Tom Izzo is no stranger to high-stakes games between Michigan State and Louisville.
“We had a couple with them — ‘09, ‘19. We’ve played them in Elite Eight games,” said Izzo, who is in his 31st season coaching the Spartans. “One of my first games was against Louisville when Denny Crum was there. They were celebrating the 15th anniversary of their championship, and I think they might have beat us by 100.
“It might have been a little less.”
Indeed, it was a 79-59 Louisville win way back on Dec. 2, 1995, but a more competitive game is all but certain when No. 3 seed Michigan State (26-7) faces No. 6 seed Louisville (24-10) on Saturday afternoon in the second round of the NCAA Tournament in Buffalo, N.Y. The winner advances to the Sweet 16 in the East Regional semifinals.
The teams advanced to the second round in different ways.
Michigan State rolled to a 25-point win over No. 14 seed North Dakota State on Thursday. Senior center Carson Cooper scored a career-high-tying 20 points and grabbed 10 rebounds to lead the Spartans and Coen Carr scored 17 points while making six of eight shots from the field.
Meanwhile, Louisville escaped with a four-point win over No. 11 seed South Florida. The Cardinals nearly coughed up a double-digit halftime lead and held on thanks in part to senior guard Isaac McKneely, who finished with a season-high-tying 23 points along with a career-high-tying seven 3-pointers on 10 attempts.
Louisville forward Vangelis Zougris said he and his teammates took pride in lifting up the program, which had slumped in recent seasons. Thursday’s win marked the Cardinals’ first NCAA Tournament win since 2017. The Cardinals haven’t reached the Sweet 16 in 11 years, when Rick Pitino was still the boss.
“It means the world to us,” Zougris said about the Cardinals’ tourney win. “This has been one of the main goals we had from the beginning of the season, just getting here and having good performances. …
“It’s not just important for us, me, (teammate Kobe Rodgers) and the guys. It’s for Louisville, the college, and the people and the fans.”
Next comes a tough matchup against one of the nation’s most storied programs.
Louisville coach Pat Kelsey turned to dry humor when asked about the challenge of having only one day of practice to prepare for Izzo and Michigan State.
“They’re really, really talented, first of all,” Kelsey said. “They’re like Noah’s ark. They’ve got two of everything. Obviously, they’re really well coached.
“There’s never enough time to get ready for a really, really good team like that. If you had five days, you’d probably run out of time. You’ve really got to simplify things in a one-day turnaround and lock in on the core meat and potatoes of what you’ve got to do to beat them.
“I think our guys have been attentive to that. Now, we’ve just got to do our best to go out and execute.”
Michigan State also knows that a tough challenge awaits, particularly against Louisville’s dynamic guard duo of McKneely (11.0 ppg) and leading scorer Ryan Conwell (18.7 ppg). Superb freshman Mikel Brown Jr. (18.2 ppg, 4.7 apg), who missed Thursday’s win with a bad back, is not expected to recover sufficiently to play against Michigan State.
How can the Spartans slow down the Cardinals?
“Tackle them,” Izzo joked. “You know, we’ve got to do something. They’ve had their way against a lot of people. That’s why they average what they average. …
“They’re maybe as impressive of two guards as you need to have to be successful. They say guards win championships or advance you in the NCAA Tournament. So there’s no question we’re not going to stop them, but we have to contain them somewhat.
“If you want the game plan for that, I won’t give it to you.”
