ATLANTA – Tom Izzo was grimacing on the court, but he came off grinning. The loss in the South Regional Elite Eight – Auburn 70, MSU 64 – marked his 25th consecutive tournament without a national championship banner. But the Spartans’ coach wasn’t in a mourning mood.
“I’m walking away proud. I’m walking away appreciative of my players and staff,” Izzo told HoopsHQ after the game. “When we started winning, someone asked me what was the turnaround? That was them. That was the players.”
Last season had ended after losing in the second round of the NCAA Tournament and the early part of this season had non-conference losses to Kansas and Memphis. There were comments that Michigan State should lose their invite to the annual Champions’ Classic.
“You know, it was a year of records being set, I guess,” he told reporters Sunday night. “But one of the cool ones to me was not losing a game in December and January – no other team has done that that (I can remember).” Indeed, the Spartans were undefeated during the final month of 2024 and the first month of 2025.
Izzo spoke to reporters in the comfort of his coaches’ locker room – surrounded by an array of Coke cans and duffel bags. Game face cast aside, he flashed grins, ate pretzels and laughed as he told a Big Ten reporter, “we didn’t play very good.”
That last point wasn’t much of a secret: the Spartans fell into a first-half hole thanks to a 17-0 Auburn run spearheaded by 6-foot-10 senior forward — and Southeastern Conference player of the year — Johni Broome. The score went from an 8-deadlock to the top-seeded Tigers leading 23-8. Despite ferocious efforts from 6-foot-4 senior guard Jaden Akins and 6-foot-3 freshman guard Jase Richardson, Michigan State never got closer than five points the rest of the game.
“It wasn’t like the game was that close that we felt like we could have won it,” Izzo said in the post-game press conference. “I say we felt like we should have won it because we didn’t. Could have won it, I think we could have. And yet you never know, man. You never know if you’ll get another chance.”
Izzo’s jovial post-game attitude Sunday night represented a diametric shift from press conferences earlier this week. In an interview before MSU’s Sweet 16 match against Ole Miss, he claimed that Tournament wins no longer “turn him on.”
“Once you win a national championship, winning a tournament game means nothing,” he explained.
After his Elite Eight loss to Auburn, Izzo told Hoops HQ that wasn’t exactly true: “This one would’ve (turned me on). Yeah, oh yeah.” As he spoke, the 30-year coaching veteran, whose team won the national championship in 2000 grinned – the weathered look of a captain forever chasing his white whale.
“Magic Johnson once told me ‘great players want to be pushed, want to be coached,’” Izzo told Hoops HQ, “and you know what, maybe I got a lot more great players than I think.”
Players like Akins, Richardson and 6-foot-9 junior forward Jaxon Kohler, who led the Spartans in rebounds and points were three who stood out against Auburn. Jaxon is a long-term pet project of Izzo’s: a recruit who has doubled his points and minutes since his freshman year.
“Jaxon played very well, and missed a couple of his favorite shots in there that I think he normally would make, but he hit those big threes,” Izzo said. “I felt good for Jaxon. He’s getting better. We got some other guys that got to get better. So we’ll see in the spring.”
Next season draws a variety of questions regarding the roster. Richardson, whose move into the starting lineup in February led to Michigan State playing its best basketball, might be a one-and-done.
“If I get another year (with Jase), that’s great,” Izzo said. “If I don’t, that’s great too, because that means hopefully we helped him, and he helped us, and that’s a good deal. But the nice thing is, I know he won’t make a decision for the wrong reasons.”
Izzo was shouting on the court, but he was whispering by the end of the night. The team locker room closed at 8:30 ET, and it was 10 minutes before he emerged – duffel bag in hand, flanked by a team of student managers and assistant coaches. He stood outside for a while, swapping stories with a friend, and then motioned towards the team bus. Before he boarded, he rifled through MSU’s pizza station and stacked two slices of pepperoni in his palm. Bounded again by managers, he heaved up the stairs of the bus and collapsed into his seat.
In his last moments speaking with reporters, Izzo discussed what’s next for his Spartans on a personal level.
“Winning cures a lot of evils,” he said. “But it was one of the more tear-jerking locker rooms. And so I think you can have some (camaraderie) carry over. But you never know. You never know what’s going to happen and who’s getting in whose ears and what’s going on now, the way it is.”
