Coming into the 2016 Big Ten Tournament, the MSU men’s basketball team (29-5, 13-5 Big Ten) felt they had something to prove.
With the feeling they’d let the regular season title slip away, the Spartans were on a mission to capture something of a resemblance to a Big Ten title.
And after three victories in three days, which culminated in a 66-62 victory against the Purdue Boilermakers on Sunday, the mission was accomplished.
“It was a feeling you can’t explain,” MSU sophomore point guard Lourawls “Tum Tum” Nairn Jr. said. “Watching the confetti fall and watching everybody smile and everybody happy, it’s just a blessing to be a champion.”
This weekend’s championship marks both MSU head coach Tom Izzo’s, as well as MSU’s fifth Big Ten Tournament Championship, the most all-time.
For Izzo, after finishing second in the Big Ten’s regular season standings, being able to come out and win the Big Ten Tournament was huge.
“I felt like winning the Big Ten was such an accomplishment this year,” Izzo said. “And I think it saved face a little big because we hurt ourselves early in the year losing those games. ... We put ourselves out of the Big Ten race. It’s nice to regroup and figure in three days that you can save face a little bit.”
The last two days of the Big Ten Tournament have been the hardest fought games MSU has played in a while.
After blowing out a majority of their opponents for the last six weeks, the Spartans found themselves grinding out victories in back-to-back days, with a four-point victory over Purdue on Sunday, and a three-point victory against Maryland on Saturday.
“I want to take a nap,” MSU senior forward Matt Costello joked after defeating Purdue.
Make no mistake about it, the Spartans appreciate this title.
But as MSU senior guard and Big Ten Tournament Most Outstanding Player Denzel Valentine grabbed the microphone during MSU’s championship celebration on Sunday, he delivered a message that is a commonplace in the mindset of all MSU’s players.
“We’re not done yet!” Valentine shouted to the contingency of Spartan fans who watched MSU cut down the nets.
Costello shares the same sentiment as his senior teammate.
“It’s a championship,” Costello said of Sunday’s title. “That’s what we’ve been working for all year. We had the goal of winning four. We have two right now. We missed one with the regular season so we’ve got one more we’ve got to go get.”
The Spartans now move on to the NCAA Tournament, where they drew a No. 2 seed in the Midwest Regional. MSU will tip off on Friday against the No. 15-seed Middle Tennessee State Blue Raiders (24-9, 13-5 Conference USA).
For Valentine, who averaged 17.3 points, 9.0 assists and 8.7 rebounds throughout the course of MSU’s three games this weekend, that now becomes the focus.
“When the buzzer went off, it felt good,” Valentine said of Sunday’s championship victory. “But ... I’m not trying to sound bad on this, but I’m like, ‘I already did this before.’ I want something bigger. No disrespect. I’m grateful for this. ... This shows that we can put something together and win something and this is definitely a mark in my career that is going to add to my legacy and the seniors’ legacy. But that national championship, that’s where we want to be.”
