Tom Izzo pushes Spartans to be better, admits to "insulting" team in search for perfection after 73-51 win

Tom Izzo and the No. 7 Michigan State Spartans cruised to a 73-51 blowout win against the Minnesota Golden Gophers on Tuesday. However, the winning team's coach is still on the search for perfection from the squad.

The Spartans jumped to a 36-16 lead at halftime, and while Minnesota had a better showing in the second half, they were unsuccessful in recovering from the big deficit they had. The Spartans dominated their opponents 40-20 on the glass, using physicality to their advantage to obtain the victory.

Despite this, Izzo kept the focus on the bigger picture of the season as a NCAA Tournament appearance is at stake for this year's squad.

"I’ve been in this long enough where it’s about getting better every game right now. I said at the beginning of the year, I thought four or five losses would win the league. This is going to be insulting to my own team, but I have not backed off that much.


"I still know there’s some things going on here ahead of us, and our job is to make sure we get the best version of each player that we can get," Izzo said.

What's next for Tom Izzo, Spartans

Determined to have another deep postseason run in the NCAA Tournament, Tom Izzo appears to have the No. 7 Spartans in strong form in the 2024-25 season so far.

Michigan State boasts an 18-2 overall record, prevailing in their first nine games of conference play while rolling with an active streak of 13 straight victories. They are producing 81.3 points on 47.4% shooting from the field and 28.9% from beyond the arc, beating opponents by a solid margin of 14.1 points per game.

Jaden Akins stands out as the lone double-digit scorer, averaging 13.6 points to go with 3.9 rebounds and 1.6 assists on shooting splits of 42.8% overall and 29.3% from downtown.

Jase Richardson follows suit with 9.6 points and 2.6 rebounds, Coen Carr puts up 8.7 points and 3.7 rebounds, while Tre Holloman contributes with 8.3 points and 3.9 assists.

Tom Izzo and the No. 7 Spartans will face the USC Trojans at the Galen Center on Feb. 1 at 4:30 p.m. ET.