EAST LANSING — On Saturday, Tom Izzo called Bryant coach Phil Martelli Jr. to congratulate him on his Bulldogs’ America East championship. Little did he know he’d be talking to the coach of Michigan State’s March Madness matchup.
For a record 27th straight season, Michigan State will play in the NCAA Tournament. After an unexpected run to the top of the Big Ten standings this season, the Spartans (27-6) earned a No. 2 seed in the South Region, where it faces Martelli’s No. 15 seed Bryant (23-11) on Friday in Cleveland. The game will be broadcast on TBS with a tip-off scheduled for 10 p.m.
This year’s No. 2 seed is the highest Michigan State has received since 2019, when another second-seeded Spartans team ran all the way to the Final Four. Michigan State has also lost as a No. 2 seed, like in 2016 when it lost to Middle Tennessee State in a first-round upset.“I’ve been part of a 2-15 loss. So I’ve been there, done that,” Izzo said Sunday. “As I told my team, when you stay here 30 years and you’re in 27 or eight NCAA tournaments, you’ve kind of been through everything. So I don’t feel comfortable with anything, and I don’t feel afraid of anything.”
There was no question the Spartans would be among the 68-team field. A 10-player rotation saw individuals make big contributions in different critical games. A total of 13 Quadrant 1 wins — third most among all teams — made a compelling case for a spot near the top of the bracket. Most projections listed a No. 2 seed, solidified by an eight-game win streak before Saturday’s 77-74 loss to Wisconsin in the Big Ten Tournament semifinal.
That loss to Wisconsin revealed some concerning slip-ups — “little things” the Spartans said cost them the game. Badgers star John Tonje scored 32 points, players found themselves in consistent foul trouble and execution errors kept a win out of reach.
In a meeting Sunday morning, the coaching staff emphasized that those details must be addressed if Michigan State wishes to go on a deep run.
“We tried to make it a real educational (meeting) — not a butt-chewing, not a look-what-you-did-here,” Izzo said. “We tried to make them look at it like if you want to move on, we have to take care and figure out why we did some of these things.”
Bryant’s roster features a number of transfers from major conferences, including the America East Player of the Year, Earl Timberlake, a senior guard who averages 15.5 points and 8.2 rebounds. Timberlake started his career at Miami and spent a year at Memphis before playing the past three for Bryant. Four players average double-digit scoring, led by senior guard Rafael Pinzon at 18.5 points per game.
Martelli is the son of Phil Martelli, the retired Michigan assistant who spent 24 years as the head coach of St. Joseph’s in the Atlantic 10 Conference.
“I do know Phil’s kid is a very good coach, and he sure as hell (has) been brought up right,” Izzo said, “because Phil was one of the best coaches. When he was at St Joe’s, he was unbelievable, and did a hell of a job there. His son was all part of it. … We’ll have our work cut out for us.”
Twenty-seven straight NCAA Tournament appearances gives Michigan State an advantage as big as any against Bryant, whose only other appearance was a First Four loss to Wright State in 2022. For players who’ve been through the fires of the NCAA Tournament — captain Jaden Akins, for example, entering his fourth — such experience gives valuable lessons.
“You gotta take it one game at a time,” Akins said. “… Energy, intensity is going to be high. There’s going to be different swings throughout the game, so we just gotta stay together. That’s usually the type of teams (that) win.”
For one of the Spartans’ biggest stars, those lessons will have to be learned on the fly. Freshman Jase Richardson has emerged as Michigan State’s difference-maker down the stretch, averaging 17.3 points per game since joining the starting five 11 games ago.
Freshmen don’t have the sort of experience that can be key in the NCAA Tournament, but Izzo gives Richardson an exception. His father, Jason Richardson, was a freshman on Izzo’s team that won it all back in 2000 and made the Final Four the next. The younger Richardson brings poise that will be key in this year’s tournament.
“He’s beyond his years in youth, he’s not a freshman,” Izzo said. “Pressure does not seem to bother him.”
This year’s No. 2 seed is a long way from some low seedings the past four postseasons, including a First Four loss in 2021. Michigan State has won its first round game the past three seasons, including a run to the Sweet Sixteen in 2023 that ended at the hands of Kansas State in overtime.
“For me, I’m ecstatic on where we are,” Izzo said. “… I mean, I don’t know if we ever had a stretch where we played that many high-powered teams in critical situations, on the road, short prep time. I think we’re prepared for the tournament.”