Michigan State men's basketball coach Tom Izzo has had great success against Minnesota during regular season play.
That doesn't mean he's happy the Spartans are taking on the Gophers in Saturday's second round of the NCAA tournament in Des Moines, Ia.
"Playing another Big Ten team in the second game, (I) question that," Izzo told CBS after Michigan State escaped Bradley's upset bid in Thursday's first-round game.
"That's the way it is," he said. "We'll be ready to play. I think we need a little rest and get our guys back together."
Minnesota is in the round of 32 for the first time since 2013 and trying to reach a regional semifinal for the first time since 1997. The '97 team made the Final Four, though that tournament appearance was later vacated because of NCAA rules violations.
"You're not going to hear me complain," said Gophers coach Richard Pitino, who is 2-6 against Izzo. "I don't care who we play. In order to go to a Sweet 16 you're never going to play easy games."
And now, Murphy comes into Saturday's 6:45 p.m. tip-off after missing a chunk of Thursday's win over Louisville with back spasms.
"It happened early in the second half, my back just locked up on me," said Murphy. "For now, I'll just take treatment and take care of it."
The pain and tightness isn't nearly enough to keep Murphy from taking the court on Saturday.
"I think I'll be ready to go," said Murphy. "100 percent. There's no way I'm missing it."
Pitino knows Murphy isn't joking.
"He'll be fine," said Pitino. "Absolutely no doubt in my mind (that he'll play), he'll find a way even if we tell him he can't."
Minnesota found its elusive 3-point stroke just in time to give Pitino the NCAA Tournament win he'd been seeking.
The 10th-seeded Gophers won their first NCAA Tournament game in six seasons behind 24 points from freshman Gabe Kalscheur.
RELATED: The first time
The win for Pitino came against school that fired his father. Rick Pitino coached the Cardinals for 16 seasons before his 2017 dismissal.
"This wasn't about getting the win for coach Pitino. It was about getting the win for us in general and advancing to the next round," sais Murphy, who scored 18 points. "That's what makes him happy, and that's what makes us happy."
Amir Coffey also had 18 points for Minnesota (22-13), which knocked down 11 3s despite entering play ranked 344th nationally in made 3s per game.
Five of those triples came from Kalscheur, who finished a point shy of his career high for points.
"I feel like they were giving it to us," said Kalscheur, who won three Minnesota state championships with De La Salle High School. "We just fed off each other."
Murphy's 3 with 5:28 left - just his seventh all year - made it a 15-point game and typified just how well things were rolling for Minnesota.
"I thought we played really good defense when we needed to. We showed great toughness and grit down the stretch," Pitino said. "You can't undersell it. That's a terrific win for our guys. Being proud of (them is) probably an understatement for these guys."
EARLIER THAN EVER
The Minnesota-Michigan State matchup in the second round will be the earliest two Big Ten teams have ever met in the NCAA Tournament. It's the eighth all-time in any round.
The only time two Big Ten teams have played before the regional finals was in 1980, when Purdue beat Indiana in the Sweet 16. There hasn't been an all-Big Ten matchup in any round since Michigan State beat Wisconsin in the Final Four in 2000. That came a few days after Wisconsin's win over Purdue in the regional finals.
The other NCAA Tournament games involving Big Ten games were Michigan's win over Ohio State in the 1992 regional finals, Michigan's win over Illinois in the 1989 Final Four, Purdue's win over Iowa in the 1980 third-place game and Indiana's win over Michigan in the 1976 national championship game.
THE BIG PICTURE
Minnesota: This was the breakthrough Pitino had been searching for from the Gophers. Minnesota played arguably its best game of the season, and Kalscheur scored more points in 40 minutes than he did in three games during the Big Ten tournament.
WHO NEEDS A BENCH
Minnesota didn't get a single point from its bench, becoming the first team to win a first-round game since Norfolk State stunned Missouri seven years ago.
