WATCH: Tom Izzo gets emotional during final seconds of Michigan State's first game at Breslin Center since shooting

It’s hard to pin down the emotions on display at the Breslin Center on Tuesday night. Michigan State toppled a ranked Indiana team, 80-65, as they returned to their home court for the first time since a gunman killed three students and sent another five to the hospital eight days prior, with Tom Izzo and his team hoping to provide at least a momentary respite from the traumatic moments before, and ahead.

To call it somber isn’t quite right. To call it celebratory isn’t right, either. Eight seats were left vacant in the student section — one for each of the dead and wounded victims — and the other students sported “Spartan Strong” T-shirts. Yet with the result well in hand behind a blazing offensive performance, and with a valuable win ticking closer, chants of “Go Green! Go White!” and “Hoosier Daddy?” broke out.

And then, at the very end, there was Izzo, silently and visibly emotional in the final seconds of the game.

Tom Izzo at the end of tonight's @MSU_Basketball win was so pure. 💚 #SpartanStrong pic.twitter.com/xcimL4VkXs

— Big Ten Network (@BigTenNetwork) February 22, 2023

The truth is, Tuesday night and Michigan State’s win was likely many things for many people. Sad. Angering. Joyful. Cathartic. Hopeful. An escape.

It’s a big win for the Spartans basketball-wise, too. The Hoosiers came to the Breslin Center ranked and presented an opportunity to seize a Quad 1 win to add to their NCAA Tournament resume. Guards Tyson Walker and AJ Hoggard were masterful and powered the offense in an exciting showing. But that all felt secondary at the moment.

And for Izzo, a man synonymous with Michigan State, who has left an indelible mark on the institution and city of East Lansing, and who this summer signed a contract to be a “Spartan for life,” those final moments, where all he could do was sit with his head in his hands, felt like the culmination of the most emotional night of his career.