Tom Izzo and Richard Pitino will put their mutual admiration on hold for March Madness meeting

CLEVELAND — Even though their teams haven’t faced each other in four years, the admiration between Michigan State’s Tom Izzo and New Mexico’s Richard Pitino hasn’t diminished.

Their regard for each other will be put on hold for a couple of hours on Sunday night, when Izzo and Michigan State take on Pitino and New Mexico in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

“I would never talk highly of a guy I didn’t respect or like. I just wouldn’t talk about him. So, it’s easy to talk about him because I do like him, and I do respect him,” Izzo said Saturday. “But come tomorrow from sunrise to sunset, I don’t like him at all, and don’t let him kid you, he doesn’t like me, either. As long as there’s respect, that’s all that really matters.”

Izzo befriended Pitino during the younger coach’s eight-year tenure at Minnesota. The Golden Gophers had a 3-9 record against the Spartans under Pitino, who was at Minnesota from 2013 to 2021. Izzo thought the son of Hall of Fame coach Rick Pitino made progress toward building a competitive program in the Big Ten.

“It was a tough situation he was in. I did stick up for him. If you don’t stick up for coaches, who’s going to? So I looked at that as one of my jobs, especially if it was coaches I respect, and were doing it the right way, and he did,” Izzo said.

Pitino, who got the Minnesota job at age 30, faced enough pressure as the son of a legendary coach. The support he got from Izzo, another Hall of Famer, still means a lot to him.

“We didn’t have a great amount of consistency, and he always fought for me and for guys who were on the hot seat all the time, and he didn’t need to do that,” Pitino said. “He knows how hard it is at any job. … He doesn’t need to spend time with me and do those things, but he does that. It just shows the type of person he is.”

This was the second time that Pitino and his father each had teams in the March Madness field and the first that both won in the first round.

The younger Pitino is the only one still standing after Rick Pitino and St. John’s lost to Arkansas 75-66 on Saturday.

Pitino has experienced a renaissance in his four seasons at New Mexico (27-7). He was named Mountain West Coach of the Year after the Lobos won the conference’s regular-season title, and he’s led the program to its first consecutive March Madness appearances since 2013-14.

Friday night’s 75-66 victory over Marquette was the Lobos’ first win in the tournament since 2012. A win over the Spartans (28-6) would put New Mexico in the Sweet 16 for the first time since 1974, when the tournament had just 25 teams.

“I would say now more so than younger in my career. I understand it’s not about an out-of-bounds play or a turnover. It’s about the program that you build,” Pitino said. “I think when you’re a young head coach in the Big Ten especially, you’re just trying to kind of establish yourself. Humbly speaking, I’m not worried about that anymore. I’m just worried about doing my very best to help my players and my staff to help put them in the best positions possible.”

Izzo is trying to get to the Sweet 16 for the 16th time in 27 tournament appearances. His next victory would be his 58th and tie him with Syracuse’s Jim Boeheim for the fourth most tournament wins. Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski holds the record with 101.

“I have had fun coaching this team. I’ve enjoyed the progression of this team,” he said. “If you think it’s easy to play 10 guys, you’re crazy. You’ve got a lot of people mad at you when you’re playing 10 guys. But as long as the guys buy in, and they have, that’s what’s been important.”