Spartans grind out 2 OT victory in Columbus
Road wins in the Big Ten are a tough commodity to come by. That’s even more the case when the opponent is a legitimate Big Ten title contender like Ohio State. In today’s Lansing State Journal, Tom Izzo talked about how his Spartans grinded out Sunday’s 2OT, 62-59 win over the Buckeyes.
During one of what seemed like dozens of timeouts Sunday, coach Tom Izzo put down his clipboard and looked over his Michigan State players.
“I told them in the huddle, you know, we’ve played Gonzaga, we’ve played Arizona, we’ve played all these overtime games, and I told them I thought we had earned the right to win this game,” Izzo recalled. “I felt like, looking at them in the eye, that they were looking back at me saying, ‘Damn right we did, and we’re gonna get it done.’”
A separate story in the LSJ talks about how Matt Trannon continues to be the team’s X-factor by providing a tough presence on the court. On Sunday that earned him several career highs in the win.
Without Trannon, the Spartans’ game wouldn’t be nearly the same, and a Big Ten title would be a far-fetched concept. The MSU football receiver who moonlights on the hardwood had his hands all over the Spartans’ 62-59 double-overtime win here Sunday over Ohio State.
In his second straight start, he had career highs with 14 points, 11 rebounds and 40 minutes. Trannon had a key dunk, plus the foul, to give MSU a 54-51 lead in double overtime, and he made another clutch free throw in that extra session.