WASHINGTON — Tom Izzo will attempt to coach Michigan State one step closer to his ninth Final Four when they meet a familiar UConn squad in Friday night’s NCAA Tournament East Regional semifinal.
Izzo’s third-seeded Spartans (27-7) have had a relatively comfortable trip through the tournament, easing past No. 14 North Dakota State 92-67 and outlasting No. 6 Louisville 77-69.
And they’ve done it in an increasingly uncommon manner, relying on a core group of upperclassmen that have spent their entire collegiate career with the same program.
The starting quartet of senior forward Jaxon Kohler, senior center Carson Cooper, junior guard Jeremy Fears Jr. and junior forward Coen Carr have played 14 combined seasons under Izzo.
The 71-year-old Izzo says that adds a level of satisfaction to the journey, both for himself and his players, during an era of near-constant mobility.
“Hell yeah, it makes it exciting,” Izzo said. “I still think all these kids moving around, someday they’re going to have to come back to someplace, and they ain’t going to come back to it.
“Everybody talks about how good (the ability to switch schools easily) is for the kids. I think in the end the kids are the ones that lose. I’m not going to lose. Big deal. Have a good year, bad year, I can leave tomorrow. It’s the kids that are going to lose.”
Each member of that quartet has scored in double figures this season. Against North Dakota State, Cooper had 20 points and 10 rebounds. Against Louisville, it was Carr with 21 points and 10 boards.
In No. 2 seed UConn (31-5), the Spartans will face a similarly experienced group that starts four upperclassmen, and arguably a similarly minded coach in Dan Hurley.
It’s also a team they met back in an October preseason exhibition, although Huskies leading scorer Tarris Reed Jr. was absent with a hamstring injury.
For Hurley’s team, the lesson was the kind of physicality it would take to be competitive against elite opposition.
“Yeah, we were very intentional about trying to schedule them for that game right before the opener so we could really identify our vulnerabilities in that game,” Hurley recalled. “I think we gave up six or seven free-throw rebounds in that game, our transition defense was a joke, we got assaulted on the glass. There was a lot there in that game that we were able to show the guys this week when we got manhandled.”
Silas Demary Jr. (ankle) should be available Friday. The point guard missed UConn’s 82-71 win against Furman to open the tournament, but played 22 minutes off the bench in a 73-57 win over No. 7 UCLA in the second round.
Reed posted career bests with 31 points and 27 rebounds in the first-round win, exceeding the senior’s previous rebounding high by nine. Alex Karaban had 27 points against UCLA while Reed had 10 points and 13 rebounds for his 12th double-double.
