Add another outright Big Ten regular-season title to Tom Izzo’s massive list of accomplishments.
Jase Richardson scored 22 points and Jaxon Kohler added 15 points and six rebounds to lead Michigan State to a memorable 91-84 win over Iowa on Thursday night.
“He’s just so calm, he doesn’t get rattled,” Izzo said of Richardson. “I love the way he handles himself out there. When we weren’t very good early, he kept us in the game. I’m glad he’s on our team.”
With the victory, the Spartans improved to 25-5 overall and 16-3 in Big Ten play, giving Izzo his fifth career outright conference title. His first two Final Four teams, 1999 and the 2000 national title team, won outright Big Ten titles, as did the 2009 team, which finished as NCAA Tournament runner-ups. Izzo’s last outright conference championship came in 2018, when the Miles Bridges-led Spartans fell to Syracuse in the second round of the Big Dance.
The Spartans have won 11 total Big Ten regular-season titles under Izzo (six tied, five outright), as the Hall of Fame coach tied Indiana’s Bob Knight and Purdue’s Ward “Piggy” Lambert for the most regular-season championships in Big Ten history. Izzo, 70, passed Knight’s Big Ten wins record earlier this season in a 79-65 victory over Illinois back on Feb. 15.
Michigan State will close out the Big Ten regular season with a matchup against in-state rival Michigan at Noon ET Sunday in East Lansing. The Wolverines (14-5) currently sit two games behind the Spartans in the conference standings, having lost back-to-back games against Illinois and Maryland, respectively.
The Spartans are currently projected as a No. 2 seed in FOX Sports bracket forecaster Mike DeCourcy’s latest NCAA Tournament projections.
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