Izzo’s Spartans take no prisoners against East Carolina in Fort Myers Tip-Off
Michigan State was up 30 points, then up 40 on East Carolina late in the second half in Fort Myers and Hall of Fame coach Tom Izzo was still walking the sideline looking for something to spot to teach his players, something to pick up on that he could use. He was crossing over the sideline onto the court to talk to his players.
That’s one of the reasons he was elected into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame nine years ago. That and the eight Final Fours he has now been to. His teams haven’t missed the NCAA Tournament in nearly 30 years, when he was in the infancy of his head coaching career at Michigan State. When you are as good at your job as Izzo is, they put you in the Hall of Fame while you are still coaching.
At the Fort Myers Tip-Off, in what is being marketed as “Who will own the Fort?” — there was no doubt who owned Fort Myers as Michigan State conquered East Carolina 89-56.
At one point in the second half, Michigan State led by 43 points. Michigan State could have let up on defense late in the second half with such a large lead against East Carolina but that’s not the Spartan way. It’s not the Izzo way. The Spartans fought for every possession and held their ground down low in the paint like solders battling in the trenches until the buzzer sounded.
In the first 10 minutes, there was actually a competitive game going as the teams traded blows in what was a highly-physical matchup early. Only four points separated the teams a quarter of the way into the game until Divine Ugochuckwu hit a three-point shot that sent Michigan State on a 15-3 run that East Carolina never recovered from.
Ugochuckwu, a transfer from the University of Miami, came off the bench to score 16 points, the game-high mark equaled by Michigan State senior forward Jaxon Kohler.
Kohler, who hit all four of his three-point shots, said the team’s shooting could be one of the keys to whether the Spartans get back to the Elite Eight. Michigan State lost in the Elite Eight last year to Auburn, falling two games short of playing for the championship.
“What helped us get that far last year was kind of our togetherness, our bond, our chemistry, our strength in numbers,” Kohler said after the game. “I feel like we have that bond. We have that togetherness from the summer to now we have that strength. Defense is something we need to keep improving on, we need to keep controlling the boards. We need to keep shooting like this.”
In the press conference after the game, Kohler was reading the statistics from the game and dissecting it like a player coach.
Kohler credited Ugochuckwu with leading the team and helping to share point guard duties after Jeremy Fears Jr. went to the bench after picking up two fouls late in the first half.
“Being a point guard for Michigan State with Tom Izzo, it’s not an easy job,” Kohler said. “I think people don’t understand that.”
Izzo understands what it takes to have a good point guard. In his days working as an assistant for Michigan State before becoming head coach, Michigan State produced future NBA point guards Scott Skiles, Steve Smith and Sam Vincent not to mention All-American shooting guard Shawn Respert.
When Michigan State won the NCAA Championship in 2000 they were led on the floor by their point guard, Final Four MVP Mateen Cleaves. Since then, they have had some good point guards like Cassius Winston and good shooting guards like Denzel Valentine and Jace Richardson but Fears could statistically be the best pure point guard Izzo has had as a head coach.
Fears racked up nine assists on the day despite only playing 24 minutes in the blowout. Fears rapid-fired the ball around to teammates with a peripheral vision of the court, knowing instantaneously where the ball was going. In split-second decisions, he ran the offense like a clinic. Multiple times, he connected with his favorite target Coen Carr on alley-oop dunks.
The point guard’s current average of 10 assists per game is not only the best in the nation, it would be one of the 10 best assists-per-game average seasons in the history of Division I men’s college basketball if Fears is able to sustain it for the year. It certainly will be extremely difficult to carry on for a whole season.
Point guards have gotten Michigan State to its Final Four appearances, Izzo said. “That’s why we have gotten to Final Fours. Good quarterbacks get you to Final Fours. Good quarterbacks get you to win championships. It’s not good coaching. It’s good quarterbacks. I think I have got one in the making. He went through the injury and it has taken him some time,” Izzo said.
“He is starting to shoot the ball better. He really sees the court well. Him and Coen (Carr), him and Coop have an incredible feel for each other on those lobs,” Izzo said.
That injury Izzo was referring to was a gunshot to the leg he suffered in December of 2023 in his hometown in Joliet, Illinois. As a heralded freshman, Fears was known for his quickness. Now a sophomore, Fears showed a great ability Tuesday to penetrate the East Carolina defense though he really wasn’t tested. For Izzo, it will be how he plays defense which can help decide how far Michigan State goes this year.
The team had to deal in the offseason with the transfer portal and the NIL money that has upended the stability of college basketball programs throughout the country.
Michigan State lost guard Tre Holloman to N.C. State and forward Xavier Booker transferred to UCLA. Their senior shooting guard Jaden Adkins graduated while Richardson was drafted into the NBA by the Magic.
Izzo addressed having to bring in new players on his roster in the offseason due to the losses, adding in Ugochuckwu from Miami and Tre Fort from Samford as transfers.
“When they come and they played in different systems a couple times and now your system is different than the one they have been in. It’s not always their fault. It’s one of the downsides of these crazy rules we are in. It is what it is. We are just trying to speed the process,” Izzo said. “Every day we are trying to speed the process. Coaching every second, on the bench, when we get back to the hotel, we are going over the mistakes they made.”
Michigan State’s players have dealt with those losses with the same toughness as they did when facing the physicality of East Carolina in the first half.
“We had to make sure that we set the tone with our defense,” Kohler said. “That’s a big staple in our program is making sure we establish the physicality and toughness first. That’s part of our program, that’s part of our DNA. The grit,” he said.
Hall of Fame basketball coach Tom Izzo has led Michigan State to eight Final Four appearances. Photo by Nathan Mayberg
Izzo listened to Kohler’s post-game remarks and said “it’s really interesting to listen to Jaxon even though sometimes he is crazy. I love crazy people because he comes every day and plays so hard.”
He credited the team’s post plays for their tough play and the team’s defense with causing turnovers against East Carolina.
Izzo started talking about “the landscape has changed so much” when addressing what it will take for Michigan State to make another deep run in the NCAA Tournament.
Izzo understands what it takes to go far in the NCAA Tournament better than just about anybody. He has led Michigan State to the Final Four eight times, capturing the championship in 2000 over Florida and losing to North Carolina in the championship in 2009.
He said it will take time to sort out where the teams all stack up. “I am just not sure where everybody is. I am not even sure where we are yet,” he said. Izzo said after the win over East Carolina. “I figure it’s going to take 10, 12 games to figure out whether those big wins are big wins or whether those teams are not quite good enough or whether those teams get better. It’s going to be a lot of things that happen. It’s a long, long season so don’t get fooled by where we are.”