The game, however, was about much more than who won and who lost as the matchup between the Spartans and the Wildcats served as a homecoming for MSU Head Coach Tom Izzo, a 1977 graduate of Northern Michigan and a two-time All-American when he played basketball at the Division II school on the banks of Lake Superior.
Northern Michigan honored one its most famous alums by announcing that his jersey – #10 – would be retired in a ceremony on Saturday night at a reception for both teams on campus and he was recognized early in the game.
“There’s a proverb that it takes a village to raise a child,” Izzo said post-game. “I think that’s very true and I had so many people that helped raise me, mentor me. That’s sometimes what frustrates me in this day and age is, boy, I was mentored by so many different people. I had four of my high school football and basketball coaches here, I had my old AD here. A lot of people, my mother, I was sad my father couldn’t be here.
“I know how many people helped me to understand what it takes to be successful and I think the grind is part of it. I told my players, I hate entitlement, I despise entitlement and you won’t find many entitled people where I’m from. And I’m damn proud of that, I really am. If you earn it, you get it. There’s a process and a journey to be successful in whatever we do, you, me and everybody else.”
As Izzo has said many times, he likes to create memory-makers for his players and the weekend spent in the U.P. served as that, not just for the players, but for fans, who lined up outside NMU’s Superior Dome – the world’s largest wood-structured dome – in a light rain on Sunday morning two hours ahead of the game.
The team’s arrival to town had been looked forward to since the game was announced during the summer and after a day of festivities…
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