, we got to go to Iowa. So, it'll be fun sleeping late in March, it ain't going to happen in the next week, that's for damn sure."

The luxury that Michigan State possesses and what Izzo alluded to, was the fact that his team has every opportunity at their fingertips to take the conference title. They are yet to play three of the top five teams in the conference and wins over each would surely put the Spartans in first place.

Fellow Big Ten opponents may have to rely on other teams to help them on their task to a Big Ten title, but the Spartans have every opportunity right in front of them. If they play the way they did against Purdue, this team will be hoisting their first conference title since 2020.

As Izzo mentioned, the Spartans are preparing for the first of two matchups against their in-state rival, No. 12 Michigan (20-5, 12-2), on Friday night in Ann Arbor. A road win against the top team in the conference will return the Spartans to first place in the standings.

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