NCAA Tournament hopes on the line for MSU men’s basketball ahead of senior night against Northwestern

At Michigan State University, Senior Day for the men’s basketball program is more than an event. As the seniors lean down to kiss the Spartan’s head at midfield and leave the Breslin field for the final time, it’s a tradition, celebration and collective farewell.

For this season’s MSU team, senior night is all that and more. As the Spartans honored six seniors against Northwestern on Wednesday night, head coach Tom Izzo knows his group desperately needs a victory.

“It’s going to be a big game for us,” Izzo said Monday during his weekly press conference. “Not only because it’s senior night, but it’s a game we have to earn.”

It’s a day at the Breslin Center that has yielded nothing but positive results for the Spartans in over a decade — their last loss on Senior Day came in 2012, when Draymond Green was a senior. This time around, MSU will have to continue to feed off the energy and emotion that comes with it. celebrating its elder statesmen, especially in a season full of inconsistencies.

The Spartans (17-12 overall, 9-9 Big Ten) started the year ranked No. 4 in the country, but quickly disappeared from the AP poll after a 4-5 start. They won 13 of their next 17 contests, positioning themselves well for an NCAA tournament run before losing three in a row to fall back into the “bubble.” conversations.

MSU closes its regular season on the road at Indiana, making a win Wednesday night at home even more critical for the Spartans. If they drop both and fail to win at least one game in the Big Ten tournament, Izzo’s streak of 25 consecutive NCAA tournaments appearances will be seriously compromised.

Izzo and his team will have to beat a Northwest team that has beaten them four times in the last five meetings. A significant part will contain the guard Bou Buiewho averages 18.9 points per game and has delivered his fair share of outbursts against MSU in his Wildcat career.

It will be up to MSU’s guards, two of whom are honored on Senior Night, to win the game. against Buie.

MSU Regular Entries Tyson Walker, AJ Hoggard, Malik Hall And Mady Sissoko will be honored on senior night alongside guard David Smith and guard on foot Steven Izzo. Hoggard, Sissoko and Smith all have an additional year of eligibility if they choose to return to MSU this offseason. Izzo said he was not currently focused on such possibilities and said decisions would not be made or announced until the end of the season.

As for Izzo, in his 29th year as MSU’s head coach, he has made his future in the program clear.

“It’s not my last game (at Breslin),” Izzo said of Wednesday. the game of the night.

In the team’s recent 80-74 loss to Purdue, MSU played with enough intensity and effort to upset the No. 3-ranked Boilermakers, but didn’t shoot well enough, a recurring theme these days. last time. Walker and guard Jaden AkinsMSU’s top two shooters, combined for 6 of 20 from the field in a last-second home loss to Ohio State and 9 for 24 against Purdue.

For MSU to have much success in the postseason, it needs the best version of Walker, the version averaging over 20 points per game at midseason. Since then, he has averaged around 15 points, only reaching the 20 point mark. twice.

“I have to take responsibility if my team doesn’t play as well as they can…and I did,” Izzo said. “I’m not hiding behind this elephant. And it’s a big, big white elephant because there are 600,000 little elephants that kind of make it me and I really wouldn’t have it any other way.”

The Spartans proved they could be a force to be reckoned with when firing on all cylinders. This level, however, has manifested itself on rare occasions and so far. between.

“If we play our best basketball, I think we still have a lot of games left to win,” Izzo said. “That was the disappointing part for me as a leader. And This is the part I have to take responsibility for.

Michigan State and Northwestern will tip off on Wednesday, March 6 at 7 p.m. at the Breslin Center. Big Ten Network will broadcast the game.