Tom Izzo believes Big Ten travel schedule is ‘privilege’

It was always a longshot that the Michigan State Spartans would make it through the entire Big Ten schedule unbeaten. Then, whatever chance head coach Tom Izzo had at an unbeaten regular season came to an end with an upset loss on the road to the USC Trojans.

Much has been made about the Big Ten schedule this season, given the expansion the conference made by adding four schools to the West Coast of the country. Still, despite its challenges, Izzo still believes that the travel schedule is actually a privilege.

“It was great,” Tom Izzo said. “It was great, All kidding aside, it was — I mean, the trip was smooth. They say it’s going to be harder going back. I don’t know if that’s true or not. It’s a privilege we get to play in places like this and I do want to thank our fans.”

After playing a home game on Tuesday, January 28th against Minnesota, Michigan State hit the road for two games in Los Angeles. The first of those came on Saturday against USC and ended up being an upset loss. The other is going to be on Tuesday when the Spartans are preparing to take on the UCLA Bruins.

For Tom Izzo, one of the best parts about this road trip is that fans outside of the traditional Big Ten footprint have more of an opportunity to see his team play.

“We had a lot of fans there today, and I want to thank our fans, all the Michigan State alums. They die for games like this when we get to go to Florida, or Texas, or California, and get to be in places. So, I feel bad that we let them down. It’s hard when Urban and his wife there to not play Michigan State basketball, but I think USC had something to do with it,” Izzo said.

“But I think we deserve some blame too. So, I’ll take some of that blame because we did not play the way we have been playing.”

The game itself was a tough one for Michigan State. The Spartans ended up losing 70-64 in a game where the Trojans won both halves 35-32. Both teams shot 42.1 percent from the field. However, the Trojans made four more free throws than the Spartans did to go along with two fewer turnovers.

Tom Izzo and Michigan State will look to bounce back against Tuesday. There, they’ll run into a hot UCLA team that has won five games in a row.