Tom Izzo is still confident in his Michigan State basketball team, stating that the Spartans are going to go on a run.
Michigan State basketball got a much-needed win Sunday afternoon against Rutgers. The first half was ugly, to say the least, but the Spartans played extremely well in the second half en route to a 73-55 win over the Scarlet Knights.
This was the definition of a must-win game. The Spartans were 1-4 in Big Ten play heading into this game with their NCAA Tournament streak was in jeopardy. A loss against Rutgers surely would’ve set their resume back.
There is still a lot of work still to be done. The team knows this, fans know this, and Tom Izzo knows this. But Izzo’s faith in his team isn’t wavering. In fact, it sounds like it’s only getting stronger.
Tom Izzo on MSU’s upcoming stretch
During Izzo’s postgame press conference, he spoke a lot about his team moving forward. After a tough loss to Illinois, Izzo talked a lot about how his team is starting to play better. Their win over Rutgers cemented that even more in his eyes.
Here is what Izzo had to say about his confidence in his team.
“I know we’re good enough to go on a run. We are going to go on a run.”
I think we all know we are good enough to go on a run, it’s just a matter of if it will happen. But if you exclude the Northwestern loss from a week ago, the Spartans have been playing some great basketball. Before the loss to the Wildcats, they were on a five-game win streak, doing so in dominant fashion. They then lost to the Fighting Illini after Northwestern, but losing at Illinois by three is hardly a bad loss. Then the Rutgers win only further shows just how great the team has been playing.
So just based on how well Michigan State has been playing, it’s clear that Izzo might be on to something. But their upcoming schedule suggests a potential run as well.
Upcoming schedule
The Spartans’ upcoming schedule is a lot easier than it has been recently.
Here are the next few games for Michigan State coming up:
- Minnesota
- at Maryland
- at Wisconsin
- Michigan
- Maryland
- at Minnesota
Outside of the game at Wisconsin, Michigan State likely will be favored in all of these games. I wouldn’t even count the Spartans out of the game in Wisconsin. With revenge on our minds from earlier this season, I think we could beat the Badgers in Madison.
But this stretch of games only adds to what Izzo said about going on a run. Say MSU wins all of the above games other than Wisconsin. Including Rutgers, that would be six wins out of seven, and exactly what this team needs to get back on track.
We will find out soon enough if this team will go on a run as Michigan State’s next game is Thursday night when Minnesota comes to town.
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