Niyo: Someway, somehow, Spartans find their way back to the top

From the beginning, this was a basketball season that always was going to be defined by losses for Michigan State. More so than almost any other in Tom Izzo’s quarter-century as the Spartans’ head coach.

The team lost senior Joshua Langford to a recurring foot injury a couple weeks before the opener against Kentucky. Marquette transfer Joey Hauser lost his appeal for an eligibility waiver a month later. And in between, Cassius Winston lost his brother, Zachary, a tragedy that understandably cast a pall over the entire program.

None of that will change Sunday, but after a season that started in distress and couldn’t seem to shake it for the longest time, there’s something to be said for the situation the Spartans now find themselves in, hosting Ohio State in their regular-season finale with a chance to clinch a third consecutive Big Ten championship.

The hard part is just finding a way to put what it means into words, something Izzo has struggled to do all week, between his sessions with the media, an emotional speech at a booster luncheon Thursday and undoubtedly again before tipoff Sunday at a sold-out Breslin Center.

“I’m the worst pregame speaker on Senior Day known to mankind,” he joked after practice later Thursday afternoon.

More: 'I love him': MSU's Tom Izzo expects emotional sendoff for resilient Cassius Winston

But that’s OK, because actions speak louder than words. And more than anything, the way the Spartans have played down the stretch speaks to their character as much as it does a talented roster that began the season as the presumptive Big Ten favorite.

“You know what? I can’t say enough about my team,” Izzo said after a comeback win Tuesday at Penn State — the Spartans trailed by as many as 19 late in the first half — set up Sunday’s title shot in East Lansing. “I’ll tell you what, man, for what we’ve been through, it’s just hard to explain to you what it means to have a chance to play for a Big Ten championship after the way the last five months have gone.”

Back in the saddle

It says something about the league itself, of course, as one of the wildest regular seasons in recent memory comes to a close with plenty yet to be decided in the final weekend. Three teams — Michigan State, Maryland and Wisconsin — remain tied atop the Big Ten standings, while Illinois, which lost Thursday at Ohio State, still has an outside shot at sharing the title in a four-way tie.

And in the Spartans’ case, it’s thanks to a roaring start to March that began with a promise — and a prediction — from their head coach after dispiriting late-game collapse at home against Maryland on the final day of February.

“I told those guys, ‘We’re gonna get through Iowa, and if we get through Iowa, we’re not losing the next two,’” Izzo said after Tuesday’s win at Penn State — on the heels of a dominant effort at Maryland last Saturday — proved him prophetic.

Izzo also gave a nod to his upperclassmen before that last game, telling them he’d done what he could to get them to that point. So if they beat Penn State, he added, “you guys can coach the last one.”

More: Frustrating careers coming to an end for Michigan State's Langford, Ahrens

That obviously won’t be the case Sunday. But it wasn’t a throwaway line, either, because what Izzo and his coaching staff have been searching for all along is what he’s always seeking in a championship-caliber team: Players taking control of their own destiny, verbally and physically.

And that’s something that was a non-starter for much of this season, as Winston — the All-American point guard and unquestioned team leader — dealt with severe family trauma and all the sleepless nights and listless days that brought.

Beyond that, there were the expected growing pains from the rest of a young roster, but also nagging injuries — from senior Kyle Ahrens to freshman Rocket Watts — that hampered this team’s growth. There were other issues, too, some public — Tillman and his wife just celebrated the birth of their second child last month — and some not.

“I’ve walked on eggshells a little bit this year for a lot of reasons,” Izzo said. “I’ve coached a different way 90 percent of the season.”

But lately he could see the signs the Spartans were ready for more. We all could, really, whether it was the freshmen — Watts and Malik Hall — aggressively making their presence felt at Maryland or Tillman flexing his muscle as the Big Ten's best defender or Aaron Henry finding himself just as he did a year ago at this time. Or maybe most notably, we could see it with Winston barking back at his coach in the second half at Penn State in a display some might view as insubordination but Izzo views as an indispensable part of winning.

 “I was mad at Cassius, and he was mad at me,” said Izzo, who finally made a breakthrough after a meeting with Winston and his parents a few weeks ago. “Being mad is sometimes what it takes to get people to play to a different level.”

More: 'We never gave up': From sliding to surging, Michigan State reaches Big Ten title doorstep

And the truth is, it drove him mad, at times, that he wasn’t able to coach the way he’s accustomed for most of the fall and a good chunk of this winter. He was afraid to push, because he wasn't sure Winston, in particular, was emotionally ready to shove back.  

Now, though, “it’s night and day,” Izzo said of the team’s psyche. “I mean it’s not even close.”

But the title is, and they all know what it would mean.

“That’d be amazing, just to leave that kind of mark,” said Winston, who is on track to finish as one of only four players in NCAA Division I history with more than 2,000 points and 900 assists in his career. “Especially at a place like this, where winning is expected. People win here all the time — that’s what they do. So to come out with three Big Ten championships, you know, that means you did something special.”

Pride overload

How special? It has only happened once before in program history, back when Michigan State won or shared four consecutive titles from 1998-2001. Among all Big Ten schools, Ohio State (2010-12), Purdue (1994-96) and Indiana (1973-76) are the only others that can claim a three-peat in the last half-century.

For it to happen again, though, Izzo knows there’s work left to be done.

“Now you come home and you’ve got different distractions,” he said. “You’ve got everybody saying, ‘Well, God, you’re home on Senior Day, you should win,’ right? Ask Draymond Green that. Ask Paul Davis that. We’ve played for a championship a couple times and it didn’t go our way.”

Izzo was reminded of that — not that he’d forgotten — earlier this week in a phone call with Green, whose senior day in 2012 was spoiled by a 72-70 loss to Ohio State. That game cost the Spartans an outright Big Ten title, and they also lost a key player entering the postseason as Branden Dawson suffered a torn ACL against the Buckeyes.

More: Michigan State toughens up in chase for Big Ten championship

Sunday, they’ll try to avoid a similar fate against arguably the hottest team in the league. Aside from themselves, that is. But whatever happens, they've already won something that won't show up in the record books but will be remembered.

“It wasn’t easy, but they did it,” Izzo said.

“And when it’s all said and done, I’ll probably be prouder of this team no matter what we accomplish — because of what we’ve been through — than any team I’ve had.”

john.niyo@detroitnews,com

Twitter: @JohnNiyo