Michigan State's Tom Izzo glad to be placed in 'Big Ten country,' but USC will offer a difficult test

East Lansing, Mich. – Tom Izzo knows there is no such thing as an easy draw when your team is a No. 7 seed, pulling a No. 10-seed opponent, but the Michigan State head coach was at least pleased that the Spartans will be working close to home this week.

Michigan State, the No. 7 seed in the East Region, will play No. 10 seed USC (22-10) at 12:15 p.m. on Friday at Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio.

“I’m tickled to death that we are in the Midwest,” Izzo said. “Being in Columbus, in Big Ten country, it’s nice for our fans, nice for players’ families. So we are looking forward to that.

“I thought it was beneficial to not go way out West and play on Thursday. That was the only thing I hoped.”

Michigan State, 19-12, is coming off a one-and-done loss to Ohio State on Friday at the Big Ten Tournament in Chicago.

“I think we will be in the right frame of mind but it has been an incredible year with a lot of things that have happened,” Izzo said. “There is nothing like March, even though I didn’t think we handled March well last weekend. There are going to be those days. It’s how you handle it.”

USC will be a difficult test.

USC has a talented, veteran backcourt with great length, a good sixth man off the bench, and the Trojans ranked No. 1 in the Pac-12 in field goal percentage defense (39.0).

“I have watched USC a couple of times,” Izzo said on Sunday night, shortly after the brackets were announced and before deep scouting began. “That’s the advantage of not sleeping – those games start at 10:30, 11 o’clock. I have watched them but you don’t watch them with the same vigor as you do when you know you’re going to play them. 

“They are athletic. They have some size. They have a heck of a guard from the Midwest.”

That would be 6-foot-9 guard Drew Peterson, a fifth-year senior from Libertyville, Ill. He averages 14.0 points, 6.2 rebounds and shoots 36 percent from 3-point range. At 6-9, he is going to be a difficult matchup for the Michigan State backcourt.

Peterson and senior guard Boogie Ellis (6-3, 185) were named to the Pac-12 All-Conference First Team.

Ellis leads USC in scoring at 18.0 points per game. He shoots 39.2 percent from 3-point range.

Sophomore guard Reese Dixon-Waters (6-2, 210) was named Pac 12 Sixth-Player of the Year. 

Sophomore guard Kobe Johnson (6-6, 200) and junior forward Joshua Morgan (6-11, 235) were named to the Pac-12 All-Defensive Team.

Freshman guard Tre White (6-7, 210) was named to the Pac-12 All-Freshman team.

“They are a very good team,” Izzo said. “They have held opponents under 40 percent (shooting). They are a good free throw shooting team. Those are always things that fare well in the NCAA Tournament.

“They beat UCLA, who is a No. 2 seed and really good. They lost to Arizona close twice, who is a 1 seed.”

In the non-conference, USC had a 73-66 overtime loss to Tennessee on Thanksgiving Day in The Bahamas. 

USC lost the next day to Wisconsin, 64-59.

USC posted a 74-71 victory over Auburn on Dec. 18.

USC went one-and-done in the Pac-12 Tournament, losing to Arizona State 77-72 on Thursday. USC had beaten Arizona State five days earlier in the final game of the regular season.

While Izzo was speaking on Sunday evening during the selection press conference, the coach’s support staff was upstairs at Breslin Center, hard at work.

“What is great about March? Right now there are 12 managers up there (cutting video),” Izzo said. “I just said, ‘Order the pizzas, order chicken wings.’ 

“This is when you eat crappy, you don’t sleep and they are like Santa’s elves. 

“These guys work so hard and they are all getting their info now: Who’s got this, who’s got that? I was in the middle of it when I left to come down here (for the press conference). I just kind of gleaned. That to me is what it’s all about. That’s a memory-maker for those kids. They are going to have an impact on us.”

Izzo and his staff will do the usual exercise of putting together scouting reports on all three teams in Michigan State’s sub-region: USC, No. 2 seed Marquette and No. 15 seed Vermont.

“The program is to the point where it’s still try to win the weekend,” Izzo said. “Winning the game is good. You can’t win the weekend without winning the first game, so I never look past it but if you don’t get out of the weekend, you don’t get anything accomplished, either.

“It will be a three-team prep for my staff. Each one of them will have (one of the teams). Those managers will work diligently tonight and tomorrow and we will have things down by tomorrow night.”