The Northwestern Wildcats let a seven-point halftime lead slip away in a road matchup against the No. 12-ranked Michigan State Spartans on Thursday night, but Northwestern head coach Chris Collins lost in humility.
“I love Coach Izzo,” Collins said after the game about Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo. “He’s always been so great to me. Being around basketball, I’ve known him since I was in high school. They recruited me a little bit, being from Chicago. I’ve always admired how he built this program. I think that some of the things I stand for and my personality and some of the things I’m about I think a lot mirror what he stands for. He’s always been someone that I’ve really looked up to in this profession, and he’s been great to me. He’s reached out to me at some of my lowest times.
“It’s crazy, my nephew’s a freshman manager on the [Michigan State] males’s basketball group. That is how a lot I really like what they’ve executed right here and what they’re about.”
Izzo, who’s in his thirty first season as Michigan State’s head coach, boasts a 751-304 profession report in East Lansing, together with his 751 wins rating twenty third in males’s faculty basketball historical past. At current, Izzo is on tempo to be 18th in wins on the finish of the 2025-26 season. The Spartans have made the NCAA Event in 27 consecutive seasons (there was no NCAA Event in 2020 as a result of COVID-19 pandemic) below Izzo.
Northwestern HC Chris Collins had nothing however nice issues to say about Tom Izzo and Michigan State ❤️
Collins, the 2022-23 Huge Ten Coach of the 12 months and 2022-23 Jim Phelan Coach of the 12 months Award winner, is in his thirteenth season as Northwestern’s head coach, with the Wildcats a mixed 202-197 over that span and making the NCAA Event in three seasons.
Collins, whose 202 wins as head coach is second in Northwestern males’s basketball historical past, was beforehand an assistant coach at his alma mater Duke for 14 seasons below Corridor of Fame head coach Mike Krzyzewski. This season, Northwestern is 8-7 total and 0-4 in Huge Ten play.
As for the Thursday night time recreation, Michigan State defeated Northwestern, 76-66, with the Spartans out-rebounding the Wildcats, 41-22. Nick Martinelli was the one Northwestern participant who scored in double-digits, ending with a game-high 28 factors. The win moved Michigan State to 14-2 total and 4-1 in Huge Ten play.
Subsequent up for Northwestern is a street matchup towards Rutgers on Sunday.
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