EAST LANSING – Add Braden Smith to the list of opponents to whom Tom Izzo isn’t waiting to give their flowers.
Even though the Michigan State basketball coach can’t wait to be done facing the talented Purdue point guard and reigning Big Ten Player of the Year.
“I’ll pull for him when I’m done playing him,” Izzo said Monday, Feb. 24. “Because I think he’s done a lot for our league. I think some of those guys that withstand the test of time, we should all appreciate.”
The 13th-ranked Spartans will try to do something they haven’t yet in Smith’s four seasons: Beat the senior star and his eighth-ranked Boilermakers when they travel to Mackey Arena in West Lafayette, Indiana, on Thursday (8 p.m., Peacock/NBC Sports).
MSU (22-5, 12-4 Big Ten) has lost seven straight trips to Purdue (22-5, 12-4), with two of those coming against Smith. The Spartans’ last win at Mackey was more than 12 years ago – a 94-79 victory on Feb. 20, 2014. Their most recent game there – on March 2, 2024, during Smith’s sophomore season – ended in an 80-76 defeat; the Boilermakers went on to win the Big Ten title, make their first Final Four since 1980 and finish as runner-up to Connecticut.
Smith is 4-1 against MSU, with the Spartans winning the lone meeting last year at Breslin Center, 75-66, to end a five-game losing streak to the Boilermakers. Smith had 17 points, eight assists and five rebounds in that one and has averaged 10.4 points, 5.6 assists and 4.2 rebounds in his five games against Izzo’s teams.
This season, the 6-foot, 170-pound Smith averages 14.9 points, 8.7 assists and 3.8 rebounds per game. That is down some from the 15.8 points he posted as a first-team All-American last year but on pace with his league-leading assist total. Smith passed former Spartan Cassius Winston as the Big Ten’s all-time assist leader in January and ranks second in Division I this season – trailing only MSU’s Jeremy Fears Jr. and his NCAA-leading 9.2 a game.
“Poor kid’s only 170 pounds – I say ‘poor kid’ and he’s tearing everybody apart,” Izzo said of Smith. “But he’s shooting it better, he’s improved his 3-point shooting, I think. … He’s got a little nastiness to him for a skinny guy.”
Smith is shooting 41.2% from 3-point range and 47.5% overall, but he also averages 2.9 turnovers per game and has had eight games with four or more turnovers – three of which ended in Purdue losses. That included a season-worst six in a home loss to Iowa State on Dec. 6, one of four games this season in which the senior had a half-dozen giveaways. The other three were narrow escapes, including a four-point home win over Oregon on Feb. 7, a five-point road win at USC and a nine-point home win over Washington on Jan. 7.
Smith and Fears are locked in a tight race for the first-team All-Big Ten point guard spot. They’re also among the front-runners for Big Ten Player of the Year, along with Michigan forward Yaxel Lendeborg and Illinois guard Keaton Wagler.
“They’re both very good players,” Izzo said. “Braden’s got a couple years on Jeremy. And they’re different players. What I gotta make sure is that my guy does what he needs to do to help us win, just like I’m sure their guy will do. …
“We’re not making it a big deal. I bet you they’re not, either, because they do the same thing. My biggest concern really is – I mean, he’s a concern because he makes so many other people better.”
Izzo said it is imperative that Fears not be focused on the head-to-head battle, though he also said he expects his dynamic defender to take the primary task of guarding Smith. He also said freshman Jordan Scott – who took over down the stretch Sunday against Ohio State’s Bruce Thornton – and others will rotate and give Smith a variety of looks.
“He’s gonna be guarded by a bunch of people,” Izzo said. “What we did a better job of last year, our bigs did some helping and did a better job on him collectively. He’ll be a team-effort. … Jeremy’s gotta be the guy that does it on a regular basis. But you don’t cover Braden Smith with one. He is fun to watch film on, he really is. He’s got some shiftiness to him.”
Thornton, who like Smith has spent his entire college career at one school despite this era of constant player movement, scored 32 points against MSU in the Spartans’ 66-60 escape. Afterward, Izzo praised the Buckeye for his performance in that game and over his four seasons.
“I told him it’s been an honor and a privilege to coach against him for four years. I said, ‘You stayed put, you didn’t run and leave like everybody does nowadays. You’ve been an incredible player, you’ve been an incredible person,’” Izzo said Sunday. “I’m a big fan, and I told him even more after the game.”
As for Fears, the 6-2, 190-pound third-year sophomore leads the Spartans at 15.1 points per game while averaging just just 2.1 turnovers. He also is first in the country in assist rate (53.9%) and is 15th nationally with his 90.8% free-throw shooting.
Though Fears endured another review for a potential kick during the OSU game and picked up a technical foul for chirping with the Buckeyes’ Gabe Cupps, Izzo said he believes his point guard continues to show he’s “growing.”
“I kind of like the progress he’s making now,” Izzo said of Fears, who is averaging 17.4 points and 9.1 assists in 14 games in 2026. “He’s understanding that he’s a little bit of a marked man. He put himself in that position somewhat, and you gotta work your way out of it. And I feel comfortable that he’s doing that.”
Contact Chris Solari: csolari@freepress.com. Follow him @chrissolari.
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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan State basketball’s next big task: Stop Purdue’s Braden Smith