MSU Coach Tom Izzo addresses fans after a win over Michigan at Breslin
MSU Coach Tom Izzo addresses fans, celebrates Big Ten title and win over Michigan on Sunday, March 9, 2025, at the Breslin Center in East Lansing.
EAST LANSING – Michigan State basketball won the Big Ten regular-season titel going away, thanks to a seven-game win streak.
Yet in Tom Izzo’s mind, Oregon “is maybe the hottest team right now in the league.”
That makes Friday’s matinee in the Big Ten tournament quarterfinals a test of which fire burns hottest in the cauldron of March Madness.
The top-seeded Spartans look to carry their momentum into the postseason, facing the No. 8 seeded Ducks with a quest to bring home Izzo’s seventh conference tournament title. Tipoff is noon Friday (Big Ten Network) at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.
And for MSU (26-5), it is another chance to validate their return to success and add to an NCAA tournament résumé that is on the fringe of a possible No. 1 seed.
“We want more,” senior guard Jaden Akins said Tuesday. “We want to be able to say we won a Big Ten tournament, too. So that’s really on all of our minds, and we feel like it’s right in front of us.”
The Ducks (24-8) beat No. 9 seed Indiana in Thursday afternoon’s opening game, 72-59. It sets up a rematch of the Feb. 8 game, which the Spartans won, 86-74, at Breslin Center just before their last loss, three days later to the Hoosiers.
When last they met, it was a time of tumult for the two teams.
The Spartans had just dropped two games in Los Angeles to USC and UCLA, their first Big Ten losses of the season. Oregon was spiraling and would lose its sixth straight as MSU got a career high 29 points from freshman Jase Richardson in his first start, with Jeremy Fears Jr. and Xavier Booker out sick.
It took the Spartans rallying from a 14-point halftime deficit in their own building to pluck the Ducks. MSU scored the first 12 points after halftime, then put Oregon away with a 22-12 burst over the final 10 minutes and applied stifling defensive pressure to hold coach Dana Altman’s squad to just 6-for-24 shooting in the second half and 0-for-8 from 3-point range after they made 10 in the first half.
“When we played Michigan State the first time, we played really hard the first half, we got a lead. Then the second half we kind of laid our foot off the gas, and they went on their run,” said Oregon’s Jackson Shelstad, who scored 22 points in the first meeting, Thursday after dropping a game-high 18 against Indiana. “We just know we have to play a full 40 minutes to compete with them. They’re going to play physical, play really hard, so we’re just going to have to bring that same energy.”
Since losing to Indiana three days after beating Oregon, Izzo’s team has won seven straight to finish 17-3 in league play and earned the Big Ten title outright by three games. Richardson emerged as a go-to scorer among a team that flexes its strength in numbers
The Ducks, meantime, also won their final seven games to finish their Big Ten debut with a 12-8 conference mark then made it eight straight wins Thursday in their tournament opener. And Izzo has warned his players this week that Oregon “could have beaten you — should’ve beaten you, maybe,” and wants the Spartans to lean on his experience that going home early from the Big Ten tournament is never a plus.
“Winning ways are winning ways,” Izzo said. “Every time you take the court, if you’re really growing to be special as a person, every time you compete, you’re gonna try to compete the win. And that’s easier said than done. …
“It’s not as much fun as you think, having Saturday night off. I mean, it’s not that good. There’s a million Saturdays between now and death. Enjoy them then. Now, let’s see if we can do our job and and play to the level that we need to play to.”
Chris Solari’s prediction for Michigan State basketball vs. Oregon
Richardson is more of a known commodity the second time around, but the Spartans use their athleticism on the wings with Akins and Coen Carr to push the pace from the opening tip. Their defense and depth wears down the Ducks’ legs after a hard-fought game with Indiana, and MSU pulls away late. The pick: MSU 82, Oregon 75.
Contact Chris Solari: csolari@freepress.com. Follow him @chrissolari.
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