John Niyo: Michigan State wouldn't quit, so why would Tom Izzo?

WASHINGTON — Michigan State wasn’t going down without a fight Friday night.

And this should surprise no one, but Tom Izzo isn’t going to, either.

That was the defiant message in the immediate aftermath of Michigan State’s Sweet 16 loss to Connecticut in the East Regional, a 67-63 slugfest that saw Izzo’s team shake off a standing 8-count early and then go blow-for-blow with the No. 2 seed Huskies down the stretch.

“We didn't take a backseat to anybody,” said Izzo, whose team found itself trailing by 19 points midway through the first half against the Huskies. “To be down that much against a good team, and not only fight back, but take the lead, and then stay right there?”

Well, that’s just one of many reasons why he loved this team, which exceeded preseason expectations by winning 27 games and advancing to the second weekend of March Madness for the second year in a row.

It’s why the senior big-man tandem of Carson Cooper and Jaxon Kohler will always hold a special place in his heart, for the success they had — the fifth-best, two-year run (57 wins) in history — and for the standard they upheld. But also for the staying power they showed, and the development they made because of it.

Friday night was just one more example, as Kohler stood his ground in the paint battling Tarris Reed Jr. and Cooper led the Spartans in scoring in his final collegiate game.

“Like hardened guys that they are — because they've been through the wars and they've been through the years here — they reared their real heads and fought back against a really good team, and they showed me a lot of character,” Izzo said. “They showed me a lot of why I love them and why it's so important to me to have relationships with guys. That's what I got out of tonight.”

They didn’t get everything they wanted out of this night, obviously. There was no return trip to the Elite Eight. No rematch with Duke, either, in the same building where the Spartans upset the Blue Devils in 2019 to reach their last Final Four. But after reminding reporters that he'd only won the last game of a season once in his 31-year head coaching career — the 2000 national championship season — Izzo added "in losing that last game (tonight), I've never been in a more impressive locker room than the one I just came from."

Still, Izzo wasn’t the only one baffled by the way his team started this game, missing 14 of its 16 shots and compounding that with some uncharacteristic defensive breakdowns at the other end of the floor. Against a tough-minded UConn team that still has a champion’s pedigree — senior Alex Karaban won his 16th NCAA Tournament game Friday, third-best all-time — that was a recipe for disaster.

“The game was almost exactly what we expected, except going up 19,” said UConn coach Dan Hurley, who is one win away from his third Final Four in four years. “I don't think that was on my bingo card."

Maybe not, but the rest of it was, against "that coach, that program, those players," as Hurley put it afterward. The physical play in the paint, where the Spartans finished with a plus-nine rebounding advantage. The gritty defense that finally showed its teeth after that opening 10-minute stretch. And the core four leaving it all on the floor, as Jeremy Fears Jr., Coen Carr and the seniors combined for 52 of Michigan State’s 63 points on the night.

That it wasn’t enough in the end probably is no surprise, either, as questions about Michigan State’s depth were the biggest reason a Final Four seemed unlikely at the start of this tournament.

“We just kind of wore down,” Izzo said. “I played Jeremy so many minutes — and Coen — but it doesn't get away from the job that those two and the two seniors have done for me and my program over the last two years.”

What it does, though, is give Izzo more fuel for a fire that’s still stoked, which is the point he was quick to make not long after the final horn sounded here just after midnight.

Asked in the postgame press conference where he sees himself in five years, the 71-year-old Hall of Fame coach didn’t even pause before answering.

“Trying to win a national championship, plain and simple,” he replied. “That's it. Those things usually start after your last loss. Nowadays it's a little more screwed up, but not at Michigan State. After our last loss, we all talked about what we've got to do next year and how we've got to learn from this.”

He knows he and his staff have plenty of work to do between now and then. But Izzo already was planning to sit down this weekend with the "seven or eight" returning players on his roster to talk about what's next. Fears may want to gauge his NBA draft stock, though he was already talking about next season in the locker room. Carr and others likely will need more compensation, no different than any other elite program. Michigan State also needs to hit the transfer portal to add another center this spring.

But Izzo also talked about making sure those returning players talk to the top-10 recruiting class Michigan State has coming in to "set the table on what's going to be expected." And if we’ve learned anything listening to Izzo over the years — and particularly in recent years as he rails against his sport’s “broken system” while championing his own approach — it’s to take him at his word.

So, yes, I think it's safe to say that he’s got more rounds in him.

“I don't know, I'm feeling good,” he shrugged, in response to that question about his own future. “We all talk about retirement. Why? What the hell am I going to do? The minute I don't feel good, the minute I don't feel like I'm giving my AD or president or school every ounce of energy I have every day or that energy drops, you don't have to worry about it. I don't steal money. I won't steal anybody's time.

“But it's sure as hell not going to be now. I've got some things to accomplish. I'm going to make damn sure that … I said a couple years ago that I'll find a way to get back there. We've knocked on the door twice. We haven't gotten back. We'll get back.”

____