Michigan State basketball's Tom Izzo gets Mount Rushmore take from Chris Beard
03/27/2025 02:19 PM
The Sweet 16 gets underway on Thursday night, and there are a lot of good matchups lined up for the next two days. One of the most intriguing matchups of the round will go down on Friday night as Ole Miss will go up against the Michigan State basketball team in Atlanta. The Rebels are the six-seed in the South region, and the Spartans are the two. Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo is one of the best coaches of all time, and Chris Beard knows that his Rebels will have their hands full.
Tom Izzo became the winningest head coach in Big Ten history this season as he passed legendary Indiana coach Bob Knight for most conference wins all time. Izzo is one of the best to ever to do it, and Ole Miss head coach Chris Beard has a lot of respect for him.
“Whenever you have the opportunity to compete against the best, it’s an opportunity for your program,” Beard said in an interview with Jon Rothstein. “It’s more than a game — how can we stack up with these teams that are programs, not just teams. Coach (Izzo) is one of the best that has ever done this, he’s on my Mount Rushmore.”
Ole Miss has picked up some impressive wins in March Madness this season, but Michigan State will be its most difficult test so far. The Rebels have taken down 11-seed North Carolina and three-seed Iowa State so far. They were dominant in both of those games for the most part, so this Ole Miss team is playing some really good basketball right now. Still, Izzo and his Spartans just find ways to win games. That is especially true when the calendar hits March.
Michigan State didn’t look all that impressive during the first weekend, but they earned wins against 15-seed Bryant and 10-seed New Mexico. The road is getting much more difficult this weekend with this matchup against Ole Miss looming, and if the Spartans win that, they will play either top overall seed Auburn or rival Michigan. Michigan State is 2-0 on the year against the Wolverines.
The Spartans and Rebels will get the action started in the South region on Friday night as they will tip at 7:09 ET from State Farm Arena in Atlanta. The game will be airing on CBS, and Michigan State is currently favored by 3.5 points. Michigan and Auburn will follow that one up 30 minutes after the conclusion of the contest. Tom Izzo vs. Chris Beard should be an entertaining matchup.
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