Toledo HC Says Many Other B1G Teams Refuse to Play the Rockets after MSU Loss
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EAST LANSING, Mich. --- Tom Izzo is never one to duck away from a challenge in the non-conference schedule, even when it comes to the non-conference schedule.
That's even when Michigan State is not playing a Duke, or a North Carolina, or a Kentucky. It's even when it's time to play lower-tier teams. Toledo, who recently won four consecutive MAC regular-season championships, just faced MSU on Tuesday night. The Spartans won, 92-69.
Following the game, Toledo head coach Tod Kowalczyk said that he had "begged" Izzo to put his team on the schedule. MAC programs almost always need to participate in "buy games," where they play a bigger school (and usually lose) in exchange for some money and a bit of attention for having played a power conference team.
Spartan Nation asked Kowalczyk following Tuesday's game if he had been having trouble getting larger programs to schedule his Rockets as a result of his team's successes, and he gave a pretty interesting answer.
Kowalczyk's Answer
"We really struggled to get games," Kowalcyk said. "The high-major programs will not play us unless it's a really secure guy [as head coach], secure in their job, secure in themselves. Tom Izzo is a secure person.
"Last year, we played Matt Painter [and Purdue], and we played at Houston and Kelvin Sampson, two secure guys. Those types of guys know that playing against us, hopefully, they'll learn something about their team and get better.
"We spend an ugly amount of time making phone calls. Now, I do think Michigan will play us, but the dates just haven't worked out. Dusty [May]'s a really secure person.
"But some other guys... I've called every other Big Ten head coach and asked them to play these games, and the response I get, I can't repeat. But they are very short and blunt comments back to me, and a lot of them are friends of mine."
Toledo is not the first mid-major or low-major program that Izzo has scheduled that has been successful. Michigan State opened up its season against Colgate, who had made five consecutive NCAA Tournaments from 2019-2024. The only other big programs that put the Raiders on their non-conference schedule this season are No. 23 Florida, the defending national champions, and current No. 18 Illinois.
It's been even more difficult for Toledo, since it's been one of the top teams in the MAC. Colgate has been the team to beat in the Patriot League, but KenPom ranks the conference 27th out of 31. The MAC is 13th. MSU is the only power-conference team the Rockets were able to get on their schedule this year.
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A 2025 graduate from Michigan State University, Cotsonika brings a wealth of experience covering the Spartans from Rivals and On3 to his role as Michigan State Spartans Beat Writer on SI. At Michigan State, he was also a member of the world-renowned Spartan marching band for two seasons.
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