Michigan State trailed by as many as 16 points and never led once against Minnesota on Thursday. However, the Spartans mounted a late rally but still, the Gophers escaped with a 76-73 victory.

Head coach Tom Izzo struggled to find the positives in the matchup during his postgame press conference. In turn, the Michigan State head coach gave credit to the Gophers for having the Spartans’ number on Thursday night.

“It doesn’t excite me one iota because you’re here,” Izzo said of Michigan State’s late comeback attempt. “You know how may loose balls we didn’t get that they came up with? And there were some strange thing there, too, on continuations in that, but there were at least three or four — and that just doesn’t happen here. But it happened.

“So I am disappointed in the coach (himself), and I’m disappointed in my captains. Do I feel a little better that we came back? Because we earned the come back. It wasn’t like they had their subs in. But but they are in the game too. You know, Nico (Medved) has done a have hell of a job. They lost two or three in overtime, they lost two or three in the last seconds. He deserved to finish it out. They deserved to win the game.”

Before Thursday’s win, it was a frustrating stretch for the Gophers, who have been losing close games throughout that run. This includes four games that were decided by two scores or less. Minnesota has also played in two overtime games over that stretch.

Despite the loss, Michigan State was +16 on the rebounding (13-3 in offensive rebounds) margins and +5 in assists. Still, the Spartans fouled Minnesota 21 times during the contest, resulting in 22 points for Minnesota at the free throw line. The Gophers also shot 48% (10-21) from the 3-point line during the contest.

The victory improves Minnesota to 11-12 on the season, including a 4-8 mark against the Big Ten Conference. Meanwhile, Michigan State drops to 19-4 and now have a 9-3 mark in conference play.

The No. 10-ranked Michigan State will look to get back in the win column on Saturday night when they host No. 5 Illinois. Tip-off is set for 8 p.m. ET live on FOX.