Big Ten Champs!

Michigan State relied on another hot shooting performance to outlast Indiana 64-59 to win its first outright Big Ten title since the 1998-1999 season.

Player of the Game: Raymar Morgan (14 points, 7 rebounds)

What Went Well for the Spartans
1) Shooting - This was our second consecutive game where our offense came ready to play. The Spartans shot over 50% from the field finishing 22-43. We especially played really well in the first half by establishing Roe down low early in the game. He had all 7 of his points in the first 5:30. For some reason we got away from that later in the game. Instead, we relied on jump shots, which luckily for us, were falling in this game. If we didn't have one of our best shooting nights of the year, we wouldn't have won this game.
2) Raymar Morgan - Raymar played great yesterday. Like I said after last game, he looks like he is finally back although he still only played 22 minutes last night. He hit all of his shots from the floor, including a huge monster jam to seal the victory. How is that not on ESPN's top plays? It was a great play, and unlike most that usually make it to the highlight reel, it was a play that mattered. Ridiculous.

What Didn't Go Well for Michigan State
1) Defense - Indiana essentially dominated this game offensively. The Hoosiers dictated the tempo and were able to get any shot that they wanted in this game. Their long, drawn out possessions wore us down and we had many mental lapses that led to uncontested layups for Indiana. Shockingly, the Hoosiers won the points in the paint battle 28-22 despite their best weapons being Kyle Taber (a walk-on) and Tom Pritchard (a freshman).
2) Turnovers - The raw number of 14 isn't really that bad, but when you consider how the total number of possessions was lower than normal, you recognize how careless we were with the ball. Of the 14 turnovers, only 6 of them came off of steals, meaning MSU just threw the ball away, or more likely, travelled with it.
3) Technical Foul - Being at the game myself, I don't know what exactly Izzo did. Talking with friends, he was giving it to the refs, presumably about the travelling call on Lucas. Whatever the reason, it was a horrible mental mistake. Sure, the refs were calling every little ticky-tac foul, but it went both ways and to argue with them to the point of getting a technical is irresponsible. It lead to a monstrous comeback and I would have liked to have heard from Tom Izzo if we lost that game.
4) Too Many Jump Shots - Aside from the first 5 minutes, we didn't emphasize getting the ball down low enough. Once again, Indiana outscored us in the paint. Regardless of what our defense did, Suton should have dominated in the paint, and he didn't. Even Raymar, who had a great game, couldn't post up Brett Finkelmeier, a 6-1 guard. Did anyone see this? That little guy was pushing the hell out of Raymar down on the block and really frustrated him. His feistiness didn't allow a single point from Morgan in the paint and even created a turnover.

Summary
Having went to the game, I have to say, it was more of a nerve-racking experience than it was fun. For most of the second half, all I could think to myself was "Why does this always happen to us? Why do we lose these games?" How could we lose to Northwestern, Penn State, and potentially Indiana in the same year? How did we lose to Iowa and Penn State last year? Or what about at Hawaii in 2005? Or, for god sakes, how did the national championship team ever lose at Wright State in 2000? Unfortunately, I don't have an answer for you.

But, on this night, we somehow managed to pull out of the second-half tailspin we were in. Raymar Morgan rose to the occasion and his spectacular put-back dunk finished off what was otherwise a poorly designed play to win the game. I probably will always remember how I felt when he slammed it home. Instead of jumping up and down in excitement, I gave a strong fist pump, belted out a cheesy "Yeah!", and then calmly watched the rest of the game in silence. At that time, I wasn't happy, but I was relieved. Relieved that we didn't blow a Big Ten championship in dramatic fashion.

Post-Game Quotes

"It's probably the most rewarding (championship) because of what we went through. It just doesn't feel like it tonight."
--Tom Izzo

"That play was just on instinct. I just saw the ball come off and knew that I could make a play on it. Luckily, I did. It felt great." --Raymar Morgan

"No matter how we won today, no matter the down moments, we scrapped and fought and went 8-1 on the road. Not too many teams can say they went 8-1 on the road." --Travis Walton

"That's the loudest I've ever heard them." --Indiana Forward Malik Story on the home crowd

Other Game Notes
1) Assembly Hall Was Louder Than the Breslin - Just to give you an idea of what I'm comparing it to, I was in the Izzone during the most recent "Glory Days" from 1997-2001. Last night, Assembly Hall was the loudest place I have ever been to. In particular, when they hit that three pointer to cut the lead to two points, I couldn't hear my wife next to me. Sure, Assembly Hall is bigger, but their fans really got into the game. No one has to tell even the alumni when to stand up. They know. They have lived Indiana basketball their entire lives.
2) Tom Izzo Declined Trophy Presentation - Apparently, prior to the game, the Big Ten had offered a trophy presentation to Michigan State if we were to beat Indiana, but Tom Izzo declined it. Thank god for that! It would have been brutal. He also said that there will be no pregame celebration before Purdue. I think that is a great idea too!

Other News
1) ESPN Article Features Flint Basketball - The link is here. It's pretty much your standard "blue-collared kids from Flint play good basketball" piece. It's not bad, but Jarred Field of the Flint Journal is fed up with this type of story apparently. He has his own response to this particular article. It can be found here.

DVD Giveaway
I'll be giving away another "The Greatest Stories of Michigan State Basketball" DVD for Sunday's game against Purdue. The correct prediction of the winner and closest margin of victory will take the DVD home. Please email me or post a comment to the website to be entered.

Break - I may be taking a day or two off. Check back sometime this week.

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Michigan State Outlasts Wisconsin 61-50

So, I have to be honest, I didn't see us coming back in this game. Halfway through the second half, I could help but think to myself "Michigan State does this every year." We choke. We don't live up to expectations. We give up two game leads in the Big Ten with only 6 games remaining.

As you know, however, we didn't choke against Wisconsin. Due to a combination of good Spartan defense and a long Badger offensive drought, we were able to rally after being down 12 with 12 minutes left and win convincingly by 11.

Player of the Game: Goran Suton 16 points and 10 rebounds

What Went Well for the Spartans
1) Points in the Paint - We dominated this area of the game with a 32-16 advantage. Goran Suton led the way with 16 points, but I thought Delvon Roe looked very impressive. Roe played strong down low and gave us good looks at the basket. He would have even had a bigger impact if he could hit his free throws.
2) Shooting - Michigan State finished shooting over 47%. Their 52% second half was very impressive and reflects their emphasis in getting the ball down low. It should be pointed out that we finished 2-9 from the three-point line, but the two makes could not have been bigger. How many of you out there wanted Allen to chuck up that three at the end? I have a world of confidence in his shooting ability and I still cringed.
3) Defense - Contrary to our Wisconsin emailer below, I think the difference in this game was when we decided to go to playing full court defense. For some reason, this seemed to fluster Wisconsin and even produced a few turnovers on their part. Normally, our "press" doesn't do anything to our opponents since essentially we just shadow their players up the court with very little pressure. In this game, however, it worked. In the future, I hope Izzo lets our athletes play all out, Chris Kramer style.
4) Crowd - If we could only have the 1979 team in the house every day. Maybe it was them, or maybe it was just because we were playing Wisconsin, but the Izzone was feeling it. They should be that loud every game no matter who we are playing.

What Didn't Go Well for Michigan State
1) Turnovers - When people think of Tom Izzo led teams, I think people should associate the words "turnover prone" just as quickly as they do "good rebounding." I don't know what the answer is on this. I think that Lucas has good ball handling ability, but even he still turns it over. Some of it may be our structured offense and its lack of creativity.
2)Tom Herzog Starting - This is ridiculous. You can't start a guy against Wisconsin because he plays hard and didn't get in against Purdue during a blowout. I like Izzo's loyalty, but geez, mix Herzog in at an opportune time during the game. Not at the start of the game against our biggest rival and in front of the 1979 team. Tom, you do know that Herzog is in the Honor's College don't you?
3) Durrell Summers - He finished with 5 points and one rebound in 24 minutes. Once again, we need more from him. I'll spare Chris Allen just because he had that dagger at the end. He didn't play very well either.

Summary
While it is nice to see that the sky is not falling, I take little comfort in this win. We were a few Wisconsin baskets away from seeing our Big Ten championship go down the drain. Looking forward, we have to find a way to take care of the ball and how to score effectively. Our defense is solid, but it can only do so much unless we find ways to put the ball in the hoop.

Other Game Notes
1) Lucas Steal and Lay-up Familiar? - Was the Kalin Lucas steal and subsequent lay-up with 25 seconds left very similar to the Alando Tucker dunk back in 2003? Like Tucker's team, the Spartans were up by nine and the victory was sealed. Shouldn't Lucas have pulled the ball out and ran the clock out? I personally would have thrown it down myself, but I also wouldn't have bitched about Tucker's dunk.
2) Lucas Had Rare Dunk - I probably have overlooked it, but I can't remember Lucas every slamming one home before this game. It happened early in the second half. It was a simple one handed jam on a break.
3) Sutton Reamed for Shooting a Three - Did you see Izzo sit him down in the second half and get right in his face. I could read his lips and he said, "No threes. You need to get your ass inside." While I agree with him needing to be a force down low, you can't give him the green light to shoot from the perimeter all season long and then pull him out when he doesn't convert from distance.
4) Krabbenhoft Gettin' Cute - I loved seeing the bounce it off the guy on the inbounds play not work.

Quotes
"I thought it was going to be our day when I started Herzog, and I did that because I didn't put him in at Purdue when I put everyone else in. The kid has worked so hard, and has been in here everyday so I apologized to him and told him I was going to start him the next game."
--Tom Izzo

So Coach, you are telling me that because he didn't get to play one minute in Purdue like all of the other scrubs, he gets to start and play three minutes against the badgers? That doesn't make any sense. If you told me that you liked the way he played in the Big Ten Tournament last year against Wisconsin, I would have given you a break. If you remember, everyone got in foul trouble forcing Izzo to go to Herzog. He played great then. Well, considering.....

"Goran has to bring it every minute of every game and as happy as I am for him, don't think he's off the hook. He has skills and abilities to do a lot of things, and so how I am going to get that out of him in the next three weeks because that kid could be a very good player."
--Tom Izzo

It's a run-on sentence, but I like it. Feed the big man. Tell him to stop labeling other teams as being dirty.

"Jud looks like he needs a whiskey on the rocks."
--My wife in reference to a shot of Jud sitting in his suite.

He probably was pissed that he had to watch this game.

Mailbag
Spartybasketball,

I am Wisconsin fan and I can appreciate what Michigan State's success on the national stage has done for the Big Ten. I also respect the athleticism of State's players year after year. Most of the aspects of the Spartan program that I respect. However, I have no respect for how Tom Izzo acts on the sideline. Bo does his share of lobbying the officials, but he recognizes when a legitimate foul was called against his team. By the way Izzo reacts, you would think that his team never fouls (which makes you wonder why else he recruited Al Anagonye). It's just childish and disrespectful to the game. Also, obviously Wisconsin didn't quite have it today and didn't seem to think they needed to score in the second half to win, but it's too bad the momentum changing play of the game came after a no-call on a double dribble by Suton.

Kirke, Somewhere in Wisconsin

First of all, thanks for visiting the blog. Let me respond to this with a few different points.
1) It's classy to recognize Michigan State's accomplishments on a national level. Unfortunately, they haven't translated to success in the Big Ten in recent years. Wisconsin takes that honor, even with less touted players.
2) Most realistic Michigan State fans recognize Izzo as a whiner. In fact, I just told a buddy today that Izzo is the kind of coach that you love to have (yeah, even I appreciate Izzo), but if he is on another team, you hate him. His red-ass face and flailing arms even annoy me and I'm one of the biggest MSU fans around. But, I have to say, most of the time, I agree with him on the calls he is arguing. I don't think that he acts like that just because he wants to. For instance, today, I found him getting upset numerous times at the refs, not for the actual fouls that they called, but when they called them. There were a few obvious fouls where it seemed like the officials half-swallowed their whistles making me think they were going to let it go, but then only to finally call the foul. That really pissed me and Izzo off.
3) Most Spartans wish we still had Al Anagonye. Ever since he left, we have lacked toughness.
4) I know what play you are talking about with Suton, but I disagree with you on a couple of points. First of all, I don't think that it was the momentum changer. As I mentioned above, I thought it was the full court press. You could also argue it was Wisconsin's inability to hit shots. Secondly, I think that the ball was actually hit out of Suton's hands allowing him to take another dribble before putting the shot up. I thought it looked funny initially, but on the replay, that's how it appeared to me. I did not hear what the announcers had to say about it.

Tomorrow - I'll try to get to some quick hits, but it may have to wait until Tuesday.

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Wisconsin Preview

The Spartans look to bounce back into the win column today as they take on Wisconsin in the Breslin Center. Many argue that Wisconsin is our biggest conference rival, but it is hard to call it a rivalry since we have lost 11 of our last 14 against them. Michigan State has had success lately, however, having won their last three matchups in East Lansing.

Wisconsin (17-9 Overall, 8-6 in the Big Ten)

Why Wisconsin Could Win
1) Ball Handling - The Badgers are currently fourth in the country in regards to turnovers averaging only 9 per game within the conference. Only Northwestern has a better turnover margin at +5 within the Big Ten, while Wisconsin is +2. If they can get Michigan State to play sloppy, it will be an easy Wisconsin victory.
2) Rebounding - Wisconsin is second behind the Spartans in rebounding. Like Purdue, they are especially good at limiting offensive rebounds. This will be key as Michigan State's best offense so far this year has been an offensive rebound.
3) Balanced Attack - Unlike Big Ten team we have faced so far this year, Wisconsin is extremely balanced. They rank within the top 5 in three-quarters of all team stats. They are second in scoring defense, turnover margin, free throws, rebounding margin, third in FG%, and assist-to-turnover ratio and fourth in scoring offense, and 3-pt % defense. Surprisingly, this Wisconsin team doesn't get many steals or block very many shots.
4) Bo Ryan - This guy has owned Michigan State since coming to the conference. He is 11-3 against the Spartans with all three losses occurring at the Breslin Center. Although I am unable to pinpoint why he is so successful against us, he obviously knows something that Izzo doesn't. You don't have less talented teams and consistently beat Michigan State without being a good coach. Refer to this article by the Daily Gopher illustrating how Bo Ryan has done more with less over the past 10 years than any other coach in the conference. Would you believe that he has only had 11 top 100 recruits since 1998? Five of these guys are on this year's team! That is amazing.

My Keys to a Spartan Victory
1) Run an Effective Offense - In the last two games, we have tried to establish an inside presence early. We had success against Michigan, but our guards were not able to effectively feed the post against Purdue. Hopefully, we have worked on this since then. In order to win, I we must outscore Wisconsin in the paint. We can't rely on outside shooting to carry us. That includes shots one foot within the three-point line.
2) Limit Turnovers - This should probably be priority number one. If we turn the ball over, we are going to lose, especially knowing how good Wisconsin takes care of the rock. Hopefully, we have gotten the turnover bug out of our systems.
3) X-Factor(s) - We need Durrell Summers or Chris Allen to step up. End of story.
4) Free Throws - Like all Wisconsin/MSU games, I am expecting a lot of fouling. Wisconsin shoots a high percentage from the line so we will have to convert a high percentage of our own shots to win.
5) Bounce Back - The Spartans have rebounded from their four losses brilliantly so far this year. In those games, the Spartans are averaging 80 points per game and only giving up 69. Durrell Summers is also averaging 15.5 points in games after a loss.

That's Ridiculous
1) Tom Izzo Whining - I hate to do this to my own team, but today's article in the Free Press (here) is extremely untimely. While I appreciate the insight on the rivalry between both Michigan State and Wisconsin and between the coaches, the timing and manner of which he did it, was inappropriate. In the article, Izzo confirms what many already perceive about him already; that he is a whiner. His quotes are laced with the emotion of an eight-year old who just can't stand the fact that another coach in the conference seems to have his number. Here are all of Tom Izzo's quotes from the article:

• "It really started with the dunk in the last 10 seconds of a game -- when you see every other Big Ten team holds it up and that didn't happen, that ticked me off. I said something about it, so that made every Wisconsin fan mad at me and every Michigan State fan mad at him. I brought it up and he acted like it was no big deal. Well, you know what? I didn't like that and I may not for the rest of my life.


• "I don't want you to make a big deal about it, but he never ever said a word about it. Even when people said, 'Did he call and apologize? Did he do this and that?' No. Well ... we didn't do that when we beat them nine times in a row or 11 times in a row. And you know what? He beat us in the one Big Ten championship year, and that hurts, but we got Wisconsin in the Final Four and that was for a national championship."


• "It bothers me, but I don't play the game. Do I sit there and say it doesn't bother me? No, of course it bothers me. But all it makes me do is work to do what I can do better and try to prepare them better, and eventually the players play the game.
  
• "We're not hanging out, but I'm not enemies with Bo. We're on a board together, and I get along with Bo."

I remember the dunk in 2003, and personally, I think it was blown way out of proportion. Like most of the subsequent matchups, the bigger story was how we were favored to win and lost. I believe that Alando Tucker's dunk on that day rattled us, and by the statements that Izzo made just yesterday, we apparently still haven't recovered from it. Instead of approaching this as just another game, Michigan State has put too much emphasis on beating the Badgers and has since lost 11 of their last 14 against them. Since that day, In order for this trend to change, we need to forget about the past and play in the now.
2) Unfurled 2004 Big Ten Banner Happened Before - Everyone knows about the incident, but most are unaware that this had happened before. In 1998, I was in the Izzone on Senior night as we played Purdue in the final game of the regular season. The Spartans had already clinched a share of the Big Ten title with Illinois, so someone had the brilliant idea to hang the banner before the game. The result was Purdue upsetting us in overtime and we lost the outright title. Those who ignore history are condemned to repeat it.
3) "Why Does Bo Ryan Suck So Much?" - During an informal Q&A session during the Big Ten Tournament pep rally in Indianapolis last year, some guy asked Tom Izzo this question in front of approximately 500 alumni. Izzo respectfully declined to answer it. That would have been a better time to tell us all about our hatred of Wisconsin instead of the day of a game.

Summary
It's hard to predict a game after a loss. For some reason, when we lose, it always feels like the sky is falling. Today, Michigan State has all the motivation that it needs to perform well. They will want to play well for the 1979 championship team that will be in attendance and they want to stay one game up on Purdue for the conference championship. I'm sure that they want to win one for their coach also, but again, this should be the last thing on their mind.

Wisconsin is not as talented as Michigan State. The Spartans have the personnel to dictate a faster tempo, dominate on the offensive glass, and force the Badgers into poor shots. The difference will be on the sidelines and which coach will call a better game. While Bo Ryan doesn't have the horses that Michigan State does, it hasn't ever stopped him in the past.

My head says that momentum will get the best of the Spartans, but my heart says that they will not let this Big Ten Championship slip through their fingers, especially in front of Magic and company.

Michigan State over Wisconsin 63-60

Pregame Quotes
"I don't like Wisconsin. That's no secret. I don't think they like us, either. They're dirty, they push, they hold. Actually, I like Michigan more than I like them. That's pretty bad."
--Goran Suton

Again, just play the game G. We push. We hold. "It's the Big [Ten]. This ain't intramurals!"

Tomorrow - Wisconsin Post Game

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While I Was Gone.......

Michigan State Notes While I Was Gone
1) Michigan State is Joaquin Phoenix - A must read by former Bigtenwonk author Jon Gasaway who now writes for Basketball Prospectus. He essentially says the same things about the offense I have been saying for weeks, but much more eloquently and with statistics to back it up. Hightlights include:

• The Big Ten is balanced, but lacks really good teams
• He believes that Oklahoma is similar to MSU in that they lack a big win.
• He points out how offensive rebounding is what drives Michigan State's offense and how in March we will run into teams that will be able to take this away. He says we better have a good Plan B.
• Compares us to Stanford and Villanova of last year who made it to the Sweet 16 despite poor offenses. I guess it would have been too easy to compare us to our own team from one year ago

2) Goran Suton Says Wisconsin "Plays Dirty" - Suton went into all sorts of details, but most importantly, he is annoyed by Marcus Landry's continual holding of his opponent's off-arm during jump balls. G, there is only one jump ball per game in college basketball! I don't really care for this comment before our matchup on Sunday. Why give them anything that could be motivating? Under Bo Ryan, they have already owned us. You can find the quote in Joe Rexrode's blog along with a complete recap of last year's Big Ten Tournament loss to the Badgers here.
3) Izzo is Looking For More From Lucas - This Detroit News article explains how Izzo wants Lucas to be more aggressive as the postseason is approaching. What I like about the article is that they imply that they are working on isolation sets for Kalin against high pressure defense. I thought that this was missing against Purdue. If opponents want to play high-pressure defense, we need to be able to beat them off the dribble and make them pay.
4) Izzo May Shorten His Bench - He states that while he has limited the minutes of certain players, he has not limited the number of players that have seen the floor in each game. With Morgan getting healthier, he wants to limit the rotation a little bit. As you know, I am thrilled by this news. You can find the link here.

That's Ridiculous (The Catch Up Edition)
1) Chimpanzee Mauling - I'm not as concerned about the mauling itself per se, but more about the "unusual bond" shared between the animal and the owner. A few days after the attack, experts say that this bond may have been a factor in the surprising attack. They say that the owner, Sandra Harold, cuddled in bed with the chimpanzee, drank wine together, and even bathed together. Bathed together??? Michael Jackson and Bubbles think that you are ridiculous.
2) Penn State Beats Illinois 38-33 - Yeah, that is a basketball score. Not a recap of last fall's matchup on the gridiron. That score was 38-24 in case you wondering. This matchup on the hardwood reminded me of us at Iowa last year. Like the Spartans, Illinois shot the ball better than Penn State, but still lost. Also like Michigan State, Illinois' opponent won the game because of a lopsided difference in free throws. Penn State finished 9-11 from the line, but Illinois didn't get to the stripe even once. Games like this one is why people across the country can't stand the Big Ten.
3) A-Rod Didn't Exactly Tell the Truth - It turns out that there are some flaws in his revelation that he took performance enhancing drugs. He may have received them from a banned trainer in the Dominican and not from his cousin. What's worse, A-rod not telling the truth or the continual coverage of this story?
4) Joy Behar vs. Ann Coulter on Larry King - This is just wrong on all sorts of levels. Number one, why is Joy Behar subbing for Larry King? Is that the best that CNN could come up with? That annoying lady from The View? Was Rosie O'Donnell not available? Secondly, what was I doing watching it? These two easily crack my personal top 10 list of women I can't stand. (In case you are wondering, Danica Patrick is the undisputed number one). Anyways, I just happened to be at work and found it as I was flipping through the channels. It was pretty funny to see Behar trying to go toe-to-toe with the Ice Queen Coulter. Joy was outmatched in both communication skills and overall knowledge. Her interview went about as well as I would do if I sat down with Tom Izzo and argued with him on the same points I put up on this blog. You can see the entire exchange here.

Tomorrow - Wisconsin Preview

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Purdue Preview and Q&A with Docsportsblog.com

Like all of the games left on the schedule, tonight's game at Purdue is a must win. The Spartans are coming off of a one week hiatus and they will have to be in perfect form to beat the Boilermakers in West Lafayette.

Purdue (19-6 Overall, 8-4 in the Big Ten)

Key Wins:
at Wisconsin 65-52

Key Losses:
vs. Oklahoma 87-82 (Neutral)
vs. Duke 76-60
vs. Illinois 71-67 (OT)
at Penn State 67-64
at Illinois 66-48
at Ohio State 80-72 (OT)

Why Purdue Could Win
1) Pressure Defense - Over the last year and a half, Purdue has won games because they play great, high pressure defense. They extend well beyond the three-point line and harass ball handlers constantly. The Boilermakers are led defensively by Chris Kramer who has a game very similar to Travis Walton. He normally defends the opposing team's best guards, but he is not really an offensive threat. Inside, Purdue has a great shot blocker in JuJuan Johnson who leads the Big Ten with 2.5 blocks per game. He also is their leading scorer in Big Ten contests.
2) Purdue Runs an Effective Offense - They are second in the Big Ten in team field goal percentage at 45%. JuJuan Johnson is shooting 56% from the floor so far this year in conference play.
3) Defensive Rebounding - While Purdue has only a +0.7 rebounding margin within the Big Ten, they actually lead the conference in defensive rebounds. They even edge out Michigan State. If they can keep Michigan State off of the offensive glass, the Spartans will be in a world of hurt since their offense thrives on second chance points. Robbie Hummel leads the Boilermakers with 7.3 rebounds per game.
4) Robbie Hummel - The Boilermaker star has been battling back problems for weeks now, but did play 24 minutes in their last game. Although he only had two points in that contest, it would only be fitting that he has a comeback game against us. It seems like that always happens to the Spartans.

My Keys to a Spartan Victory
1) Defense - We must hold Purdue to their conference scoring average of 63 points per game. This is going to be a defensive battle and if we allow them to convert open looks or easy buckets down low, we won't win this game. We also must continue our dominance on the glass, especially on the defensive end.
2) Limit Turnovers - Last year was a nightmare in West Lafayette as the Spartans had 17 turnovers. We will want Kalin Lucas to push the ball up the court, but he will have to be controlled in doing so. If we limit ourselves to less than 13 turnovers, I think we will win.
3) X-Factor(s) - Once again, our offense can go to the next level if Durrell Summers or Chris Allen shows up tonight. We can't afford an 0-8 performance from either one of these guys. We also can't afford any defensive lapses or ridiculous travel calls by them either.
4) Inside Presence - We need to establish our offense down low again like we did against Michigan. Sure, JuJuan Johnson is an intimidating presence in the paint, but we can't just settle for jump shots, especially ones just inside the three point line. We are a much better team when we attack the rim.
5) Free Throws - Although Purdue is worse than us at the line, we need to make sure that we knock down a high percentage of our freebies. Just having good form doesn't count. You need to step in there and knock them down.

Summary
They say that defense wins championships, but tonight, it will be the offenses that will determine the outcome of the game. Both teams are going to play excellent defense, but who will be able to points up on the board. Purdue will have the home court advantage and will be forcing a lot of MSU turnovers, but will they have an effective Robbie Hummel? Will he and E'Twaun Moore be the type of players that were selected to the Preseason Big Ten First Team?

In the end, I see Michigan State benefiting from their time off and having a full week to prepare for this game. I think they will take surprisingly good care of the ball and continue to rebound like they have all season. If they just do these two things, the game will at least be close at the end. If they can get Allen or Summers to contribute, they will win the game convincingly.

Michigan State over Purdue 64-59

Pregame Quotes
"Raymar Morgan could play 15-20 minutes. I'm going in thinking we're not going to get much out of him [Raymar Morgan]. Whatever we get is a bonus." --Tom Izzo

Um....I disagree. This is the type of game that Raymar would often disappear in when he was healthy, so I don't think that throwing him in there for as many as twenty minutes is a very good idea when he is coming off of an illness. If he has been looking good in practice, I would give him the Marquise Gray treatment. Get him some minutes early and see what he can give you. If doesn't play well, then sit him down.

“I’ve got to admit, I’m excitedly looking forward to this game. Some games you worry about – I’m excited.” --Tom Izzo

Other Notes
1) Check Out My Q&A Session With Docsportsblog.com - Check out the Michigan State feature here.
2) Delvon Roe Shares Big Ten Player of the Week Honors - His 14 points and 10 rebounds against Michigan was enough for him to be co-player of the week with Joe Krabbenhoft.
3) MSU #5 in ESPN/Coaches and #6 in AP - This makes us in a prime position to get upset. Hopefully not tonight.

That's Ridiculous
1) J-Rich Can't Drive 55 - Actually, he was clocked 55 mph over the speed limit. An officer found Richardson going 90 mph in a 35 mph zone. To top it all off, he had his three-year old son with him and was cited for not having him in a car seat. I guess we can all be happy that he didn't have any tree or any guns on him. He gets points for that doesn't he?

Tomorrow - Purdue Post Game

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Delvon Roe Leads MSU Past Michigan 54-42

Michigan State grinded out their sixth consecutive road win in the Big Ten as they defeated Michigan 54-42. Kalin Lucas led the Spartans with 15 points, while Delvon Roe had a career high 14 points. DeShawn Sims paced the Wolverines with 18 points.

Player of the Game: Delvon Roe 14 points, 10 rebounds

What Went Well For the Spartans
1) Emphasis on Getting the Ball Inside - From the opening tip, it was clear that Michigan State was going to take my advice and pound the ball down low. They tried to exploit Michigan's lack of height by getting Roe and Suton involved early. Delvon ended up being the biggest beneficiary with his career night while Suton struggled somewhat (8 pts on 2-7 shooting).
2) Great Defense - Led by Travis Walton, the Spartans played great pressure defense. Recognizing Michigan's tendencies to chuck up threes from all over the court, they extended their defense out a few feet further than they normally play and harassed their shooters all night. Walton held Manny Harris to 7 points on 2-10 shooting, including 1-6 from the 3-pt line.
3) Free Throws - MSU unexpectedly performed better at the free throw line than the Wolverines. The Spartans cashed in on 15 of 19 attempts while Michigan converted only 6 of 11. Michigan came into this game hitting 77% of their free throws.
4) Lack of Turnovers - I thought MSU did an excellent job of taking care of the basketball, especially against Michigan's high pressure defense. The Wolverines hasselled us all night and look really athletic in that 1-3-1 zone. It truly was a great performance by the Spartans.

What Didn't Go So Well
1) Rebounding - This is the most concerning aspect of this game. The Spartans only managed to grab a +3 rebounding margin against the Wolverines. Michigan actually grabbed more offensive rebounds than MSU as they had 9 and we had 8. This was the second straight contest where Michigan State has not blown away their competition in the rebounding margin. We were +5 against Indiana.
2) Durrell Summers - Summers got the nod from Tom Izzo in this game, presumably due to his height on the perimeter to guard against three point shots. But, he really didn't do much on the offensive end finishing 3-8 with 8 points in 31 minutes. I didn't think that Durrell Summers was playing good enough to limit Chris Allen to 9 minutes in this game.
3) Marquise Gray - As you know, I think we should try to get Gray more involved in the offense, but his two minutes of playing time last night illustrate why Tom Izzo is reluctant to do so. Immediately after he entered the first half of the game, he let Zack Gibson blow right by him for a layup. Then in Michigan State's following possession, he turned the ball over down in the post. I thought he had another turnover in that span too, but the official box score only listed him as having one. Personally, I think Izzo did the right thing here. I would manage Gray the same way. Let him play early and if he plays great, keep him in there. If he plays like a basket case, sit him down.
4) Poor Substitutions - As tradition, I have to get my regular criticism of Coach Izzo's substitutions in right here although, in general Izzo did a great job. Aside from Durrell Summers getting too many of Chris Allen's minutes, the only gripe I had was why did we need Austin Thornton in the game with 11 minutes to go? The only possible explanation is that he wanted some height on the perimeter for defense, but even then, I would have still went with Chris Allen as he isn't a bad defender and he can give you a lot more on the offensive end. Luckily, Thornton's two and a half minutes didn't hurt us, but it could have.

Post Game Analysis of My Preview
Without question, this was a weird game. Both teams strayed away from how they normally perform. Michigan State narrowly outrebounded the wolverines who are normally horrible on the boards. Michigan also uncharacteristically missed free throws and was more turnover prone than the Spartans.

Yesterday, I thought that the key to a victory would be Michigan's three-point shooting versus a stellar performance from either Durrell Summers or Chris Allen. Well, as it turns out neither team had success in these areas. Michigan went 4-24 from behind the arc and both Michigan State players really failed to make an impact. In the end, I think it came down to MSU's defense out playing the Wolverine defense.

Post Game Feelings
After watching the game last night, I was surprised by how unexcited I was with our victory. It had nothing really to do with how we played, but more about how in reality, it was just another game on our schedule that we were supposed to win. Yes, it was a rivalry game, but a rivalry game where we were the favorite for what seems like the 15th consecutive time. I would imagine that this is how Michigan fans feel each autumn when they beat us in football.

Tell me how you all feel.

Quotes
"Everybody loves to beat Michigan on its own court, and it's a big thrill to do that, but it's not the highlight of our season." --Delvon Roe

"A lot of it had to do with their defense," Harris acknowledged. "They were really tough." --Copperyale Harris

Tomorrow - More Michigan Post Game

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Minnesota Preview #2

Michigan State looks to bounce back from a devastating loss against Penn State by taking on the Gophers at home.

Minnesota (12-0) Ranked #21 in both polls

Key Wins:
vs. Louisville 70-64
vs. Wisconsin 78-74
vs. Penn State 79-59
vs. Illinois 59-36

Key Losses:
vs. Michigan State 70-58
at Northwestern 74-65

Why Minnesota Could Win:
1. Surprisingly Good Defense - Coming into the Big Ten season, Minnesota was ranked 8th in the conference in scoring defense. That was even with a weak non-conference schedule. But since conference play has started, they are only giving up 61 points per game which is good enough for third in the Big Ten. They lead the league in blocks and steals and are second in FG defense. Look for Al Nolan to lead a high pressure defense to try and make the Spartans turn the ball over.
2. Lawrence Westbrook is Playing Well - Westbrook has had a great Big Ten season so far. He is averaging 15 points per game and is shooting over 44% from the 3-pt line within conference play. I expect him to play better than he did against us the first time.
3. Raymar Morgan Out - We will undoubtedly miss his defense in this game. I hope Izzo thinks twice about playing Thornton more as this would make us miss Raymar even more. In case you were wondering, Morgan finished with a unflattering double-double the last time these two teams played. He had 11 points on 4-11 shooting.
4. Michigan State's Insistence to Shoot Outside Shots - If we don't pound the ball down low and settle for jump shots, I think we are at the mercy of the basketball Gods to grant us a good shooting night. I would like to see us get some good posessions in the paint that do not come off of offensive rebounds.
5. Goran Suton's Right Knee - He hurt it on Monday, but he should play. If he doesn't, I do not think we will have a chance to win.

Why Michigan State Can Snap This 2-Game Home Losing Streak:
1. Poor Gopher 3-Point Shooting - With the last two opponents shooting the lights out of the Breslin, I take comfort in the fact that the Gophers are only shooting 33% from behind the arc. With our luck, however, Blake Hoffarber will probably get his third consecutive trip the ESPYs with another miracle shot against us. See the videos at the bottom of this post if you don't know what I'm talking about.
2. Rebounding - We dominated the last game with a margin of +22. That included a 23-11 edge in offense rebounds. Minnesota has improved since this game, but I don't see them outrebounding us at home.
3. Kalin Lucas - He had a phenomenal game in the first match up and with the recent loss, I expect him to play with a purpose. We will see if Al Nolen can stop him.

Summary:
Unfortunately, I think this game will come down to how well the Spartans shoot the ball from the outside. I think we could win the game if we focus on getting the ball inside, but we haven't done that so far this season, so I don't know what would make Izzo do it now. Either way, I think our players will be ready to play despite Minnesota's harassing defense. The Spartans will escape a close one.

Michigan State over Minnesota 69-66.

Around the Big Ten
1) Ohio State Clips Purdue at Home - The Buckeyes beat Purdue in overtime behind great shooting. They shot 60% against the Boilermakers, which is incredible given Purdue's excellent defense. This game featured two of the worst plays ever to end regulation with the score tied. Evan Turner turned the ball over dribbling to the basket and Matt Painter elected not to call a timeout so that E'Twaun Moore could penetrate in the lane for some off-balanced shot. Luckily for us, it didn't go down.

Tomorrow: Minnesota Post Game #2. (Post will be up later in the evening due to real life)


Blake Hoffarber's Highlight Reels That Got Him to the ESPY's Two Years In a Row

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Penn State Wins at Michigan State for the First Time Ever 72-68

Once again, the Spartans were beaten on their home court thanks to excellent three-point shooting. Talor Battle played like a first team all-conference point guard leading the Nittany Lions with 29 points. He finished 11-19 from the field including 6-12 from behind the arc. Kalin Lucas paced the Spartans with 23 points, but he did not shoot the ball well finishing 7-21.

Player of the Game - Talor Battle 29 points on 11-19 shooting, including 6-12 3-pt.

Why Penn State Won:
1) Talor Battle Was Unstoppable - As noted above, Battle played like a first team all-conference point guard against the Spartans. He was lights out from all over the floor. His lull you to sleep and pull up three to end the first half was amazing, especially since it was from 30 ft out. Without him going off for 29, the Spartans would have won this game handily. Battle provided inspiration for his team and his teammates stepped their games up big time.
2) Poor Michigan State Offense - As we have been doing all conference season long, Michigan State relied too heavily on outside shooting. We didn't focus on pounding the ball down low and settled to quickly for outside shots. The Spartans did win the points in the paint battle 28-26, but a lot of those points were off of offensive rebounds. We can't expect Durrell Summers to go 8-12 from the 3-pt line like he did in the two previous games. Instead, we need to pound the ball inside and get Suton more involved.
3) Rebounding - Yes, MSU won the rebounding battle, but only by a +5 margin (35-30). This was one of the Spartans' worst outings of the year and ultimately it hurt them. Was there no bigger rebound than Cornley's off of his own miss at the free throw line with 50 seconds left. How does the free throw shooter get an offensive rebounder against a Michigan State team? That was crazy.

What Went Well for MSU:
1) Delvon Roe - His first half of play was probably one of his best so far this year. He scored all 8 of his points on 4-4 shooting during that time. He didn't score in the second half however.
2) Goran Suton - Despite finishing 4-8, I thought Suton played well. He finished with 11 points and 9 rebounds, which I thought was pretty decent seeing how the offense was not going through him at all. He also had two key three pointers that helped us slow down the momentum of the Nittany Lions.
3) Kalin Lucas - I know he finished 7-21, but I think that he still played better than that stat line suggests. Obviously his shots weren't falling, but he had no support from the other guards on the team. He took it upon himself to get us back in the game and he nearly pulled it off by getting to the foul line and converting 9-10 attempts. On this day, however, Talor Battle got the best of him.

Coaching Issues (Notice how they are all the exact same as my post after the Northwestern game)
1) We Ignored Our Bigs - After the game, Izzo commented how his players were relying outside shooting too much, but I didn't see him trying to establish an offensive inside presence at all. We shot 20 threes and probably a half of a dozen more just inside the arc. Summers winds up 1-8 from the 3-pt line and we only win the points in the paint battle by 2 points (28-26). If Izzo doesn't make a consistent effort to get the ball down low, we are going to continue to lose to lower ranked teams. We cannot keep blaming our unexpected losses on an outstanding performance of one player. We need to have more outstanding offensive performances of our own players.
2) Clock Management - Again, Izzo started fouling way earlier than I would have in another loss. Understandably, with 4:19 to go Izzo wanted to get Penn State into the bonus so that we can better manage the clock. But, we were down 9 at that point and I would argue why not just play really aggressive defense and try to get a steal. We were not doing that. We were going hack-a-Shaq on these guys and just wasting fouls. Then, at one point, we got the lead down to 5 with 2:30 left and Izzo was still fouling! Why!! Can't we play good defense and then get a good shot to cut it to 2 or 3 with around 1:30 left? That doesn't make sense. I don't care if Penn State shoots 64% as a team. If you keep putting them on the line, they are going to eventually make a few of them. Ultimately, I will concede that this strategy did not hurt us, but if he continues to do this, it will hurt us in the future.
3) Substitutions - I have an excellent example to my rant earlier about how there is no rhyme or reason to Izzo's substitutions. With 12:55 left and we were down by 7, we had the following lineup in for almost one full minute: Lucious, Allen, Walton, Green, and Gray. Then for the next full minute, he replaced Lucious with Summers. What are we supposed to do with these lineups? How are we in any position to come back against a quality opponent when we have these squads in for two minutes? And then putting Raymar in the game during crunch time was nothing more than an act of despiration. If he could have helped you, he would have played before the end of the game.
4) X's and O's - As much as I hate Izzo's drawn up plays, I was surprised to see a somewhat organized offensive set to get Chris Allen an open three-point attempt to win the game. It was a good look and it would have given Allen a ton of confidence for the future if he hit that shot. The problem was, however, that we should have either had Lucas penetrate hoping for a foul or get it down low to one of the bigs. In the end, Lucas had a big rebound, was fouled, but couldn't convert on both free throws to win it.
5) Pressure Defense - After seeing a higher pressure defense against Iowa, I was hoping that we would continue that against Penn State. For some reason, the coaching staff didn't want to go in that direction. Maybe they are worried about our guys getting into foul trouble? I say every time that you have Lucious in there, I want him harassing the ball at all times. If he picks up a few fouls, who cares?

Quotes:
"The game wasn't won or lost on Kalin Lucas' free throw, it was won or lost when we were seven up and we just decided not to guard." --Tom Izzo

Besides Talor Battle playing phenomenally, I would argue that the reason we didn't win was because our offense was largely ineffective. We went over 4 minutes without a basket in the second half. Izzo even said himself that you can't do much defensively when opponents are hitting 35 foot threes and banking in threes. So which one is it? Therefore, I don't think defense was as much of a factor as our inability to score was.

"I've never seen two losses with banked-in threes, 35-foot threes." --Tom Izzo

As the saying goes, fool me once shame on you. Fool me twice and shame on me.

"Sometimes when you're playing more young guys, I think they just live in the watching of the TV where Michigan State always wins at home. You win at home because you work. You don't win at home because you're supposed to. It's an entitlement society, as we all know, and I think our players kind of feel that the past players pioneered their way through, and it's an entitlement that we're supposed to win at home"

--Tom Izzo on losing two consecutive home games.

This is starting to be a recurring theme for Spartan teams. I think that I have heard this multiple times about every MSU basketball team since 2001. Some of the responsibility has to be on the coach.

That's Ridiculous
1) Michael Phelps Pictured Smoking Tree - Apparently America's golden boy got lit up at a University of South Carolina off-campus party after a football game last fall. Even more funny are the quotes found in the story:

“He looked just as natural with a bong in his hands as he does swimming in the pool. He was the gold medal winner of bong hits. Michael ended up getting a little paranoid, though, because before too long he looked like he was nervous and ran out of the place.”

This isn't surprising. I was surprised last summer when I saw how every news show, including 60 Minutes, conviently omitted Phelps' DUI arrest in Ann Arbor in 2004. I guess we should all take comfort in the fact that at least he is owning it.

2) Superbowl MVPs Smoke Tree Too - In addition to being the most decorated Olympian, kids also learned that they can smoke pot and also being a Superbowl MVP. Thank you for that Santonio Holmes.

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Michigan State Pulls Away From Iowa 71-56

The athleticism of Michigan State proved to be too much for the undermanned Iowa Hawkeyes. Led by Kalin Lucas and Durrell Summers, Michigan State recorded their fifth consecutive conference road victory.

Player of the Game - Durrell Summers 21 points on 7-9 shooting.

What Went Well for MSU:
1) Durrell Summers - This makes his second consecutive game with 20+ points. If he did them in the same week, he would have been Big Ten Player of the Week for sure. It's funny how one week ago, I didn't know if Summers would ever be capable of putting up numbers like he has even as a senior. Undoubtedly he is playing phenomenally, but his reliance on outside shooting still worries me. With him making so many three lately, I would think that he will have more opportunities to drive to the basket in upcoming games.
2) Kalin Lucas - Had an equally impressive game, but we are starting to expect this from him. He was able to take full advantage of his quickness in this game and finished with 24 points on 9-13 shooting.
3) Three Point Shooting - Led by Durrell Summers, the Spartans finished 5-9 from behind the arc.
4) Izzo Came to His Senses - He only played Raymar Morgan 8 minutes this game due to his illness, which was still 8 minutes too many.

What Didn't Go Well for MSU:
1) Turnovers - Once again, we started the game with way too many turnovers. The Spartans finished with 14 for the game, but had 9 in the first half. We really need to find a way to turn this around.
2) Rebounding - Of course, this is only relative. MSU still won the rebounding battle by a +8 margin. This is less than their season average though and Iowa did grab 8 offensive rebounds in this game. Michigan State pulled down 11 off of the offensive glass.
3) Points in the Paint - Izzo surprised me by not exploiting Iowa's lack of size. I thought that we should have went big against them and pounded the ball down low. It would have been a great game to go with Suton and Gray for significant periods of time to work on their offensive games. Instead, MSU only edge Iowa in points in the paint 28-22. When we have to rely on outside shooting to win games, I don't like our chances. In this game, however, it worked out.
4) MSU Caught Sleeping - I don't know if you saw it, but there was a play where Iowa inbounded the ball from their own basket, went the length of the floor with one dribble, and scored a layup on us while we weren't paying attention. That was rediculous. I've never seen that happen to a Spartan team.

Other Game Notes
1) Todd Lickliter is Doing a Great Job - Iowa does not have near the talent that his previous teams at Butler did, but they have still managed to stay competitive with teams in this conference. Their win against Wisconsin with these players was phenomenal and they have played OSU and Minnesota close. Heck, they were impressive in their comeback against us. I hope that Lickliter gets a few more years at Iowa before he is pushed out the door.

Quotes:
"I think it was a big win for us, believe it or not. It was probably the best we got our running game going, got off to a good start. Our speed was a big advantage." --Tom Izzo

I saw this Michigan State team extend their defense for the first time this season. They were picking players up beyond full court and actually pressuring the ball a little bit. They still could pressure the ball more, but I like the idea of our guards pestering other teams as they bring the ball up.

"I'm kind of on this team right now because I still don't think we have the focus you need every day, every practice." --Tom Izzo

Why does this happen to our team every single year? Why can't they focus?

Mailbag
The editor of Collegehoopsnet.com sent me a fun article about how bad Indiana is this year. You can find the link here.


Tomorrow - More Iowa Post Game.

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More Illinois Post Game

It's two days later, and I still don't know how we won that Illinois game. The most obvious reason is our advantage on the boards, but I think Illinois playing poorly had much more to do with it. It wasn't like Michigan State got real hot and ran away with the game in the end. Instead, Illinois suddenly became ice cold and did not score in the last six minutes. I don't think that was due to stiffling MSU defense either.

Worst Plays from Illinois Game - As I said yesterday, it wasn't the number Spartan mistakes that was frustrating, it was the nature of them.
1) Walton's Free Throws - Almost all of them were ugly, but the airball was brutal. Thank god those late free throws were not needed.
2) Lucas Pass of Delvon Roe's Hip - Lucas tried to give it up to Roe as he was setting a screen. It ended up bouncing off his hip and going the other way for an Illini basket.
3) Gray Blows a Breakaway Dunk - Trent Meacham tried to strip him, but really wasn't a factor in the play. Gray just missed it.
4) Suton Fumbles Alley-Oop - He tried to convert it into a lay-up, but it didn't work.

That's Rediculous
1) Inadvertant Whitsle -The only thing worse that this play was Travis Walton's defense on Alex Legion that led to the three pointer. He got caught up in a screen under the basket and looked confused as to who to cover. I couldn't help thinking at the time that this stuff seems to always happen to us. Luckily for us, it wasn't the difference in the game however. The Spartans bounced back quickly led by Goran Suton and his quick three point shot.
2) Tom Izzo's Technical - We still don't know what led to Coach getting T'd up. The announcers speculated that he said something to a player and the refs thought he was talking to them. They also said that the particular ref that called the technical has T'd Izzo up in four out of his last five games while officiating Spartan games. If that is true, that guy shouldn't be reffing our games anymore. Someone needs to look into that.

While I Was Gone in the Big Ten
1) Minnesota/Wisconsin - The dramatic Gopher win could really help MSU down the road. The Badgers don't lose many games at home and it was surprising to see them go down to Minnesota. 2) Purdue/Northwestern - A Wildcat win would have been huge for the Spartans, but it wasn't meant to be. Despite their two losses, I still think that Purdue will be the team contending with Michigan State for the title.
3) Ohio State/Michigan - The Buckeyes seemed to bounce back with a huge game in Ann Arbor. Who the heck knows what to expect from Michigan on any given night. They may beat the Spartans at home this year and then lose to Indiana.
4) Northwestern/Minnesota - In a game that featured 19 made three-pointers, you would have thought that Northwestern would have lived and died by the three. This really wasn't the case. Craig Moore was 6-9 from distance, but the rest of the Wildcats were 3-12. The tandem of Moore and Coble proved to be the difference as they went for 22 and 20 respectively.

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Michigan State Too Much for Kansas 75-62

Once again, Kalin Lucas led the Spartans to a victory over the Kansas Jayhawks. He finished with 22 points including 3-4 shooting from beyond the arc. Although Sherron Collins ended up with more points (25), Lucas came away with the better overall performance. He clearly is living up to his preseason billing of being one of the best point guards in the nation.

Player of the Game - Kalin Lucas 22 points, 3-4 3-pt

What went well for MSU:
1) Rebounding - The Spartans continued to dominate the boards on both ends of the floor with a +11 margin. They effectively neutralized all of the Kansas rebounders except for Aldrich who still managed to gather 11 missed shots. They did especially well in limiting offensive rebounds holding the Jayhawks to half of their season average (7). For the Spartans, it was a total team effort as four players had five or more rebounds. This is a testament to how much Tom Izzo preaches about winning the rebound margin.
2) Kalin Lucas - He set the tone for the game by hitting early three pointers and snapping the Spartans cold start to the game. He even hit 9 of 10 free throws which has been uncharacteristic of MSU so far this year.
3) Free Throws - The team finished 26-35 from the free throw line which calculates to 74%. What was even more impressive than these stats was that the team shot over 82% in the second half when you would think there would be more pressure on the players to convert their freebees.
4) Defense of TWalt - Travis Walton played outstanding defense on Sherron Collins today. The box score doesn't really correlate with this assessment, however, as Collins finished with 25 points.

What didn't go well for MSU:
1) Goran Suton - He continues to struggle. Throughout his last three games, he has been a liability on the defensive end. Cole Aldrich, however, is a great player and it is probably asking too much for Suton to handle him defensively. Furthermore, Goran was sick and apparently vomiting the night before. He did still manage to hit two long-range jumpers that were key in the second half.
2) Raymar Morgan - Once again, he had a game that looks good on paper with 13 points and 8 rebounds, but I didn't really even notice him out there on the court. To his credit, he hit 7-11 from the line which shows that he was trying to attack the basket, but it still seemed like he dissappeared in another big game. The difference was that instead of going solely through him for offense, Izzo opened things up and allowed Lucas to contribute with regards to scoring. All in all, I'll happily take 13 points and 8 rebounds from Morgan any day.

Why Kansas lost:
1) They ignored Cole Aldrich - In the first few minutes, it was apparent that Suton couldn't guard or score on this guy. Kansas exploited this and got off to an early lead. But, then once Lucas got hot, they got away from getting Aldrich the ball. I think this was a mistake by Bill Self as Cole Aldrich appeared like a dominate force in the paint. I would have tried to slow the game down and feed the big fella' all night.
2) Rebounding - Their strength coming into this game was rebounding, but they soon found out that collectively, the Spartans are a better rebounding team. Aldrich was the only Jayhawk with more than 3 rebounds.
3) Poor free throw shooting - The Jayhawks finished just over 60% for the game, 14% off of their average.

Summary:
The key to today's victory was obviously the play of Kalin Lucas. Without question, he dominated offensively and again provided the spark that the Spartans needed to get the win. It was nice to see Michigan State come back from such a poor start and then essentialy dictate the rest of the game. It was disappointing, though, to see them let the Jayhawks cut it to within 9 towards the end of the game. I guess I'll just be happy with the victory.

Quotes:
"They [Kansas] could have collapsed in the second half and they didn't. At the same time, you have to give us a little blame. When are we going to learn to finish games?" -Tom Izzo

That is a good question coach. I wonder that everytime that we have a big lead. I think that Coach changes how he coaches games when he gets up on teams and isn't as aggressive. Keep the pedal to the metal coach!

"He [Cole Aldrich] is a really good player, but we're not doing enough to help him out." - Kansas coach Bill Self

I agree coach. It's pretty easy to correct. Just tell your guards to get it to the big man. He's the tall white guy who camps out down in the lane. Feed him! Feed him! Thank you for not perfecting this before playing us.

Vacation - I will be leaving for Jamaica tomorrow and will not be back until Sunday, Jan 18th.
I may be able to make a quick post while on vacay, but I'm unsure. Please check back.

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Spartans Get Past the Buckeyes 67-58

Led by Kalin Lucas and his twenty points, Michigan State won its eighth consecutive game. The Spartans overcame a cold start as they missed 11 of their first 15 shots.

Player of the Game:
Kalin Lucas 20 points on 6-8 shooting.

What went well:
1) Kalin Lucas - He continued his recent domination of opponents by limiting turnovers and scoring effectively. Kalin has really stepped his game up and has done a complete 180 compared to the start of his season. Now he is truly living up to his super sophomore preseason hype.
2) Defense of Jon Deibler - Well, it probably was a combination of solid defense and his poor shooting. He came into this game extremely hot, but didn't shoot the ball well against us. He finished 2-8 from the field including 1-6 from behind the arc.
3) Three-point shooting - MSU finished 8-17 from three-point land making this the second consecutive game where they have shot better than 45% from distance. When we shoot the ball like that, we are extremely difficult to beat.
4) Rebounding - The Spartans again won the battle of the boards with a +8 advantage. Ohio State did manage to grab 11 offensive rebounds which was surprising since they rank near the bottom of the Big Ten in rebounding percentage.
5) Raymar Morgan - He had his third consecutive double-double despite poor shooting going 5-14 from the field. You can find a Drew Sharp column discussing how everything is coming together for Morgan here. Personally, I think this is way too premature. We need to see how Raymar plays against the best of the Big Ten. I also believe that the play of Lucas recently has been much more impressive than Morgan's.
6) Korie Lucious - He only played sparingly, but contributed solidly. I still believe that he is the most game ready freshman on this team. Watching him on the floor he appears that even might be a better passer than Lucas, although at this point statistics would not agree. I agree with Lavin on the idea that Izzo should try putting Lucious and Lucas on the floor at the same time. Heck, with both of those guys out there, the Spartans could really pressure the ball and force an uptempo game. Just an idea.

What didn't go well:
1) Shooting at the start of the game - Against a better team, we can't afford to get off to such a slow start. I would have liked to at least try to establish a presence inside initially. Instead, the very first shot was a three point attempt by Raymar Morgan. Eventually, however, we snapped out of our funk.
2) Goran Suton - This was his second consecutive performance where he struggled somewhat. He finished with 9 points and 9 rebounds which is respectable, but he went 2-6 from the line, made stupid fouls, and turned the ball over too much. Give credit to Dallas Lauderdale and BJ Mullens for their inside presence also. They combined for 5 official blocks, but altered many more shots than that.
3) Durrell Summers - Once again, Summers played essentially half of the game, but failed to impress. Yes, he did have three offensive rebounds which are invaluable, but he was 1-7 from the floor. I still think that he is shooting too many three pointers and needs to attack the basket more. I know he is currently shooting 48% from long distance, but I don't think that will last. Unlike Allen, he is not a pure shooter. He needs to be more like Mo Pete who could stroke it from distance, but preferred to take it to the hole if it was open. Please Summers, dunk more and shoot less.

Post Game Quotes:
"We found a way to win and that's the name of the game but I'm not sure we took a step forward today as far as getting better." - Tom Izzo

"We talked about pulling up, pulling up, pulling up and we just wanted to keep taking it in there so they could block shots."
-Tom Izzo on why he felt his gameplan didn't work

I find this second statement to be very interesting. Personally, I would prefer to attack shot blockers and force them into foul trouble. In fact, the Spartans essentially did this by forcing Lauderdale to the bench early in the first half. I would rather take my chances attacking the basket than settling for jump shots, especially in an era where athletes have not developed that mid-range game. But, he's the legendary coach and I write a blog.

That's ridiculous!
1) BJ Mullens' dunk and glare with thirty seconds left - What was this? Scoreboard you bastard! If I was Thad Matta, I would have called a time out and taken him out of the game right then just to prove a point. You can't be an idiot on national television.
2) The lame Breslin crowd - Nothing illustrated this more than when ESPN was having technical difficulties and switched to the WVU/UConn game. West Virginia's students were also on break, but their arena was loud and filled with plenty of excitement unlike the Breslin Center. From what I could see, the arena wasn't even full. Despite the poor atmosphere, the Spartans extended their home winning streak to 26 games.
3) Penn State basketball fans - Last night Penn State pulled off a shocking win over preseason Big Ten favorite Purdue in front of 4,014 people. Michigan State and North Carolina playing at Ford Field thinks this is ridiculous.
4) The Big Ten Tonight's stopwatch - The post game highlights timed how long it took Lucas to go baseline to baseline. He did it in 3.49 seconds. It wasn't exactly Tyus Edney though. No one really even guarded him. Thanks for the info though BTN.

Mailbag:
Dear SpartyBasketball,

I have a few comments regarding your review of the "Greatest Stories of Michigan State Basketball Review":

1)Greg Kelser was excited to discuss his playing career. ANY athlete would talk like he did when they remember their career, especially when he was pretty much is in Ervin’s shadow historically speaking…and Kelser was a great player.. I am not sure he “loves” himself at all. If he did love himself, you’d hear about it all the time. I’ve met him a few times and he is the most gracious person.

2) Obviously, any coach is only as good as his players. Chuck Daily would not have taken the Pistons to two championships without his “Bad Boys”. UNC wouldn’t be going to the Finals without their Studs. Izzo did take that ’05 team to the Final Four because he was a very good coach and he got his players to play at the peak of their performance. They may have gone to the Finals if Anderson hadn’t torn up his knee- remember MSU was up by 5 points against UNC at the half, but then Anderson couldn’t answer the bell.

Anyway, keep up the good work. I enjoy reading the blog. Go Green!

-Mark, unknown location

First of all, I like Greg Kelser also. I was one year old when he was in his prime so I obviously don't know him as a player. I am familiar with how good he was though. From what I see of him on television now, I can see how he could be "the most gracious person". That is exactly why I found him to be so funny during the special. I especially liked the part where he said he noticed Larry Bird was guarding him and how he knew he was going to take advantage of it. Even if they knew it was true, most people would not call out Larry Legend like that. Apparently it was Greg's time to let the world know he was a college star.

Your second point is right on. Izzo got that 2005 team to peak at the perfect time. It was amazing.

Tomorrow: More Ohio State Post Game and I'll talk briefly about Tom Izzo's substitutions.

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