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John Beilein: ‘There’s so much more to our season than beating Michigan State’

Dustin Schutte

By Dustin Schutte

Published:

There’s no doubt that Michigan’s loss to in-state rival Michigan State in Ann Arbor on Sunday afternoon was disappointing for the Wolverines, but it’s not a game that head coach John Beilein is going to dwell on.

Michigan State registered a 77-70 win over Michigan on Sunday and now sits atop the B1G standings. Now, the Wolverines will likely need to win out — including another head to head against the Spartans — in order to share a conference championship.

But Beilein isn’t just looking at Sunday’s result and defining the season. Instead, he says that there’s plenty more to Michigan’s year than losing to Michigan State.

“There’s so much more to our season than beating Michigan State,” Beilein said after the game. “I know that hurts some of our fans who love this game. We’ve had some success, they’ve had some success, we have two incredible programs in this state. And everybody should be very happy they get to witness something like that for at least the 30 minutes, and Michigan State fans for 40.”

Losing to a bitter rival is obviously a heartbreaking, especially with a conference title on the line, but Michigan still has an opportunity to avenge the loss and share a piece of the conference title. On March 9, the two teams will play at the Breslin Center in the season finale.

Michigan is also in excellent position to earn a high seed in the NCAA Tournament, as well. Though they’ve lost a few close ones lately, the Wolverines are 24-4 on the year and are still a top 10 squad.

Beilein makes a great point after the loss. Perhaps the comments won’t sit too well the day after the game, but in a few weeks Michigan will get another shot at the Spartans.

Dustin Schutte

Dustin grew up in the heart of Big Ten country and has been in sports media since 2010. He has been covering Big Ten football since 2014. You can follow him on Twitter: @SchutteCFB