Thursday, March 28, 2024

Top 5 games: Tom Izzo vs. John Beilein

February 5, 2016
Head coach Tom Izzo looks onto the court after a foul by Draymond Green early in the second half of the game against Michigan Tuesday afternoon at Crisler Area. The Spartans fell to the Wolverines 59-60. Matt Hallowell/The State News
Head coach Tom Izzo looks onto the court after a foul by Draymond Green early in the second half of the game against Michigan Tuesday afternoon at Crisler Area. The Spartans fell to the Wolverines 59-60. Matt Hallowell/The State News —
Photo by Matt Hallowell | and Matt Hallowell The State News

When No. 10 MSU heads to Ann Arbor Saturday to take on University of Michigan it will be the 16th meeting between MSU coach Tom Izzo and U-M coach John Beilein, with Izzo holding a 9-6 advantage over the U-M coach. In Beilein's ninth year at U-M the rivalry has severely revved up. Before Beilein took over, MSU had won 15 of 18 games against U-M.

In the spirit of a great rivalry, let's take a look back at the top five games of the Izzo-Beilein era of the MSU vs. U-M rivalry. 

5. Jan. 27, 2011: U-M 61 - MSU 57 - East Lansing

Neither team was highly ranked coming into this matchup at Breslin Center, but that didn’t seem to matter as the two teams battled until the very end of what became U-M’s first win at Breslin Center since the 1997 season. MSU was beaten in every aspect of the game, being out rebounded by U-M for the first time since a loss to U-M in 2007. Then-senior Kalin Lucas scored a team-high 27 points for MSU, but the team could not overcome a 5-of-19 shooting day from the 3-point line and nine missed free throws.

MSU started the 2010-11 season coming off of two Final Four appearances and had the expectation of reaching a third, as MSU began the season ranked No. 2 in the country. However, MSU was never able to live up to the preseason hype and almost missed the NCAA Tournament, earning just a 10-seed and losing to UCLA in the first round. 

4. Jan. 26, 2010: No. 5 MSU 57 - U-M 56 - Ann Arbor

Wins are never easy against your rival and this game was the perfect example of that. MSU entered this game ranked No. 5 in the country with a perfect 7-0 record in the Big Ten. U-M, on the other hand, was not ranked and just 4-4 in the Big Ten. And yet, U-M showed Beilein was building something. MSU and U-M traded baskets back-and-forth as the game would come down to the final seconds. Point guard Kalin Lucas, a junior at the time, made a go-ahead jump shot with five seconds left to give MSU a 57-56 lead. U-M had a chance to win, however, but a layup attempt at the buzzer by forward DeShawn Sims rolled off the rim and gave MSU the victory and Izzo a 3-0 record against Beilein.

3. Jan. 17, 2012: No. 19 U-M 60 - No. 9 MSU 59 - Ann Arbor

This was a payback game for MSU’s last-second win over U-M in 2010, as Trey Burke found senior Stu Douglass for a layup with 36 seconds to play to give U-M the lead. MSU had a chance to win, but Keith Appling had his layup attempt in the final seconds blocked by Jordan Morgan. After an offensive rebound by MSU guard Brandon Wood, the Spartans had one more shot, but a jump-shot from the free-throw line by Draymond Green wouldn’t fall and MSU lost its third-straight game to its in-state rival. 

Both teams shot the ball well with MSU shooting 48 percent and U-M shooting 51 percent, but MSU could not overcome 14 turnovers, including a controversial backcourt violation with about two minutes to play. This was the first game in which both teams were ranked since 1998, when No. 14 MSU beat No. 22 U-M 80-75.

2. March 3, 2013: No. 4 U-M 58 - No. 9 MSU 57 - Ann Arbor

It seemed like MSU had this one — after storming back from a 10-point deficit in the second half, MSU had the ball with the game tied at 56 with the shot clock turned off. It seemed MSU would either win it or the two team would go to overtime. However, as Keith Appling was preparing to call a timeout for Izzo to draw up a final play for MSU, then-U-M guard Trey Burke reached around Appling and stole the ball, taking it the other way for a layup, and a 58-56 Wolverine lead. MSU had a chance to tie it when Derrick Nix went to the free throw line, but the Spartan big man only made one from the line, leaving MSU trailing 58-57. MSU fouled Jordan Morgan, who missed the front-end of a one-and-one, but Burke once again stole the ball on the ensuing Spartan possession, sealing the U-M win. This one still burns badly for many Spartan fans and is one of the tougher losses MSU has suffered to U-M, not only since Beilein took over at U-M, but even since 1995 when Izzo became MSU’s head coach.

1. Jan. 25, 2014, No. 21 U-M 80 - No. 3 MSU 75 - East Lansing

This one had almost everything, MSU and U-M were the last two undefeated teams in the Big Ten, ESPN’s College GameDay found its way to East Lansing and Breslin Center was rocking with a sold out crowd of 14,797 people. The only piece missing, two pieces really, were MSU forwards Adreian Payne and Branden Dawson. Payne was missing a fifth-straight game with a sprained right foot and Dawson broke his right hand the day before the big game after punching a table. Even without the two MSU stars, the game couldn’t have been more exciting. MSU came out showing no signs of weakness in building a 36-30 halftime lead over its rival, but the Wolverines caught fire in the second half, outscoring MSU 50-39, including a 10-0 run late to steal the game. 

U-M was well-balanced scoring the ball, getting 19 points from both Nik Stauskas and Derrick Walton Jr. and another 17 points from Caris LeVert. U-M shot the ball 57.9 percent from the 3-point line and out-rebounded MSU 35-29 in Dawson and Payne’s absences. U-M went on to sweep the season series with MSU before a fully healthy MSU team beat them in the Big Ten championship 69-55.

Senior guard Denzel Valentine, who was a sophomore at the time, said this week that this was the worst game for him, and he thought it was embarrassing because MSU lost at home to U-M with the whole country watching. 

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