Michigan State basketball extends a program streak to 36 years after Michigan win

Michigan State basketball has extended an impressive program streak to 36 years after it beat Michigan on Saturday.

Consistency. That is the one thing that Michigan State basketball has had for quite some time now. Especially throughout Tom Izzo’s tenure, there haven’t been many programs who have been more consistent than MSU.

Michigan State’s 25 straight NCAA tournament appearances is just one example of that elite consistency, but one other stat stands out as well. After the Spartans’ 73-63 win over Michigan on Saturday, they extended one program streak to 36 straight seasons.

With the win, MSU clinched their 36th consecutive season at or above .500. Among Big Ten programs, that is the longest such streak of all time, with Indiana from 1971-2003 (33 years) in second place.

— Andy H (@a_zinger) February 18, 2024

Consecutive years .500 or better

The win against Michigan clinched a .500 or better record for Michigan State this season. That makes 36 straight years of accomplishing this, which is no small feat. A .500 record may not sound that impressive, after all we expect far better than that in East Lansing. But this is the longest streak in Big Ten history.

Indiana is the only other program close to MSU’s streak of 36. The Hoosiers went on a 33-year streak of .500 or better seasons from 1970-2003. That really puts this streak into perspective as Indiana is arguably the most storied program in Big Ten history.

MSU’s streak extends back to the Jud Heathcote era, as the first seven years in this streak were under his direction. Tom Izzo then took over the program in 1995 and never looked back. There have been a few scares under Izzo, none more than his first year that saw Michigan State finish 16-16. And 2010 was a close call as well at 19-15 and 2020 was even closer at 15-13. But this just goes to show how consistent and great Michigan State has been under Izzo.

Even in MSU’s down years, they still finish above .500 and make the NCAA Tournament. Most programs throughout the country wish they could say that, but that is just the reality in East Lansing.

I personally don’t see this streak ever ending while Izzo is still the coach. It’ll be interesting to see what happens once Izzo retires, but until that happens I don’t think there’s anything to worry about with this streak.