Tom Izzo’s Bold Experiment: Can Michigan State Unlock the Secret to Beating Toledo?

Tom Izzo might be the last guy you’d expect to get ruffled by a routine question, but oh, he did — and then some. You see, right after Divine Ugochukwu lit up the scoreboard with an electric 23-point, flawless five-for-five from beyond the arc, Izzo’s reaction wasn’t what anyone predicted. The Spartans, ranked No. 9, edged out a tight 76-72 victory at Penn State, with Ugochukwu, a Miami transfer, stepping into an unfamiliar starting role at shooting guard alongside Jeremy Fears Jr. The spotlight was on how this lineup shakeup would ripple through Michigan State’s rotation. Yet, Izzo wasn’t about to entertain the looming “quarterback controversy” chatter — a phrase he’d coined himself just days earlier — brushing it off with a mix of defiance and a hint of mischief. It’s a classic December maneuver from a seasoned coach: probing, pushing, and reshuffling until the perfect formula surfaces just in time to tackle the grind of Big Ten play. The questions now swirling are if Ugochukwu holds his spot, how Izzo’s juggling act unfolds, and if this spirited trial-and-error phase turns the Spartans into a hard-to-beat force down the stretch. Intrigued? LEARN MORE

UNIVERSITY PARK, PA — Tom Izzo took umbrage to the question, even though it wasn’t the question the Michigan State basketball coach thought.

Divine Ugochukwu had just gone off for a career-high 23 points and 5-for-5 3-point shooting in the No. 9 Spartans‘ narrow 76-72 win at Penn State. Izzo brought in the Miami (Florida) transfer as a backup point guard but gave Ugochukwu his first start as a Spartan at shooting guard next to Jeremy Fears Jr.

Asked about the ripple effect of the move on his rotation and lineups, Izzo bristled.

“The quarterback controversy – you guys know me … I’m into making you guys so mad at me,” Izzo said Saturday, Dec. 13. “I ain’t worried about that at all.”

Michigan State Spartans head coach Tom Izzo talks with guard Jeremy Fears Jr. and guard Kur Teng during the second half against the Penn State Nittany Lions at Bryce Jordan Center in University Park, Pennsylvania, on Saturday, Dec. 13.

Of course he isn’t. The “quarterback controversy” term he used deep inside Bryce Jordan Center was the same one he himself brought up a week earlier to describe his inconsistent shooting guard position after MSU (9-1, 2-0 Big Ten) lost its first game this season, 66-60 to No. 3 Duke. Izzo was struggling to figure out how to best use Ugochukwu, previous starters Kur Teng and Trey Fort, as well as freshman Jordan Scott.

“There will be some juggling,” Izzo said Dec. 6 at Breslin Center. “We’ll have a quarterback controversy. Because what you do is you give people an opportunity and a chance. And yet, sooner or later, you gotta step up.”

Which brings us to Tuesday’s game against Toledo (5-5). But more specifically, the Spartans’ next three games before resuming Big Ten play at Nebraska on Jan. 2.

Izzo was cognizant ahead of the Penn State game that the rest of the month would give him a chance to explore. Altering his lineups and moving players into uncomfortable positions has always been some of the best teaching devices in his coaching toolbox over 30 seasons, and Year 31 is no different.

It’s a calculated time of the season for Izzo and something he typically attempts to do at this point for several reasons. To find out about the Spartans’ mental ability to handle adverse situations, be it through real or manufactured strain. To find out about his players’ positional strengths and limitations, so he can whittle and finesse his rotation when Big Ten play heats up after the new year.

Divine Ugochukwu of the Michigan State Spartans drives to basket past Josh Reed of the Penn State Nittany Lions in the second half during a college basketball game at Bryce Jordan Center in University Park, Pennsylvania, on Saturday, Dec. 13.

Even going back more than a quarter century to his national championship team losing at Wright State on the next-to-last day of 1999, Izzo has never been afraid to sacrifice a December game if it means winning four (or more) come March, based on what he discovers and how his players respond. But it’s always better for him and his program when those experiments come with wins.

And it helps to keep Izzo from using another term he loves to throw around when success becomes too consuming – the dreaded “fat and sassy.”

“We did find a way in the end,” Izzo said Saturday after MSU blew two 10-point leads and still hung on against the Nittany Lions. “And good teams have to find a way to win.”

Whether that means Ugochukwu continues to start and Izzo massages his point guard rotation with him, Fears and potentially more of Denham Wojcik will remain to be seen. The same goes for the question of whether Scott will continue to get more minutes, as Izzo said Saturday, or if Fort and Teng respond to the challenge Izzo has laid out to provide more on both ends of the floor.

“They’re human beings. And human beings are meant to be pushed,” Izzo said Nov. 16, two days before beating Kentucky in the Champions Classic. “And if they aren’t meant to be pushed, I wouldn’t have a job. I mean, that’s why you have a job, to try and push people and make them into what they want to be.”

But there remains no question that Izzo is searching for the combinations he likes best with his roster. Just like he does most every December. And he’s not afraid to mix things up until he finds the right formula for the season’s final three months.

“We’re not gonna have a steady diet of anything,” Izzo said Thursday before the PSU trip. “We’re gonna try to find out who’s better off the bench, who’s better in (the lineup), how do we get our rotation down. I told you it would take until the middle of December, and now we’re getting to the middle of December. And that’s what we’ll start doing.”

Contact Chris Solari: [email protected]. Follow him @chrissolari.

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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Tom Izzo seeking right mix as Michigan State basketball faces Toledo