Tulsa, Okla. — Tom Izzo was worried his freshmen night not handle their first appearance in the NCAA Tournament so well.
They’d been on plenty of big stages throughout the season, played in places like Madison Square Garden and faced a long list of highly rated teams like Kentucky, Duke, Arizona and Baylor.
And in the first 10 minutes of Friday’s matchup with No. 8 Miami in the Midwest Region at the BOK Center, it looked like all of Izzo’s fears were coming true. The Spartans had turned the ball over six times and been outscored 10-0 before they’d even broken a sweat.