Tom Izzo Leads Michigan State To First Champions Classic Win At Madison Square Garden

By all accounts, Tom Izzo has lived a blessed basketball life. He’s coached Michigan State for 31 seasons, the second-longest tenure among Division 1 men’s coaches. He won the NCAA tournament championship in 2000 and made seven other Final Fours. He was inducted into the Naismith Hall of Fame in 2016.

Still, Izzo on Tuesday night achieved something he had never done before: win a Champions Classic game at Madison Square Garden. Michigan State cruised to a surprisingly easy 83-66 victory over No. 12 Kentucky, improving to 4-0 with wins over two top-tier Southeastern Conference programs that have among the highest payrolls in the sport. The Spartans, ranked 17th in the latest Associated Press poll, also defeated then-No. 14 Arkansas 69-66 on Nov. 8.

Before Tuesday, Izzo had just five victories in 18 games at Madison Square Garden. During his tenure, the Spartans lost at MSG twice in the NCAA tournament, falling to Connecticut in the 2014 Elite Eight and to Kansas State in the 2023 Sweet 16. They also lost each of the four previous times the Champions Classic was played at MSG in 2011, 2016, 2019 and 2021. In fact, MSU had lost seven of their past nine games in the Champions Classic, the annual doubleheader that began in 2011, features Michigan State, Kentucky, Kansas and Duke and rotates venues.

On Tuesday, though, Michigan State had its best performance of the season, getting out to a 17-point halftime advantage and leading by at least 10 throughout the second half. In its first three games, MSU shot just 21.7% on 3-pointers (13 of 60), which was 362nd out of 365 Division 1 teams. But the Spartans made four 3’s in the first 4:10 against Kentucky and went 7 of 13 on 3’s in the first half, making more 3’s in the half than they had in any of their previous three games.

MSU finished shooting 50% on 3’s (11 of 22), had 25 assists on 32 field goals and had a 42-28 rebounding advantage. The Spartans held Kentucky to 35.1% shooting (20 of 57), including 23.3% on 3’s (7 of 30).

While most programs, including Kentucky, rely on numerous transfers, nearly all of the players in Michigan State’s rotation have never played for another school. Of the ten Michigan State players who saw action on Tuesday until Izzo emptied his bench late in the game, guards Trey Fort (Samford) and Divine Ugochukwu (Miami) are the only transfers. The Spartans have two returning starters in sophomore point guard Jeremy Fears Jr. and 6-foot-10 senior forward Jaxon Kohler and three players who were reserves last year in 6-foot-11 center Carson Cooper, forward Coen Carr and guard Kur Teng. They also have two freshmen (forwards Cam Ward and Jordan Scott) and 6-foot-10 forward Jesse McCulloch, who redshirted last season.

During his postgame press conference, Izzo was asked if roster continuity was undervalued today in an era when most teams focus on transfers, who receive much of the preseason and offseason attention.

“I’m guarded in what I say,” Izzo said. “How about 100 freaking percent.”

He added: “I give credit to a lot of people. Everybody does it a different way, but it’s funny you ask that question because that seems to be the people that are getting the most credit. The transfer portal recruitment is almost bigger than winning games. Not at Michigan State. Someday it could hurt me. I’m going to do what I’ve got to do, but I don’t give up on the people I got.”

Izzo pointed to the development of players such as Fears, who had a career-high 13 assists Tuesday. He compared Fears to Mateen Cleaves, the point guard on Michigan State’s national title team from 25 years ago. He noted that Cleaves “had a couple of rough years” before becoming an All-American and MSU legend.

“That’s what happens as you’re trying to make a boy a man and make a good player a great player,” Izzo said. “Tonight, it was fun to see some of that come to fruition. Everybody does it a different way, but I’m saddened that it’s become a transactional society as far as football and basketball, but I’m just going to keep hanging in there until it doesn’t work. I’ll still get a transfer here and there. I just don’t want to get rid of guys that have put in a lot of time and put in a lot of effort.”

Fears, who is averaging 10.3 assists per game, wasn’t the only MSU player who excelled on Tuesday. Kohler had a game-high 20 points, while Fort had 13 and Teng had a career-high 15.

Kentucky played without point guard Jaland Lowe, who is out with a shoulder injury, while 6-foot-10 forward Jayden Quaintance hasn’t played all season as he recovers from an anterior cruciate ligament surgery. Lowe transferred from Pittsburgh, while Quaintance transferred from Arizona State. Quaintance is projected as the No. 9 pick in next year’s NBA draft, per ESPN.

Still, those absences should not diminish what Michigan State achieved Tuesday. The Wildcats have the preseason SEC player of the year in guard Otega Oweh plus talented transfers and freshmen who were overmatched by MSU. Oweh had a team-high 12 points, but he made just 4 of 12 shots, while no Kentucky player had more than four rebounds or three assists.

“We’re far away from the team that we hope to aspire to be,” Kentucky coach Mark Pope said. “We can’t waste a second on trying to grow into that. We’re disappointed and discouraged and completely discombobulated right now.”

Michigan State, meanwhile, is clicking early in the season, although it has several more tests. The Spartans have two premier nonconference games remaining against No. 18 North Carolina on Nov. 27 (Thanksgiving) in Fort Myers, Fla., and at home against No. 4 Duke on Dec. 6. And there’s also a loaded Big Ten schedule. Still, with the way the Spartans are playing, they should be in contention for another league title.