How much blame does Tom Izzo deserve for Michigan State losing to Duke?

The Michigan State Spartans blew a late five-point lead before losing to Duke. How much blame does Tom Izzo deserve for the collapse?

For a minute in Greenville, it looked like March Madness wizard Tom Izzo was poised to add another stunning upset to his resume. The Michigan State Spartans built a 70-65 lead over the Duke Blue Devils with 5:10 to go only to get outscored 20-6 the rest of the way in an 85-76 loss.

All of the attention from the college basketball media will focus on what Duke did right to secure a huge comeback win, but the fact of the matter is that the Spartans had a five-point lead over a vastly superior team talent-wise that lost starting guard A.J. Griffin to an ankle sprain.

Those circumstances should have led to a win, but exactly how much blame should the Hall of Fame coach take for the late collapse?

Tom Izzo’s role in the Michigan State loss

There were certainly a few questionable decisions for Izzo down the stretch, including a surprising lack of minutes for impact freshman Max Christie, who made some big plays down the stretch for the Spartans. Izzo also failed to come up with good plays out of timeouts as Michigan State was either too passive, wasting valuable seconds looking for better shots that never came, or too reckless and turned the ball over.

While the in-game strategy certainly could have improved from Izzo, the bottom line is that Michigan State was doomed when the game got tight since the Spartans haven’t had a true go-to guy that can be counted on to generate his own shot in big spots all season long. Michigan State can score plenty of points when it operates out of its offense but this group was missing their equivalent of Draymond Green, Denzel Valentine, or Cassius Winston to make something happen when plays break down.

That failure is a big reason why the Spartans couldn’t finish off a stunning upset that would have ended Krzyzewski’s career earlier than anyone could have expected entering the NCAA Tournament. Izzo will need to work hard to find or develop that star next season in order to help Michigan State avoid another disappointing finish in March.

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