Steven Izzo of Michigan State finally makes the first basket after a long wait.
Steven Izzo was set on not letting his desire to make a basket shape his time at Michigan State. He was finally able to play for the team he loved as a child and spend each day with his father, after only getting to spend a few days with him when he was younger. Fans and friends put their arms around him.
Still, as the 2023–24 season went on and his playing days drew to a close, the fact that he had scored zero baskets in five seasons with the Spartans became harder to ignore.
Late in games that were already won, fans shouted Steven Izzo’s name, telling Tom Izzo to send his son in. People at the Breslin Center cheered as soon as he touched the ball because they were looking forward to seeing his first points. Even his teammates yelled at him to fire every chance they got.
Steven could feel the stress. That pressure was getting worse every day as the second part of his sixth campaign went on. There were only Big Ten games remaining on the schedule.
In the 14th minute, Michigan State was behind Rutgers by one point. Late in the game, the Spartans pulled out to lead by 18 points, which gave the last guy on the bench a chance to play.
Even though there were only a few seconds left in the game, Steven checked in. The best defense in the Big Ten still had players in the game. Sunday didn’t look like it would be the day for that first basket.
Steven did hear the calls to shoot, though. He dribbled the ball between both of his legs to get about Rutgers start Austin Williams when he got the ball on the outside in front of the Michigan State bench. He then made a rainbow shot whilst falling over.
After 54.3 seconds, Steven Izzo, a fifth-year walk-on senior and the son of Spartans coach Tom Izzo, checked in. The game was already over. The 5-foot-8, 150-pound wing had played 43 games before this one and had never scored.
With 36 seconds left, Tre Holloman threw a pass to Izzo on the right side. Izzo dribbled to his left, crossed his legs, and drove 6-4 Scarlet Knight guard Austin Williams to the basket.
Izzo’s floater shot went high, hit the rim twice, and fell through, getting a foul. Even though his friends surrounded him on the sideline, Izzo made the free throw that gave the Spartans their last points.
No one always plans to make it to the Medal of Fame. Instead, one step leads to the next, and so on, building a job that goes to Springfield, Massachusetts over time. This is also true for Izzo.
He used to play football and just wanted to become a coach. As a coach, he wanted to win. All of that added up to a career that should be in the Hall of Fame.
But some steps seemed bigger and more significant than others. They were the starting points or stopping points that led the coach of the Spartans at Michigan State to the 2016 class when put together.
The Mining Journal is the most important newspaper in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Their news short is just that: quick.
On November 6, 1977, it was posted that Iron Mountain native Tom Izzo, captain in coach Glenn Brown’s two previous Northern Michigan University basketball teams and the team’s most valuable player during the 1976–77 season, would take over as head coach of the Ishpeming Hematites’ college boys’ basketball team.
Izzo was in town to do more than watch students win state titles. He also tried to sell himself to Northern Michigan recruits. Four years into his job at Northern Michigan, he was ready to start moving up in the hiring process.
He worked up the nerve to ask Jud Heathcote, who had just led the Spartans to the Final Four two years before if he had a job opening on his staff. Kindly, Heathcote told him he didn’t.
Another year, the same thing. Heathcote said, “That time he broke his jaw.” “He was hard for me to understand.” He told Izzo that he still didn’t have any jobs.