Bulls guard Denzel Valentine celebrated the calendar flip to March by texting Tom Izzo, his former college coach at Michigan State.
“Coach, it’s our time of year,” he wrote.
Putting aside last season’s shocking loss to Middle Tennessee in the first round of the NCAA tournament, the Spartans (19-13) do seem to own March. They’re rounding into form again this year, throttling Penn State 78-51 in the Big Ten tournament Thursday to set up a quarterfinal clash with Minnesota.
“I thought we played our best game,” said Izzo, whose team had 19 assists to 13 turnovers and held the Nittany Lions (15-18) to 29.1 percent shooting.
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Freshman Miles Bridges had 15 points, nine rebounds and three assists.
“He’s such a good kid,” Izzo said. “You don’t have to pamper him and treat him like a superstar, say, ‘Would you please do this?’ You can coach him. Everyone (on the team) is growing in their game. Miles is growing with his leadership too.”
Twitter @TeddyGreenstein