Strength in Numbers Carries Spartans to a Memorable Season

By Nathaniel Miller
For msuspartans.com

To say that the 2024-25 men's basketball season was special would be an understatement.

From starting unranked, to being the Big Ten regular season champions, the Spartans surpassed any expectations that were set for them.

The magic may be traced back to the moments after Michigan State lost in the second round of the 2024 NCAA tournament to North Carolina.

Head Coach Tom Izzo was understandably frustrated, and vowed a reset to get back to a longer stay in the tournament.

"I'm gonna get back to a deeper run in this tournament or I'm going to die trying," Izzo said after the game.

The Spartans impressive depth this past season is what led to the mantra, "Strength In Numbers" that was seen on the team's warm-up shirts. Those three words went far beyond a nice saying that looked good on merchandise. This mantra was bought into all season long by the players and coaches.

The result? The Spartans finished the season with a 30-7 overall record and ranked No. 7 in the country by the Associated Press, reached the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament and won the Big Ten Conference regular season title with a 17-3 record, besting the league by three games.

Redshirt freshman guard Jeremy Fears Jr., who led the team with 5.3 assists per game, recalled the origins of the slogan.

"Right after the first five or six games it became something," Fears said. "It got to a point where everyone was scoring.

"It was like, eight out of the 12 guys who would play, they'd score. We didn't have a star or whatever, but everyone was scoring and we had collectively 70-80 points as a team. It was strength in numbers."

The Spartans kept up this deep offensive production for the entire season. Seven players averaged seven or more points, and 10 players averaged more than 12 minutes of playing time.

Izzo compared the bench productivity of this year's team to other Michigan State teams that he has coached.

"Championship year [2000], we had a good bench," Izzo said. "Year after that, we had Zach Randolph and Marcus Taylor coming off the bench. We've had some good benches, but not ones we've been able to utilize like these guys this past year.

"We had a great togetherness. They all understood what each guy was doing, there were no egos and we were winning, which helped."

Junior center Carson Cooper explained how he perceived the team's "Strength in Numbers" mantra.

"For me, it was our identity," Cooper said. "It's who we were and it was about all the guys that we had on that team. Everyone that we had on our team was doing something to produce and impact winning.

"Even the guys on the scout team who might not have been playing. The stuff they did doesn't get seen on the court, but ultimately they helped us win as much as Jase [Richardson] and Jaden [Akins] did on the court."

"Strength in Numbers" meant everybody had a part to play. Everyone on the team had a purpose and that mantra celebrated it.

Until late in the year when Richardson, who was an All-Big Ten Third Team selection and named to the All-Freshman Team, emerged as the team's "go-to guy," the Spartans didn't necessarily have one key guy they leaned on like other teams do during the season. They counted on the collective group to all do their respective parts. When that happened, the team succeeded.

Junior forward Jaxon Kohler elaborated on the team's versatility and why "Strength in Numbers" meant so much to everyone.

"One of the things I loved about this team was the fact that it was not just a one man show," Kohler said. "No one guy was at the center of the team. We had so much versatility on our team.

"Strength in Numbers showed that everyone was on board and showed support to every single one of our teammates. Everyone had to buy in for that to work and everyone bought in."

Izzo described the power of the "Strength in Numbers" mantra and why it positively affected the Spartans in such a big way this season.

"I think they all bought in and I believed in it [Strength in Numbers]," Izzo said. "There's two things. You gotta buy into it a little bit, but it doesn't work until you believe in it.

"The chemistry, comradery and togetherness of the team was because they felt good about [Strength in Numbers] and they felt good about each other. It was a big part of this team and it made it very enjoyable to practice and play in games."

Strength in Numbers Carries Spartans to a Memorable Season

Players Mentioned

Carson Cooper

Jeremy Fears Jr.

Jaxon Kohler

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