The No. 10-ranked Michigan State Spartans‘ margin for error has been thin all 2025-26 NCAA season, and on Wednesday night in Minneapolis, it disappeared entirely. The Spartans once again found themselves chasing a game they never truly controlled, falling to the Minnesota Golden Gophers in a loss that exposed issues that we have been seeing all season. Slow starts, defensive lapses, and costly moments that swung momentum the wrong way. For head coach Tom Izzo, this wasn’t just another loss. It was another night of unanswered questions piling up.

And after the final buzzer, Izzo didn’t sugarcoat where his frustration was coming from.

Speaking to the media postgame, the Hall of Fame coach pointed to a combination of leadership failures, discipline concerns, and a critical sequence involving his young point guard, Jeremy Fears Jr., that he felt the Spartans simply couldn’t overcome.

“Boy, that was a strange game,” Izzo said. “I can’t figure out why we started out so poorly. Really disappointed in my upperclassman, if I was being honest, and the coach. Cause the coach has to get a team ready, and it’s been three games in a row now that we have not been there at the beginning.

Tom Izzo emphasized that Michigan State’s slow starts have become a pattern rather than a one-off, noting that the team faced similar issues last season. But the moment that loomed largest came midway through the second half.

With Michigan State working its way back from a double-digit deficit, a controversial play involving Fears changed the tone of the game entirely. After contact with Minnesota defender Langston Reynolds, Fears’ leg flared upward, resulting in a reviewed call that led to a technical foul. So, taking advantage of the situation, Minnesota capitalized with free throws and immediately pushed the lead back out, erasing the Spartans’ momentum.

“I don’t know what the Jeremy play was. It was critical the whole six-point play… So a couple of question marks there, but a lot of question marks with my team guarding the three, and I had some guys that used to be good defenders that right now are not defending very well. So I got to do a better job of coming up with different ways to guard some of those things. ”

Top Stories

PGA Tour Split Into Two as Scottie Scheffler Confirms Stance on Patrick Reed’s Return

America Faces Close Call as Olympic Champions Dodge Milan Practice Horrors

PGA Tour Pro Loses His Cool After Being Denied Entry Into WM Phoenix Open Field

Calls Mount Against Josh Allen’s Wife, Hailee Steinfeld, Who Announces Career News

Kevin Harvick’s Hypocrisy Caught On Live Broadcast by NASCAR Analyst

Choked Up Ryan Preece Drops F-Bomb on Fox as He Fails to Fight Back Tears After Historic NASCAR Race Win

However, this wasn’t a rare moment for Fears. Just days earlier, when the Spartans locked horns with Michigan, Fears appeared to trip Wolverines star Yaxel Lendeborg. That play led Michigan coach Dusty May to publicly question Fears’ conduct, calling multiple moments in the rivalry matchup “very dangerous.”

While Izzo initially bristled at those comments, after Wednesday’s loss, the tone shifted.

“Well, when somebody comes out and publicly says something about a guy, that sometimes happens, but that’s Jeremy’s fault,” the coach said. “And I made sure I cleared all of that up. I think the officials knew it, I talked to them. I did not see what happened in the play, I saw him get pushed, and I saw his leg come up, and I didn’t think he hit anybody, but if he did, he deserves it, I guess, but if he didn’t, I question it.”

He further added, “So are they baiting him? Of course, of course. When you go public with something, you should get baited. And it’s his fault. And I make no bones about it, I sat him for a while, and I don’t know, I don’t even know if I’m gonna start him in the next game. I stuck up for him, too. Because what happened in the last game, I’ll just say what happened in the last game. The way it was handled was poor, too. So Jeremy’s gotta grow up a little bit.”

With the losses mounting and Fears probably not starting in the next game, the Spartans are running out of time to fix habits that have followed them all season.

What’s next for Tom Izzo and the Spartans?

With this loss under their belt, the Spartans are now 19-4 overall and 9-3 in the Big Ten conference. Now, they only have eight more games to make a comeback and improve their standing before the regular season is over. The other three losses they have faced so far came against the Duke Blue Devils, the Nebraska Cornhuskers, and the Michigan Wolverines.

But the Spartans have a massive get-right opportunity this Saturday (Feb 7) when they host No. 5 Illinois. This will be the kind of high-stakes game where Izzo’s teams usually find their second wind. Following this, they will play against:

• The Wisconsin Badgers on February 13th
• The UCLA Bruins on February 17th
• The Ohio State Buckeyes on February 22nd

The schedule ahead will give Michigan State no room to hide. Every one of these opponents will test the very flaws Tom Izzo has been sounding the alarm about, from defensive consistency to emotional control in big moments, the Spartans will need to demonstrate both defensive consistency and emotional control. But if those issues persist, the Spartans’ remaining games won’t just determine their Big Ten standing, but how this season under Izzo is remembered.