Zone defense remains Tom Izzo's kryptonite

For the life of me, I still can't believe Tom Izzo hasn't figured out how to break a zone defense. That was the story of his Michigan State basketball team's night against the Indiana Hoosiers on Tuesday.

On a night in which Izzo should have been celebrating breaking Bob Knight's all-time Big Ten wins record, everyone got a massive headache instead.

It has been a common theme throughout Izzo's 30 years at the helm. He doesn't coach a zone, and he most certainly can't coach against it. The Hoosiers forced the Spartans to settle for a bunch of chucked 3-point shots and they couldn't get the big men going inside because they were in foul trouble.

Not to bring up the 2018 NCAA Tournament game against Syracuse, but this was the same story. Who in Spartan Nation doesn't bring that one up, especially the part about Ben Carter playing over Jaren Jackson Jr.?

It is very clear, that this is one of those things that Izzo has never been able to adapt to. Zone defense forces you to take shots from the outside, and for a Spartan team that is near the bottom in the country in 3-point shooting, it was ugly.

Things don't get any easier, and it's clear that the tape is out that you can beat this Spartan team by playing zone. You just have to think all these teams left on the MSU schedule are foaming at the mouth because they have a chance to make things even worse for the Spartans.

I hate to say it because I love Izzo to death, but the fact that he has never been able to crack the code against a zone is beyond me. All those years and to have played against pretty much every Hall of Fame level coach and you get out-coached by a guy in Mike Woodson who won't be returning to Indiana next season. The loss is on Izzo because he completely (expletive) the bed in this game.

Izzo's been down for the count before and time will tell if the Spartans can respond, especially with a trip to Champaign and rematch with Illinois this weekend.