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Michigan State Basketball: How the Spartans reached the Final Four

By Brian Rauf

WASHINGTON, DC - MARCH 31: Cassius Winston #5 of the Michigan State Spartans celebrates with his teammates after a basket against the Duke Blue Devils during the first half in the East Regional game of the 2019 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at Capital One Arena on March 31, 2019 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Rob Carr/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON, DC - MARCH 31: Cassius Winston #5 of the Michigan State Spartans celebrates with his teammates after a basket against the Duke Blue Devils during the first half in the East Regional game of the 2019 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at Capital One Arena on March 31, 2019 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Rob Carr/Getty Images) /
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CHAMPAIGN, IL – FEBRUARY 05: Cassius Winston #5 of the Michigan State Spartans goes up for the shot against Kipper Nichols #2 and Ayo Dosunmu #11 of the Illinois Fighting Illini at State Farm Center on February 5, 2019 in Champaign, Illinois. (Photo by Michael Hickey/Getty Images)
CHAMPAIGN, IL – FEBRUARY 05: Cassius Winston #5 of the Michigan State Spartans goes up for the shot against Kipper Nichols #2 and Ayo Dosunmu #11 of the Illinois Fighting Illini at State Farm Center on February 5, 2019 in Champaign, Illinois. (Photo by Michael Hickey/Getty Images) /

The lowest point of Michigan State’s season

That rough stretch I mentioned? Yeah, it was rough.

The Spartans dropped three straight games on the heels of Langford’s injury from Jan. 27-Feb. 6, capped by a five-point loss to the worst team in the conference in Illinois. The streak started with an overtime loss to Purdue with the Spartans playing their third game in six days. That’s understandable. What isn’t understandable was the overtime home loss to Indiana nearly a week later. Remember how the Hoosiers lost 12 of 13 games at one point this season? That victory over Michigan State was the lone victory. Izzo questioned his team’s toughness after that one, but it only led to their worst loss of the season – that game against the Fighting Illini.

The Spartans struggled against Illinois’ press and high-pressure defense, falling behind early only to have a late rally come up short. It was their third loss in a row and, at the time, came against a team that was just 8-15 on the season. Izzo credited Illinois for the way they played but challenged his team in the postgame press conference.

"“Illinois played hard. I’ll give them credit for half of the turnovers. But we had, what, 28 turnovers? Something like that. I mean, that’s completely ridiculous and that’s all on us.”"

At that point, Michigan State’s season was going to go one of two ways – continue on their downward spiral without Langford or re-dedicate themselves to turning the season around. We know what happened.

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