One year ago today, the final chapter to the Bo Ryan-Tom Izzo rivalry was written.
When Wisconsin and Michigan State met on March 15, 2015, in the Big Ten Tournament title game, no one knew that it would be the final installment in the iconic Ryan-Izzo rivalry, which had helped define Big Ten basketball for a decade and a half.
But their meeting in Indianapolis did, in fact, end up being their last, which perhaps was fitting given the significance and high quality of that game.
Wisconsin entered the game as the favorites after winning the outright Big Ten regular-season title. Many felt that the Badgers also needed to win the conference tournament to secure a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament for the first time in program history, so there was still plenty on the line for them.
However, they were pitted against a Michigan State team that, like so many others under Izzo, had truly started hitting its stride once the calendar flipped to March. The stage was set for a monumental showdown of Big Ten heavyweights, and the game did not disappoint.
A seesaw battle in the first half led to a 32-31 Michigan State lead going into the locker room, but it was in the second half where these two teams really kicked it into another gear.
After a quick start for Wisconsin to open the half, the Spartans responded with a 23-8 run, during which they scored on 10 of 14 possessions. Michigan turned a four-point deficit into a 57-46 lead (the Badgers’ biggest deficit of the season at that time) with 7:46 left, forcing Ryan to take a timeout. Prior to that run, the biggest lead of the game for either team had been five.
While there was still time left for a Wisconsin comeback, nothing seemed to be going right for the Badgers at the time. Michigan State held a 27-13 edge in rebounds at the time and had just allowed Branden Dawson to come away with a steal and an emphatic breakaway dunk, further demoralizing the UW faithful and bringing the contingency of MSU fans at the United Center to their feet. Everything was going the Spartans’ way and Wisconsin’s hopes for a No. 1 seed appeared to be in dire straits.
But on the first possession coming out of the timeout, Bronson Koenig buried a 3-pointer to ignite a run that happened quicker than even the most optimistic Wisconsin fan could have hoped for.
The Koenig triple was the start of a 14-2 run for the Badgers, which occurred over a span of just 2:56. They scored on five consecutive possessions, including a driving layup by Koenig, and-1s for Frank Kaminsky and Nigel Hayes and bookended by another Koenig 3-pointer to give UW a 60-59 lead.
In what seemed like little more than a few blinks of an eye, the Badgers had completely flipped the script, seizing all the momentum and momentarily turning the United Center into Kohl Center South.
It was a situation where the Spartans looked like they had been hit with a haymaker that could have caused things to spiral out of control. But instead of going down, they took Wisconsin’s best shot and came right back swinging.
Right after the Koenig three to give the Badgers the lead, Michigan State took it right back on a Lourawls “Tum Tum” Nairn Jr., who had been just 2 of 9 from 3-point range on the entire season before the shot. Nairn’s shot was the start of a back-and-forth war of attrition that saw four lead changes and four ties over the final four minutes of regulation.
Kaminsky and Denzel Valentine traded threes, Josh Gasser dove into press row to save a ball (though his foot was actually on the out-of-bounds line) and a Dawson jumper over Kaminsky at the buzzer just barely rattled out to send the championship game to overtime for the first time in Big Ten Tournament history.
In OT, it was all Wisconsin, as the Badgers outscored Michigan State 11-0 to win 80-69, grab the conference tournament crown and secure a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament.
Nigel Hayes led the way for Wisconsin with 25 points, while Kaminsky added 19 and Koenig scored 17 of his 18 points in the second half and overtime. On the other end, Valentine and Dawson each scored 16 points for the Spartans.
Of course, both teams would make deep runs to the Final Four before falling to Duke on the final weekend of the season, and it was this game that really gave fans a taste of what was to come for both teams.
But in retrospect, the game’s greatest significance is the fact that it was the last time Bo Ryan and Tom Izzo faced off against one another. Under their watch, both programs were Big Ten powerhouses, and meetings between Wisconsin and Michigan State always had plenty at stake.
But never had there been more on the line than this, the 28th meeting between the two coaches, which marked the first time the Badgers and the Spartans squared off in the Big Ten Tournament title game. In the end, Ryan, who finished with a 16-12 record against Izzo, got the better of his counterpart one final time.
Given the significance of both Ryan and Izzo and their rivalry in the annals of Big Ten basketball history, it was only fitting that they saved what was perhaps their best game for last.
