Chris Holtmann shares heartfelt message on Tom Izzo following Ohio State's win

Ohio State picked up a big victory over Michigan State on Thursday night, winning 80-69. When arriving to the podium after the victory, Buckeyes head coach Chris Holtmann shared a heartfelt message about Spartans head coach Tom Izzo, who Holtmann called “an unbelievable friend.”

“Obviously a good win for our team over a good Michigan State team that I’ve got a tremendous amount of respect for,” Holtmann said. “Their team and especially their program. I would like to say this. When you get into a league, it can be pretty competitive and pretty combative and guys can get isolated. But Tom has been an unbelievable friend, resource, mentor, whatever you want to call it, to me. He really has.

“I’ve called him on a number of occasions and asked advice on things and tried to pick his brain. We were both even texting (Wednesday) night after we both lost. I just really appreciate that from a guy who’s a Hall of Famer, who’s one of the best to ever do it. And he really is. He’s one of the best to ever do it. So I just wanted to publicly say that.

Holtmann’s win over Izzo was big on Thursday

Following Thursday’s win, Ohio State now sits at 19-9 overall and 12-7 against Big Ten opponents. The Buckeyes have one regular season game remaining, which is at home on Sunday against Michigan. Ohio State is now tied for fourth in the Big Ten with Iowa. Michigan State is now 19-11 overall and 10-9 in the Big Ten. The Spartans have dropped five out of six games and seven out of nine, which is coming at an inopportune time with Selection Sunday looming following conference tournaments.

Even though the two coaches just went head to head, Holtmann went out of his way to again praise Izzo after the game.

“He means a ton to me. I’m sure he’s maybe not going to want to talk to me for a minute, but I look forward to reconnecting because it’s a really special relationship for me,” Holtmann added.