Tom Izzo: Michigan State basketball will get wins, even if 'everybody will give up on us'

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Tom Izzo knows frustration is setting in for Michigan State basketball.

For his team. For his fans. For himself and the coaching staff.

He understands the urgency. Fix the issues and stop the losing now, even if any realistic hope for a Big Ten title has all but vanished at the quarter pole of conference play.

“Everybody will give up on us, and that's fine with me. I don't mind, I don't even blame them,” Izzo said after Thursday night’s 71-68 road loss at No. 10 Illinois. “But I think I know where this team can still get, and I plan to get 'em there.”

After dropping a fourth Big Ten game in their first five with an improved effort but not-good-enough comeback against the Illini, the Spartans turn around quickly to host Rutgers at noon Sunday.

It's a situation senior point guard A.J. Hoggard termed “super frustrating.”

“I think we played good as a team. We responded well to the adversity,” he said. “I just don't think we could find a way to close it out, so we gotta do a better job of that.”

MSU (9-6, 1-4) is off to the worst five-game start to conference play in Izzo’s 29-season tenure as head coach. The last time it dropped four of its first five Big Ten games came in 1988-89 — the year before Breslin Center opened and while Izzo was an assistant for Jud Heathcote.

“All games are needed, so we just gotta win,” senior guard Tyson Walker said. “We got to figure out how to win. … There's no moral victories.”

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Sunday starts the first two-game Big Ten home stand for the Spartans this season.

“I'm looking forward to getting back on track,” Izzo said. “We're gonna win some games, so hang on.”

The Scarlet Knights (9-6, 1-3) are coming off their first Big Ten victory, a 66-57 home win over Indiana. Rutgers is 8-1 at its Jersey Mike’s Arena but just 1-5 on the road, losing three of four true road games. The one win came over Seton Hall on Dec. 9 at Prudential Center in Newark — where the Pirates play their home games but is a relatively neutral venue for the state school of New Jersey.

Going into enemy territory has been an issue around the Big Ten. Including Saturday’s two games, league teams are a combined 12-35 in true road games this season and none have above a .500 record in those contests.

MSU is 0-3 on the road this season, with losses at Northwestern and Illinois the past week joining a Dec. 10 defeat at Nebraska.

“It's tough to win in the Big Ten on the road,” said Hoggard, who had 16 points against the Illini but missed five first-half layups and shot 6-for-19 for the game. “It's different on the road. You gotta make shots. … We win the game if I make two or three of those.”

Said Izzo: “We’re not losing games because we can’t win on the road. We’re losing games because we didn’t play well enough on the road. There’s a big difference.”

The Spartans are playing better at home, with an 8-2 mark at Breslin. However, they lost their Big Ten opener to No. 15 Wisconsin on Dec. 5 after falling in the Nov. 6 season-opener to James Madison. Including wins Saturday by Wisconsin and Purdue, home teams are 27-8 in conference games this season, with the top seven in the standings a combined 18-0.

MSU is 7-0 against Rutgers at home all-time. However, the Spartans have dropped three of their last four games to the Scarlet Knights, all on the road, by an average of 19 points per defeat. That includes a 61-55 loss at Madison Square Garden last season.

The Scarlet Knights are a much different team, though, with the surprising outbound transfers of veteran guards Cam Spencer (Connecituct) and Paul Mulcahy (Washington) after last season. Rutgers now possesses a more potent and seasoned inside presence.

Clifford Omoruyi, a 6-foot-11 senior, averages 10.3 points and 9.1 rebounds. Fellow senior forward Mawot Mag, who suffered a season-ending knee injury against MSU in New York last year, is averaging 10.7 points and 5.1 rebounds for the season but has improved that to 16 points and 6.7 boards in conference play. And 6-6 senior swingman Aundre Hyatt leads the Scarlet Knights with 11.9 points and adds 5.1 boards a game.

After facing Rutgers, MSU hosts Minnesota on Thursday (6:30 p.m./FS1). Then its another quick turnaround and a second two-game road swing this month as the Spartans travel to Maryland next Sunday and make the return trip to face the Badgers on Jan. 26 in Madison, Wisconsin.

“We're gonna get better,” Izzo said. “We just gotta get it better quickly.”

Contact Chris Solari: csolari@freepress.com. Follow him @chrissolari.

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Next up: Scarlet Knights

Matchup: Michigan State (9-7, 1-4) vs. Rutgers (9-6, 1-3).

Tipoff: Noon Sunday; Breslin Center, East Lansing.

TV/radio: Big Ten Network; WJR-AM (760).

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Tom Izzo: Michigan State basketball will wins, even if others 'give up on us'