WASHINGTON − The road to Indianapolis began five months ago in Connecticut. Even if it was a loss that didn’t count toward Michigan State basketball.
And now, to have a chance to play for a spot in Tom Izzo’s ninth Final Four, the Spartans must first take a path through UConn in the Sweet 16.
No. 3 seed MSU (27-7) faces No. 2 seed Connecticut (31-5) at Capital One Arena on Friday, March 27 (9:45 p.m., CBS). The winner will advance to the Elite Eight and face either 1-seed Duke or 5-seed St. John’s on Sunday for a berth in the Final Four at Lucas Oil Stadium on April 4 in Indianapolis.
The Spartans, who are in Izzo’s 17th Sweet 16 appearance are trying to get back to the Elite Eight for the second straight season and the 12th time in their Hall of Fame coach’s 28-year streak of consecutive NCAA berths.
“What I’ve learned in these two experiences is you can’t overlook the team that’s ahead of you,” senior Jaxon Kohler said Thursday. “You have to be very mature in your preparation for this game. This game ahead of us is the most important game of our season.”
And the last time the two teams played, all of a sudden, has gone from meaningless to meaningful, after both reached the Sweet 16 last weekend.
The Spartans and Huskies meet in a rematch of their Oct. 28 exhibition game in Hartford, Connecticut. In that one, both MSU and UConn were coming off an offseason of roster fluctuation but returned key core players from last season. Izzo’s team made a run to the 2025 Elite Eight, while Dan Hurley’s two-time defending champion Huskies lost to their eventual successor, Florida, in the second round.
The exhibition began as a one-sided affair, with UConn building a 19-point lead into the second half before MSU – as it has done often since – stormed back in the final two minutes in an eventual 76-69 loss.
Kohler and Carson Cooper each had mirror-image double-doubles – Cooper with 12 points and 10 rebounds, Kohler with 10 points and 12 rebounds, with the two combining to go 12-for-15 on free throws – as the Huskies played without senior big man Tarris Reed Jr.
“Seeing their sprint, their cuts – they screen, they’re physical, aggressive,” said Jeremy Fears Jr., who had 14 points and six assists but committed six of the Spartans’ 16 turnovers. “Kind of seeing how you can prepare in your mind and scout how physical the game is going to go just a little bit. … Overall, kind of trust our game plan and our prep and go into that game with kind of a little version of them that we’d seen a while ago.”
Alex Karaban and Solo Ball each scored 18 points for the Huskies, who went 23-for-30 at the line and hit nine 3-pointers. While Reed and his recent run of end-of-career scoring and rebounding worry Izzo, with eight double-doubles in the past 12 games, he also said the 6-foot-8 Karaban also gives UConn a pair of mobile big men, as opposed to the first meeting.
“Tarris is probably one of the more physical guys ever to play this year. … The way he’s playing right now, he’s playing his best basketball. I think we are, too,” Cooper said Thursday of Reed, who began his career at Michigan. “So it’s going to come down to who’s the most physical, who is the most aggressive. I think we got to be able to hit first.”
The Spartans used the lessons from the exhibition loss to UConn to get off to a 19-2 start (including a six-point loss to Duke) before the Big Ten grind caught up to them. The Huskies also opened their season hot, before losing three of their last eight to close the regular season and get bounced from the Big East Tournament by Rick Pitino and St. John’s for the second time in a little over a month.
UConn coach Dan Hurley said “there’s no greater test than playing a Michigan State or Tom Izzo-coached team.”
“We were very intentional about trying to schedule them for that game right before the opener, so we could really identify our vulnerabilities in that game. They were on full display in that game. They exposed us,” Hurley said Thursday of the Spartans. “I think we gave up six or seven free-throw rebounds in that game, our transition defense was a joke, we got assaulted on the glass. There was a lot there in that game that we were able to show the guys this week when we got manhandled.
“We’re a much different team, they’re a much different team. Certainly, it helped us both get ready for November and December, because we’re obviously two of the best teams in the country.”
The Spartans and Huskies have combined for eight national titles and 17 Final Four appearances in their programs’ history. Izzo and Hurley have three national titles between them, with Izzo winning the Big Ten’s most recent one in 2000 and Hurley getting his back-to-back in 2023 and 2024.
The two coaches also are cut from similar material: demanding disciplinarians who preach accountability with an oftentimes loud and animated approach – both to their players and referees.
“Accountability is going to be big until I leave,” Izzo said. “If that bothers some people, God bless them. I’m going against Danny Hurley – I love Danny Hurley. Not because it’s a love-fest, not because I have to say the right things. He’s not afraid of saying what he has to say to the players he has.”
But only one can move on and continue to chase another championship. And Izzo feels the loaded East region “is like a Final Four, if you ask me” with the 1, 2, 3 and 5 seeds all still fighting for the ultimate prize.
“I think this is almost a chalk tournament,” he said. “I’m just proud and excited to be part of it.”
Contact Chris Solari: csolari@freepress.com. Follow him @chrissolari.
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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan State basketball expects ‘physical’ test vs UConn in Sweet 16