Tom Izzo’s quiet moment at the podium said everything about how shocking it was that Michigan State lost to Nebraska 58–56. A championship team had just fallen apart in the last few seconds, and their coach’s uncomfortable silence spoke louder than any words ever could.

Izzo admitted that he had a part in the failure: “Let me show my maturity. I’m going to pause for a minute and think about how I want to say it,” before adding, “When it’s effort-related, toughness-related, coming up with a big rebound, coming up with those things — that bothers me. That shouldn’t happen in this program. It did, so I’ve got to do a better job, and I promise you I will.”

The numbers tell the tale.

In the second half, Michigan State made 6 of 24 shots and turned the ball over 19 times. This was their worst game against Nebraska in four years. The Spartans were ahead 55-52 with four minutes left, but they only scored six more points. The game was over when Carson Cooper missed a free throw with 0.7 seconds left.

But there was more to the technical problems than that – Nebraska’s amazing success.

Izzo shared, “The environment was one of the best I’ve seen in a lot of years anywhere in the Big Ten.”

The Cornhuskers (14-0, 3-0 Big Ten) won their 18th straight game in front of a full house at Pinnacle Bank Arena. This is the longest winning streak in the country. This was one of the biggest moments in the program’s history for a team that had never won an NCAA Tournament game. Even though they lost, Izzo respected the atmosphere.

This loss showed Michigan State’s weaknesses: they had a thin roster with key players out, they didn’t have time to recover before facing USC on Monday, and Izzo wanted more. He knows that elite programs don’t lose like this.

But Nebraska only showed respect for Tom Izzo

Nebraska just did the impossible.

In January, a team that had never won an NCAA Tournament game beat a top-ten Michigan State team. This was Nebraska finally showing that it belongs with the best in the country, and everyone in the college basketball world took notice.

The two coaches respected each other, which made this moment even better. Fred Hoiberg and Tom Izzo have been friends for long. Hoiberg was honest about how hard it was to beat Michigan State.

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“Listen, we got out-rebounded by 14… This is the best defensive rebounding team in the country and we were dead if we had to chase balls down.”

Hoiberg kept praising Michigan State’s defense, saying, “They made some unbelievable plays where I thought we had layups and they came out of nowhere, but that’s what they do… We haven’t seen that kind of length in the paint.”

The coach of Nebraska knew that his team had just beaten one of the best defensive teams in the country.

The respect these two coaches had for each other made the whole game better. Nebraska showed that it’s ready for the big stage, and Izzo’s uncomfortable silence meant something else now. It wasn’t the silence of losing; it was being responsible. Elite coaches want more, and this loss may help Michigan State come back.