East Lansing — As the glow of its outright Big Ten championship set in last Thursday at Iowa, the Michigan State men’s basketball had a visitor. It only took a few seconds for the players to start chanting his name.

Sometimes, winning a championship is just about getting hot at the right time. Michigan State basketball is doing just that and is playing some of its best basketball of the season during the end of the regular season heading into the Big Ten Tournament.

Coming into this season, not much was expected for Tom Izzo’s Michigan State Spartans. The team was more or less projected to finish in the top half of the Big Ten.

No. 8 Michigan State is getting ready for its regular-season finale, a rematch with its in-state rival, Michigan.

The No. 8 Michigan State basketball program came away with a dominant 79-62 win over No. 17 Michigan on Senior Day, but at the end of the game, the two teams got into an altercation at half court, and Tom Izzo chalked it down as a typical rivalry moment.

There was perhaps no one more proud of Michigan State's Big Ten title clinching win than Tom Izzo's mom, Dorothy Izzo. Michigan State defeated Michigan 79-62 on Sunday, earning Izzo's 11th Big Ten regular season title as the coach of the Spartans.

No. 8 Michigan State can nearly taste a Big Ten title. It can secure at least a share with a road victory over Iowa on Thursday.

Tom Izzo has been at this a long time and he knows how hostile things can get between Michigan and Michigan State. But that's what it's all about, the coach says. Following the Spartans' 79-62 win over Big Blue to close out the regular season,