Winning 13 games in a row and starting Big Ten play 9-0 is something that Michigan State basketball hasn't accomplished since 2018-19 when Cassius Winston was still running the show.
The past four seasons have left a lot to be desired and they've felt nothing like typical Tom Izzo-coached teams. They fell short of expectations with the deepest run being a Sweet 16 appearance in 2023 when the Spartans lost to Kansas State in a thriller.
It's felt like a decade ago that Michigan State was atop the Big Ten and playing some of the cleanest basketball in the conference. This year is much different.
And Minnesota head coach Ben Johnson explained one of the main reasons for that.
Ben Johnson: "The connectiveness from MSU is what is different. You sense the buy-in. That shows up in the day-to-day process. I don't know if guys in years' past had an individual agenda, but this team does not. It is a team agenda to win."
— Emmett Matasovsky (@E_Matasovsky57) January 29, 2025
Johnson touched on the "connectiveness" of this Michigan State basketball team and said that it's different. He says that you can sense a buy-in from this team and they don't have an individual agenda, hinting that previous teams may have had guys worried about themselves and not the team.
This isn't the only time this type of narrative has been pushed as Izzo said the same thing earlier in the season, stating that this team loves each other and they root for each other to do well.
There's a reason the Spartans are playing so well right now and have one of the best assist-to-field goal numbers in the country. Heck, just on Tuesday night, the Spartans had 19 assists on 25 made field goals. These guys play an unselfish brand of basketball and Johnson says that's what makes the Spartans so good.