Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo stood on the podium and misunderstood a man—and a process. When asked about his team's chances of cornering, the calendar that has become a part of his legacy as much as any of his championships looked more troubling than Saturday's 79-74 loss to Illinois. Was.
Actually, hold on to that idea.
"It's been interesting to hear people talk," Izzo said with a touch of disdain. "People think I golf all summer. They think I take the year off and start coaching in February and oh, Shazam, I'm good in February and March. Lemme tell you something, I Worked hard in December and January.
Talking about the calendar, it is February. Michigan State has lost two games in a row, four of its last five. They are 2.5 games behind first place in the Big Ten when senior guard Trent Frazier made a three-drill with 23.2 seconds to hit another comeback bid in a game that Illinois head coach Brad Underwood told Pizza-Hut. Compared to the fight in the parking lot.
March will be here in nine days. Looking from the outside, the supposed magic switch that happens around this time of year, flipping good Spartan teams to world beaters, Izo in March, can't be here soon enough. A brawl-like game-like event has yet to come out of a chain pizzeria.
And yet, that is the process. It always has been. In the precarious place of one win away from being locked in for the NCAA Tournament and one real defeat away as they fight to get back to that familiar point, Michigan State's margin for error remains very slim.
But watching his team go up against Illinois, Izzo managed to find something he didn't like.
"It's one of the rare times in my career when I felt like we had made some progress," Izzo said. "I never say 'that loss was good for you'. It's only good for you when you don't have leaders and you don't have competitors who are trying to win every game.
“We took a step in the right direction. We made some big plays. We really, really got it on the defensive.”
Taking that move began with a fight to recoup its losses under 10. Michigan State hovered around that point in the second half, with anyone—and everyone—redshirt senior Joey Hauser, senior center Marcus Bingham Jr., junior guard Tyson Walker, sophomore guard A.J. Hoggard and junior center Julius Marbles II in particular—chip in a barrage of three, midrange jumpers and hook shots to cut the deficit.
To Hoggard the difference between night and day, or the difference between halts, was evident.
"We had to play with more energy," Hoggard said. "We believe that energy brings results."
The results were clear with 52 second half points, 30 more than his opening period, an effort that put him in a position where Walker was able to get Michigan State back in the door. After struggling throughout the season to find the balance between passing and scoring while working within the Spartans' up-tempo plan, the junior point guard exploded for 26 points (10-12 off the field) and prolific in every way. The scorer was the one who scored a lot. buzz when he moved from the Northeast.
Izzo said he was proud of Walker but sighed after talking about his performance. "It's a little too late," he said. But if that didn't push them to the top, it was another hurdle that needed to be overcome as Michigan State struggles to get the most out of their next five games.
Few people have had tougher answers this season than Marble, another player who has continued to improve in the midst of defeats. With strong performances in disappointing losses to Northwestern and Penn State, he had to react to his team's shortcomings more than his victory.
That trend continued on Saturday as the Marbles lifted eight points and a measure of consistency by impressing back-to-back games. The hallmark of progress—whether it is easy to accept or not—or not.
"A lot of people just won't accept it because we lost," Marbles said. "But I think we built on it a little bit because we had some sort of rhythm going on as the season ended. We're going to be in tournament time where it's one and done. That's it. It is a great loss for us in terms of learning and moving forward."
a big loss. It's not exactly a familiar term in the lexicon of college basketball, much less Michigan State. Nor does the approach need to be recognized as such.
At the end of it all, it is another mark of progress, no matter how bitter.