A quarter-century after his lone national title, Tom Izzo comes up short again in March Madness

Tom Izzo pounded the scorers’ table in frustration.

He cusped his hands behind his head, struggling to figure out some way for his Michigan State team to make a few baskets in the NCAA Tournament’s South Region final.

During an especially excruciating sequence for the Spartans, he couldn’t even bear to watch as one shot after another clanked off the rim, even as his ever-hustling players grabbed three straight offensive rebounds.

Izzo looked away, shaking his head.

A quarter-century after his lone national championship, the title drought for one of college basketball’s greatest coaches stretched to another year Sunday.

The cold-shooting Spartans fell behind by 15 points in the opening minutes and never could fight all the way back against the top overall seed in the tournament, falling to Auburn 70-64.

A 17-0 run, which transformed an 8-6 lead for Michigan State into a 23-8 deficit, was too much to overcome. The Spartans missed 10 straight shots.

“Boy, that stretch we had at the beginning,” Izzo said, shaking his head. “We had shot after shot after shot. They just didn’t go in. That happens.”

With a roster that Izzo described as one of his favorites of a three-decade career, if not the most talented, Michigan State made only 24 of 64 shots (34.4%) from the field, including 7 of 23 from 3-point range.

There was no shortage of effort from the Spartans.

Just not enough baskets.

“I’m not sure I’ve every been prouder of a team,” Izzo said. “These guys gave me everything they had. They should take a week off. There’s nothing left in them.”

The 70-year-old Izzo had been 10-0 against Southeastern Conference teams in the NCAA Tournament. But that perfect mark came to an end in Atlanta, sending the Tigers to the Final Four and ending Michigan State’s season.

After running away with the Big Ten championship, the Spartans came up one win shy of Izzo’s ninth Final Four appearance.

“I felt going in, we were the better team. I felt like we had better players,” Auburn coach Bruce Pearl said. “That’s not a criticism (of Michigan State) at all.”

Izzo remains at one national title, captured way back in 2000 when a team led by Mateen Cleaves and Morris Peterson knocked off Florida of the SEC in the championship game in Indianapolis.

That squad included a freshman star-in-the-making named Jason Richardson.

On Sunday, in a sign of Izzo’s longevity, he coached a team that included Richardson’s son, Jase.

The freshman guard, who was held to 11 points on 4-of-13 shooting, credited Auburn for a stellar defensive effort.

“It’s just tough,” the younger Richardson said. “Every time you drive, you see four or five guys coming at you. When you try to make a play, they rotate really well. They just made it really tough for us.”

It was a bitter pill, to be sure. When you’ve won a national title — even one so long ago — it’s not enough just to make it this deep into the tournament.

But Izzo, one of the demanding coaches ever to stalk a sideline, had no complaints about this group.

None at all.

“Unfortunately, the last game wears with you,” Izzo said. “But this is the most unbelievable year I’ve ever had, the most connected year I’ve ever had. I just appreciate what these guys did for myself, for themselves, for our university, and for our community.

In the final minute, with his team’s fate sealed, Izzo briefly plopped down in a chair with an Elite Eight towel draped over the back.

That was as far as these Spartans would get.

With 4.3 seconds left, Izzo waved his arms toward his players, telling them to let the clock run out. Then, with his head bowed, he walked slowly toward Pearl to exchange a handshake and hug.

“Somebody’s got to go home sad. Today it’s the Spartans,” Izzo said. The Tigers, he added, “deserve to move on.”

Afterward, the tears flowed freely in the Michigan State locker room.

“In some locker rooms, people are bitching and complaining,” Izzo said. “Some locker rooms, there’s crying and hugging. Ours was a crying and hugging locker room.

“That means we had something special.”

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