When you win 13 games in a row and start the Big Ten season 9-0, there's not much to complain about. So if you're Tom Izzo and your team hasn't lost since before Thanksgiving, you almost have to manufacture things to be upset about.
OK, so Izzo always has something that bothers him because he's a perfectionist and that's why he's a Hall of Famer, but this year's Michigan State team has been really fun to watch.
The Spartans have been dominant throughout most of Big Ten play so far and they haven't lost since dropping to Memphis in Maui. After that, they beat North Carolina in overtime and then cruised to 12 more wins in a row to improve their record to 18-2 on the season.
But Izzo isn't thrilled with one thing about his team: second-half performances.
Fortunately, this team has been good about building leads early and going into the locker room with comfortable advantages, but the second halves during the winning streak have not been up to par for the Hall of Fame coach and that includes Tuesday night's thrashing of Minnesota.
Tom Izzo: "I have not backed off the view that 4 or 5 losses will win the league. Maybe that is insulting to my team. We have had sloppy second halves."
— Emmett Matasovsky (@E_Matasovsky57) January 29, 2025
Honestly, he's not entirely wrong. Michigan State has had some incredibly dominant first halves this season (North Carolina, Minnesota, Ohio State, Northwestern, and Penn State. In each of those games, the Spartans built big leads on the back of elite defense only to fall asleep on the defensive end in the second half and play much more of a shootout-type game.
Michigan State was up 43-34 against North Carolina but gave up 48 second-half points and was forced to win the game in overtime. The Spartans led Minnesota by 12 in the first matchup and gave up 42 second-half points but still won by 18 and they only won the second half 37-35 on Tuesday after one of the most dominant defensive halves in recent memory. Michigan State lost the second half against Ohio State, Penn State, and Northwestern which all should've been blowouts.
I guess it's a good problem to have that Izzo is unhappy when his team is losing the scoring battle in second halves when leading big at halftime, but if this gets corrected, watch out.
Izzo is not content with being really good, he wants this team to be great.