MSU's Tom Izzo Reaches 750th Win, Speaks on Paul Davis Ejection
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EAST LANSING, Mich. --- A few rare occurrences happened at the Breslin Center on Monday night. One was historic, the other... not so much.
Firstly, Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo notched his 750th career win during the 12th-ranked Spartans' dominant 80-51 victory over USC. Secondly, one of his former players, Paul Davis, was ejected from the stands for making an inappropriate comment, or perhaps comments, to referee Jeffrey Anderson.
Izzo's Milestone
Let's focus on the positive part first. Izzo is now one of just 23 people in history to reach 750 career wins as a Division I head coach. This was also just game No. 1,054 leading the Spartans, giving him a stellar winning percentage of .712.
Izzo has many other milestones that he can lean on and, probably, value more than this one. There is the 2000 national title, eight Final Fours, 11 Big Ten regular season titles, six conference tournament titles, 16 Sweet 16s, four Big Ten Coach of the Year awards, numerous players put into the NBA, the Hall of Fame, and so on and so on.
The question will remain about just how high Izzo feels like climbing that win total before calling it a career. He doesn't look like a man seriously mulling retirement, but no one knows what he's thinking besides him, his family, and maybe his agent.
If one is on the super-duper optimistic side, maybe Izzo will go for the magical 1,000-win landmark. That would probably take another decade, at Izzo's pace, and he'd be coaching until he's about 80. OK, maybe not. Only two coaches have gotten there: Duke and Army's Mike Krzyzewski (1,202) and Syracuse's Jim Boeheim (1,116).
Davis's Ejection
Things seemed relatively orderly towards the end of Monday's game. The result was no longer in any serious form of doubt, MSU was putting the bow on its win, and then suddenly a referee, Anderson, stopped the game. Anderson pointed towards somebody seated in the stands and walked over to Izzo, and then gestured that the fan had to leave.
Well, apparently, that person was Davis, somebody who had played for Izzo for four years. It had to be someone relatively important, since he was seated in the section where Michigan State put a lot of its VIPs. There were football coaches and players who are in the transfer portal and considering MSU seated near Davis' general area.
Odd moment in Michigan State-USC. After being consulted by the referee, it appears Tom Izzo asks former Spartan, Paul Davis, to leave his seat. pic.twitter.com/rix9qIyEnd
— FOX College Hoops (@CBBonFOX) January 6, 2026
The broadcast picked up Izzo appearing to yell, "What the f*** are you doing!" to Davis from across the court as he was escorted from his seat.
"I love Paul Davis," Izzo said during his postgame press conference. "I really do. He's one of my favorite guys. He's always calling and doing things, but what he said, you should never say anywhere in the world, and that ticked me off."
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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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