To understand how much this one stung Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo, whose team swept the season series against in-state rival Michigan last season and had won seven in a row over the Wolverines at the Breslin Center dating to 2018, all anyone needed to see was the consternation twisted into his face in the waning moments, the game already out of reach. There stood Izzo, already the recipient of a technical foul, bellowing at the referee while flanked by assistant coach Saddi Washington, who was there to make sure the Hall of Famer didn’t push things too far.
So much about the preceding two-plus hours had irked Izzo. From his team’s horrifically slow start in the opening half to what Michigan State believed was an unfair whistle from the officials. From a furious second-half comeback that finally showcased what the Spartans look like at their best to the final five minutes in which Izzo’s crew surrendered a backbreaking 20-7 run after briefly taking the lead.
This was arguably the most anticipated regular-season matchup between the Spartans and Wolverines in decades, the highest-ranked battle this rivalry had ever seen, and for most of Friday evening, Izzo knew that Michigan was the better team. The Wolverines led for nearly 37 minutes in an eventual 83-71 win.
Here are my takeaways:
1. Matchup of old school vs. new school swings toward Michigan
EAST LANSING, MICHIGAN: Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo during the second half against Michigan at Breslin Center on January 30, 2026. (Photo by Rey Del Rio/Getty Images)
As so many coaching icons have opted for retirement in recent years — from Mike Krzyzewski and Roy Williams to Jay Wright, Jim Boeheim and Jim Calhoun, among others — it’s left Izzo as one of the leading voices in college basketball, a long-toothed sage with more experience and more success than seemingly everyone he faces. When issues arise across the sport, like the recent hullabaloo surrounding player eligibility, Izzo’s is the voice that tends to cut through the noise like a knife.
Which is why, toward the end of Friday night’s game, it was so difficult not to envision some of the news conferences and other public forums Izzo has used to lament the transfer portal in recent years, to rail against the unfettered player movement that continues to revolutionize roster building across the sport. The Wolverines arrived at the Breslin Center with a roster infused by the second-best transfer portal haul in the country, according to 247Sports, trailing only St. John’s. More than 50 spots behind Michigan, at No. 56 overall in the transfer class rankings, sat the Spartans and their old-school coach.
Like it or not, the discrepancy in how these two rosters were constructed told the story of Friday’s game. All three of the Wolverines’ leading scorers were high-priced additions via the transfer portal, which speaks to head coach Dusty May’s modern stewardship of the program. Forward Yaxel Lendeborg from UAB scored 26 points and grabbed 12 rebounds, guard Elliot Cadeau from North Carolina scored 17 points and dished out six assists and forward Morez Johnson Jr. from Illinois chipped in 12 points and four rebounds. Even former UCLA center Aday Mara contributed eight points and four rebounds.
The Spartans, meanwhile, did not get a single point from anyone who began their collegiate career outside of East Lansing, relying almost exclusively on the program’s ability to develop young talent into mature stars. It’s a method that has served Izzo well for ages and worked again this year with point guard Jeremy Fears Jr. and power forward Jaxon Kohler. But competing for national championships is difficult when other programs are more willing to embrace the tools at everyone’s disposal.
2. Yaxel Lendeborg must be more assertive for Michigan to win it all
EAST LANSING, MICHIGAN: Yaxel Lendeborg dunks against Michigan State at Breslin Center on January 30, 2026. (Photo by Rey Del Rio/Getty Images)
There are so many things to like about Lendeborg, who came to Michigan as the No. 1 overall player in the transfer portal following two stellar seasons at UAB. His 6-foot-9, 240-pound frame screams prototypical NBA wing, and his measurements aren’t far off from the body type of one LeBron James. He can, even at that size, handle the ball like a guard and initiate offense when necessary. There’s nothing to question about what he offers defensively, either, routinely flashing enough versatility and quickness to guard players of all shapes and sizes.
Yet as obvious as Lendeborg’s talents clearly are — he was widely projected as a first-round pick in last year’s NBA Draft had he decided to turn pro instead of transferring to Michigan — there are rumblings about his assertiveness in critical moments. Lendeborg is so unselfish, so willing to defer to his teammates, that he’s only attempted more than 11 shots in a game twice since a non-conference win over La Salle on Dec. 21. From that day forward, his scoring average is just 11.9 points per game — respectable, certainly, but far from what most expected from a player of his caliber.
A significant chunk of the worry surrounding Lendeborg revolves around the 3-point line, where he shot 35.7% for UAB last season only to watch his percentage plummet to 30.3% so far this season. The micro view is even more concerning: Lendeborg entered Friday’s game having only made seven of his last 40 attempts (17.5%) from beyond the arc and then shot 1-for-4 against the Spartans, with his lone make coming early in the first half.
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Given the breadth of Lendeborg’s viable skill set, it’s easy to imagine him scoring with ease in crucial moments, putting the initiative on his own shoulders. But aside from a layup with 2:33 left, a basket that extended Michigan’s lead to 71-65, Lendeborg was mostly calm as the Wolverines faltered. Nearly nine minutes of play went by without Lendeborg scoring a field goal in the second half amid the most pressured stretch of the season for his team. And while he helped secure the win with six free throws when the score was out of reach, leading the team in scoring and rebounding, he needs to find more consistency as the postseason approaches.
3. Overreliance on fears points to the ceiling of the state of Michigan
EAST LANSING, MICHIGAN: Michigan State’s Jeremy Fears Jr. drives to the basket against Michigan’s Yaxel Lendeborg on Jan. 30, 2026. (Photo by Rey Del Rio/Getty Images)
Just as it has all season, Michigan State’s offensive possession began to fall into a familiar pattern during Friday’s game against the Wolverines. Second after second, dribble after dribble, action after action, the show belonged to Fears, whose grip on the ball never seemed to waver. He tried and penetrated to create his own shots. He made his way around the Spartans’ frontcourt tower screens. He fouled out at an impressive rate to manufacture trips to the free throw line when everything else he and his teammates tried seemed to fail amid a first half marred by 27% shooting.
Careful observers of the Spartans will know that none of this was particularly unusual; It’s the way Fears has been forced to play all season. A glaring lack of depth at both guard positions means Fears, a redshirt sophomore, carries one of the heaviest workloads in the Big Ten. He leads the team in scoring with 14.1 points per game and ranks second nationally in assists with 8.9 per game, trailing only Purdue point guard Braden Smith in that category. He entered Friday’s game having assisted on 51.6% of Michigan State’s field goals this season (the highest rate in the country, according to KenPom) and ranks fifth in the Big Ten in PRPG. to 5.5, according to T-Rank, which measures how many points an individual contributes to his team above what a replacement-level player would produce.
There have been many nights where relying so much on Fears worked out well. He had 29 points and nine assists in a win over Rutgers, scored 23 points and 10 assists in a win over Indiana, and had 21 points and 11 assists in a surprisingly competitive win over Cornell. Fears leads KenPom’s race to win Big Ten Player of the Year (he recently surpassed Smith in that category) for a reason.
But the way Friday’s game played out made Fears virtually the only offensive option at Izzo’s disposal. It was Fears who scored 12 of the team’s 26 points in the first half and Fears was the only Spartan to make more than one field goal during that stretch. Had forward Coen Carr not converted a short runner as the first-half buzzer expired, Fears would have been the only Michigan State player with more than three points at halftime. Izzo and his staff will know that recipe could prove problematic when trying to mount a long postseason run.
4. Michigan landed the opening blow in a battle of elite defenses
EAST LANSING, MICHIGAN: Michigan State’s Jaxon Kohler boxes against Michigan’s Morez Johnson Jr. on January 30, 2026. (Photo by Rey Del Rio/Getty Images)
For much of Michigan’s incredible 19-1 start to the season, which ties the best 20-game record in program history, tying Final Four teams from the 2012-13 and 2018-19 campaigns, the Wolverines claimed the best defense in the country. A huge first line with three players measuring 6-foot-9 or taller, including Mara, a 7-foot-3 giant, seemingly caused problems for every team Michigan faced. And starting with a 67-63 road win over TCU on Nov. 14, the Wolverines held 16 of their next 18 opponents to 72 points or less.
Slowly but surely, however, and in signature Izzo fashion, the Spartans began to lean more and more on their defense amid an equally impressive streak in which they won 19 of their first 21 games. Aside from a surprising 114-97 win over Cornell, a game that proved to be a statistical outlier in more ways than one, Izzo’s team has only given up more than 70 points in a game twice, and one of those instances was in an overtime win at Rutgers. When Michigan State faced Michigan on Friday night, the Spartans had surpassed their in-state rivals to claim the toughest defense in the country, according to KenPom.
But that’s not the impression most observers would have formed after absorbing a first half that included nearly 18 minutes with Michigan leading the way. Instead, it was the visiting Wolverines who dominated the defense early to build a lead that reached 18 points. Deflected passes, skipped passing lanes and relentless physicality forced the Spartans into 11 turnovers in the first half, a sloppy stretch that was further compounded by ice-cold shooting, making three field goals in 16 attempts to start the game and just seven in the first half overall. Izzo raged and raged on the Spartans’ bench as he watched an opponent be tough and out-execute his team early, a rarity during his Hall of Fame tenure.
4 ½. What’s next?
EAST LANSING, MICHIGAN: Michigan head coach Dusty May during the game against the Michigan State Spartans on January 30, 2026. (Photo by Rey Del Rio/Getty Images)
Both teams will have enough time to recover from the physical and mental challenge of Friday’s game before returning to the court next week. The Spartans will travel to Minnesota (10-11 overall, 3-7 Big Ten) for a tough test on Feb. 4, while the Wolverines return home to host Penn State (9-12 overall, 0-10 Big Ten) on Feb. 5.
In some respects, both games serve as lines of demarcation for two programs that are off to extremely favorable starts in conference play. Michigan, which entered the matchup with Michigan State having played as the 18th toughest in the Big Ten, according to KenPom, is preparing to embark on a final stretch that will likely include at least four more ranked opponents, including the mouth-watering non-conference tournament against No. 4 Duke on a neutral floor next month. And Michigan State, which has played the 17th toughest schedule in the league, should face at least three more ranked teams in the coming weeks, with two of those games coming on the road.
It all culminates with the rematch between these teams at the Crisler Center on March 8, the last day of the regular season. It’s a game that could very well have major implications for seeding for both the Big Ten tournament and the NCAA tournament.
