Tom Izzo tells Rutgers freshmen to 'stay put' playing under Steve Pikiell

Rutgers gave Tom Izzo’s Michigan State squad all they could handle on Tuesday night. The No. 7 Spartans would go on to win 88-79 in overtime, but that was after facing a 12-point deficit and trailing most of the game.

Izzo was impressed by what he saw in Scarlet Knights head coach Steve Pikiell’s group. Particularly in his four freshmen — G Kaden Powers, F Chris Nwuli, G Harun Zrno and G Lino Mark.

“Love it. I absolutely love it,” Izzo said of Pikiell’s young rotation. “If he keeps those four freshmen, they’ll be like Jaxon Kohler and (Carson) Cooper and Jeremy (Fears) and Coen (Carr). That’s what makes great teams. So I’m gonna publicly tell those kids stay put, you’ve got a good coach, fans were awesome tonight. That team is gonna get better. We had a veteran team, and they had a rookie team, and those rookies played their tail off.”

That’s not always guaranteed in today’s landscape. NIL and the NCAA transfer portal push the needle in college athletics, and roster retention has never been more difficult for coaches across the country.

Pikiell does have a solid track record of maintaining talent on his current roster. Forwards Dylan Grant and Bryce Dortch are both in their second year in the program. Grant is a starter for the Scarlet Knights, and so are C Emmanuel Ogbole and G Jamichael Davis, who are both in their third season under Pikiell.

Of course, Rutgers signed both Five-Star-Plus+ talents Ace Bailey and Dylan Harper to its 2024 class. Both were top five picks in the 2025 NBA Draft.

Izzo praised Pikiell for the job he’s did coaching the Scarlet Knights on Tuesday. Particularly when they went small off the bench with Zrno and fellow guard Tariq Francis off the bench. The pair combined for 39 points including 7-16 from deep. Davis and Darren Buchanan scored 14 and 15 points, respectively.

“It created some problems for us with Jaxon (Kohler) and Carson (Cooper) because of their lineup,” Izzo said. “They drove the ball on us, they got to the free-throw line, too. … We had some mismatches – now, they had mismatches the other way. We didn’t exploit some of those early, which is my fault.

“… I thought it was a brilliant move the way he played those guys and the way they ran things. I was really impressed, to be honest.”

Michigan State and Rutgers will meet one more time this season. However, the two sides will have to wait until March 5 to settle the regular season series.