Gallery: Men's basketbal...
The State News
MSU men’s basketball head coach Tom Izzo calls to his players during the first half against Pittsburgh Saturday night. The 65-54 victory to the Panthers makes the Spartans’ record 27-8.
The State News
Senior guard Drew Neitzel goes for a layup against Pittsburgh forward Sam Young in the second half of Saturday’s game.
Audio: Drew Neitzel — Defense and shooting
Audio: Kalin Lucas — Finding shots
Audio: Travis Walton — Victory
Audio: Goran Suton — 10-point lead
Audio: Tom Izzo — Going to Sweet 16
Possibly related:
Izzo's 1999 team set standard
Izzo proud of Sunday's defensive effort
Sunday not 'Super' for distraught Izzo
Izzo accepts blame for early season woes
Will Izzo leave for Bulls, NBA? Don't bet on it
Izzo proud of Sunday's defensive effort
Sunday not 'Super' for distraught Izzo
Izzo accepts blame for early season woes
Will Izzo leave for Bulls, NBA? Don't bet on it
Izzo accepts blame for early season woes
Will Izzo leave for Bulls, NBA? Don't bet on it
The Izzo effect
Izzo's immense scouting, preparation lead MSU to tournament success
Denver — And now it’s off to the Sweet 16 — a place MSU men’s basketball coach Tom Izzo has been seven times in the past 11 years.
But what separates this year’s Spartans from the other six is their ability to hit the playbooks — not just their own, but their opponent’s as well.
“This group of guys is driven and I’m proud of the preparation they did before this game,” Izzo said after the Spartans beat Pittsburgh 65-54 Saturday. “And I can’t tell you how good of a job my staff did. We got a lot done in the 20-minute film sessions we had.”
No matter who was asked the question, every MSU player credited the same source for the victory.
“The coaches prepared us, (they packaged) the scouting report — we got the win and it helped us,” freshman guard Kalin Lucas said. “The coaches know what they are doing and it shows.”
Izzo has extended his NCAA Tournament second-round record to 12-2 while his squad held its 19th opponent of the year under 40 percent shooting, at 32.7.
“That’s just another reason to credit our coaches with the two-day preparation,” junior guard Travis Walton said. “We did a great job sagging in on the gaps. It was a team effort, both players and coaches.”
MSU currently holds the Big Ten record for longest active streak of making the NCAA Tournament with 11 consecutive years and is fifth in the nation behind Arizona (24), Kansas (19), Kentucky (17) and Duke (13).
“We’re playing aggressive, we’re attacking and playing great defense,” sophomore forward Raymar Morgan said. “Right now, we’re really confident.”
How they Drew it up
He never says die.
When senior guard Drew Neitzel missed his first seven of 10 shots Thursday against Temple, he didn’t feel sorry for himself and pass up open shots for the rest of the game.
That’s not how Neitzel was raised and that’s not how he plays the game — he competes without regrets, he said.
“It doesn’t matter if I miss five or 10 shots in a row — I have to keep shooting,” Neitzel said. “My teammates have my back and always encourage me to keep shooting.”
Neitzel finished Saturday’s game against Pittsburgh with 21 points on 6-for-13 shooting, including three back-to-back-to-back buckets in just over two minutes late in the contest.
He is averaging 20 points in his last four games and has nailed 16 3-pointers in that stretch.
“Drew is a big-time shot guy,” Walton said. “He came through for us last year and he’s been coming through for us this year. He’s gonna find a way to step up for us. Today he stepped up and knocked down shots for us. Big-time players will step up and hit big-time shots and that’s what he did.”
And Izzo isn’t changing his mentality toward the success of his team.
“Even back in December I said, ‘don’t kid yourself, we need him — he’s the guy,’” Izzo said. “It’s been a little bit of a tougher year with everybody defending him but the way he responded is awesome. He’s the All-American boy that good things are happening (to). We’re going to go as far as he takes us.”
Fresh-legged freshmen
It hasn’t been a burden when they’re checked into the game — it’s been golden.
In their first two NCAA Tournament games, the freshman guard trio of Lucas, Durrell Summers and Chris Allen have averaged 25 points a game.
Postseason jitters — forget about it.
“I’m not getting nervous, I’m ready for it.” said Lucas, who finished Saturday’s contest with 19 points. “I’m ready to compete and go out there and give it my all. Whatever I do, if it’s basketball or whatever, it is just go out there and give 100 percent.”
And what has helped the freshmen gain such a sense of maturity so soon is the experience found in those standing right next to them.
“Just talking to all the upperclassmen — they tell us how the game is and how intense it’s going to be,” Allen said. “The Drews, Travis Walton, all the guys that have been there just tell us how it is.”
Published on Sunday, March 23, 2008
Comments
Tom A
03/23/08 @ 12:48am
GO GREEN!!!
Dean
03/23/08 @ 1:01am
GO WHITE!!
SoCal Spartan
03/23/08 @ 1:05am
GO SPARTANS!!!!
Seattle Spartan
03/23/08 @ 1:18am
Go State!
Julius holmes
03/23/08 @ 1:44am
WOW!!! I’ve criticized this team all year long. Ive talked about SUTON AND GRAY...SO TODAY I WOULD JUST LIKE TO SAY GORAN SUTON WAS AWESOME. All he needed was the heart. SUTON WAS AMAZING. I didn’t think state could make a run, but hey im glad they proved me wrong. If this run to the sweet sixteen is any indicator of how good we will be next year, ive got to say im definitely looking forward to the future. PITT got all the foul calls and out shot us at the line but we still managed to win. KALIN LUCAS WAS AWESOME!!!!! We didn’t pick up cheap fouls and we played great defense. I really hate how classless Jamie Dixon was at the end of the game. HE was crying to the refs all game, when they were getting all the calls. I especially hate how state always gets shafted when we upset someone. The major channels never want to show our highlights but will show duke getting handeled. No one ever wants to give us credit.
Reason
03/23/08 @ 2:27am
Holmes: Jamie Dixon did an excellent job tonight. Don’t think for a second that Izzo wouldn’t have been barking at the refs as much as Dixon was if there were calls against us that were as questionable as the ones tonight that went in our favor. For once, we got several calls down the stretch in our favor.
That said, Pitt outshot us at the foul line by a very large margin, and we still managed to get the win, something that we haven’t seemed to be able to do all season. Neitzel showed up tonight, and Kalin and Suton were both phenomenal. If we play the way we did tonight, Memphis (presumably) is in for one hell of a fight next week.
JMCink
03/23/08 @ 5:05am
Ibok needs a pat on the back. While he his play was not always perfect, his defensive presence bought desperately needed time for the team after Naymick picked up his second foul.
Rick
03/23/08 @ 9:22am
Heart! Thats all I can say, something this team did not show on a consistent basis. Watching this team play in the tournament has been amazing. Not one player has taken a play off and that is what we needed all year. If we keep playing with this determination we’ll give any team a hell of a fight. GO GREEN!!!
Go Green!
03/23/08 @ 9:59am
What a great game! I was happy to see the whole team step up and play aggressive! Congrats to Kalin Lucas, Goran Suton, and Drew Neitzel on an especially impressive game!
SoCal Spartan
03/23/08 @ 10:53am
Bold Text Fight, fight, fight team FIGHT!
SoCal Spartan
03/23/08 @ 10:54am
Victory for MSU
StateFaninDc
03/23/08 @ 11:27am
Watching the spartens Win was awesome..GO GREEN
AAA
03/23/08 @ 12:28pm
I couldn’t believe how many fellow Spartans were in Denver this weekend. It was crazy!It really shows something about MSU.
Go State!
Space Ship Repairman
03/23/08 @ 8:49pm
^AAA, Spartans are everywhere. It’s part of the reason why our teams “travel well” in bowls and post season games. Prestigious universities tend to be that way; I think it’s Spartans who don’t always think well enough of MSU academically.
SoCal Spartan
03/23/08 @ 11:15pm
Michigan State University has SO MANY world renowned programs. Quick list of the ones I know, Supply Chain Management, Packaging (#1), Theoretical Physics, Education, and more.
People come here from across the world, not just country! We are spread all over the place and I am in love with our sports. Gridiron is developing into something, Icers are once again in the tourney, Basketball is one of the nations most elite, and is continuing to improve, etc.
Although we’ve got some shady athletes, we’ve got our guys/girls held up to high academic standards. That’s because they’re MORE then just athletes, ask Jim Harbaugh about that with regards to the Wolverines.
We are one of the best Universities with the highest standards in teh WORLD!
Bleed Green
03/24/08 @ 9:08am
(psst…not to split hairs, SoCal, but it’s “fight, fight, RAH team, fight!” Sorry, not trying to be a pest…this time! :P)
wow
03/24/08 @ 9:53am
you guys are unbelievable. (im looking in your direction, holmes). i’ve watched many of you on this board all year ripping these players, and as soon as the heart and toughness that they’ve HAD ALL YEAR (yes, they’ve had it, you can’t turn something like that on and off like a faucet), starts to really shine… you’re all on here acting like you’ve been supporting them all along.
i’m not saying don’t cheer for them when they do well. but remember, these are kids, and next time the team and the coach are going through a rough spot, instead of calling out some players (2 in particular) as being “soft and needing to go,” how about giving some support?
there were people on this board calling for izzo’s head 3 weeks ago.
support your program, people. they’ll always come around.
DJ COATRACK
03/24/08 @ 11:14am
Just keep playing defense team… I’m a realist and this the real thing (is that a Coke commercial?) anyway, I’m still not about to jump on the Goran bandwagon, but the kid finally is playing the way Izzo has tired to teach him. LOW TO HIGH. All of a sudden he has a baby hook and some post game????I love it, but he still needs to make all of the bunnies. My goal for Suton next year is this, “your roommate is T Walton and he will not be the guy you go to to improve your shot, but he can push you in the weightroom G. Start doing some squats and all those layups you bank in(and sometimes boink) will turn into dunks and crowd ignitors”
Cannot wait til Friday night. I already have a stool at the local pub on lock down. I’ll hold in down in FLA, you boys hold it up in HOU.....GO GREEN
SoCal Spartan
03/24/08 @ 12:54pm
Thanks for the correction, I joined the Spartans at a later age…so I was not in the crowd of students. No Izzone for my fogey self, at the football it was family tickets.
Regardless, let’s show the nation that Spartans are welcome in the Elite Eight, Go GREEN!
Bleed Green
03/24/08 @ 1:14pm
GO WHITE!
willis watkins
03/24/08 @ 3:45pm
It seems that during the last critical moments,when State has the shot clock under 15 seconds, Izzo calls a time out, especially if State is behind. It doesn’t matter what the situation is. State then has a problem getting the ball in play and almost always turns the ball over to the other team. I’ve seen this happen over the years and the Wisconsin game is a good example. Everyone knew Drew Neitzel was supposed to get the ball even the man guarding hiim so he overplayed him and intercepted the pass, again. Someone please tell me why Izzo continues to make the same mistake over and over. OK, I know Drew has the best channce of making the shot but this move is too predictable, and the State opponents usually deny him the ball. This cost the Spartans games in the past. This needs attenmtion.
willis watkins is an idiot
03/25/08 @ 1:01pm
Willis you clearly don’t know your stuff. MSU scores a bucket on 79% of plays run out of timeouts, a higher % then any other team in the country, so quit hating.
And BTW we are going to beat memphis for the following three reasons:
1. They aren’t deep (sure their stats will tell you that 10 guys average 10minutes or more, but thats cause usually memphis is being UAB-where are they from?-by 30 at halftime and the scrubs play the rest of the game.) in close games they only play 6….to the Spartans 10
2. They score the majority of their baskets in transition and on the fast break, they aren’t a great half court team, and the Spartans are fast enough to keep up with them.
3. They aint tuff, they play run n gun ball, its the spread offense meeting smash mouth and regardless of what you saw in the 2007 BCS championship game (fla vs. osu) once memphis gets PUNCHED RIGHT IN THE MUSTACHE they ain’t getting up again.
This one will be as easy as Pitt was folks (double digit win for the GREEN at the end)....I’m more worried about Texas, UCLA and UNC.......