Tom Izzo praises Michigan State's defensive effort vs. Marquette

There’s one thing that’s for certain with college basketball; it’s not a good idea to bet against Tom Izzo and Michigan State. The Spartans entered this year’s NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament as the 7-seed in the East Region. And after defeating USC in round one and 2-seed Marquette in the Round of 32, Izzo’s squad has punched their ticket to this year’s Sweet Sixteen.

After their 69-60 victory over the Golden Eagles, Izzo had some high praise for Michigan State’s defensive effort and stopping their offensive-minded foe.

“I think that’s part of it. But I think you give them some credit, too. I thought they got into us worse than we got into them,” said Izzo. “We played our defense, was more gap defense; they played their defense, which is more in-your-face defense.

“That’s where Shaka has grown as a coach. He used to be a press all over the court. Now he picks and chooses his spots. And he really did a good job of that. We had some trouble with the pressure.”

Michigan State held Marquette to just 60 points. It was just the third time the Golden Eagles had been held to 60 points or fewer this season. And the Spartans were able to pull this off with excellent defense all over the court.

Although Marquette shot over 40 percent from beyond the arc, connecting on 11 of their 27 attempts, the Golden Eagles were 9-25 on all other shots from the floor. Michigan State also took advantage of their extra trips to the charity stripe connecting on 19-23. In contrast, Marquette only made nine of their 14 attempts, shooting just 64.3 percent from the free throw line.

“But our defense was phenomenal most of the first half. And I thought we did a great job. But both teams played hard. Us winning the rebound battle was important. We thought getting offensive rebounds was a thing we could do. We didn’t run quite as good as I’d like to. At times we did, but not consistently.

“That was an NCAA game for the — I promise you that, that was a damn good game.”

Up next for Michigan State

Izzo and Michigan State hope to continue their winning ways when they face off against the East Region’s 3-seed Kansas State. After starting this season unranked, the Wildcats climbed up the standings and entered the NCAA tournament ranked No. 15 in the nation.

In Kansas State’s first two matchups of the tournament, they took down the 14-seed Montana State 77-65. And they followed up that performance with an epic showdown against the Wildcats of the SEC in Kentucky. In that contest, it took a considerable game from Kansas State star senior guard Markquis Nowell for them to topple Kentucky 75-69.

The two college basketball powerhouses are set to face off Thursday evening on TBS. That game is scheduled for an evening tip-off at 5:30 p.m. CT.