Izzo accepts blame for early season woes
Freshman forward Delvon Roe fights for possession against North Carolina forward Deon Thompson Wednesday at Ford Field in Detroit.
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MSU men’s basketball head coach Tom Izzo has repeatedly said he will play any team anywhere at anytime.
But after an NBA-like four-games-in-seven-days stretch against teams that all have legitimate shots making the NCAA Tournament, Izzo admitted he was the one to blame following Wednesday night’s 98-63 loss to No. 1 North Carolina at Ford Field.
Izzo didn’t deflect total credit from 8-0 North Carolina — which has won its games by an average of 30 points — but admitted that he knew 45 minutes into Monday’s practice that the Spartans (4-2) would be in for a world of hurt against the Tar Heels.
“The second part of it is not credit to North Carolina, but blame to me on the scheduling,” Izzo said. “I know it will sound like it’s an excuse, but we were just dead. We had no legs.”
North Carolina head coach Roy Williams, who took the podium for the postgame press conference before Izzo, agreed with Izzo that the Spartans “seemed to lose their legs a little bit.”
Despite holding MSU to 35 percent shooting from the field — including 20 percent in the second half — Williams said that was in “no way” because of his team’s defense.
Sophomore guards Kalin Lucas and Chris Allen and senior forward Marquise Gray all agreed that fatigue played a key role in the game’s outcome, especially in the second half.
“With this many games back-to-back-to-back in this stretch, we hung in there in the first half but in the second half we ran out of gas; we couldn’t hit shots and that was evident,” said Gray, who was held scoreless while battling foul trouble. “We had good shots and wide-open looks, but kept missing and missing layups.”
The Spartans made only seven shots and scored just 24 points in the second half, allowing the Tar Heels to go up by 30 points with 7:54 remaining in the game.
After a 35-point throttling on national TV, the question for the Spartans now is simple: Following two disappointing losses and the loss of senior center Goran Suton for two-to-four weeks following arthroscopic surgery on his left knee, where does MSU go from here?
“We go up, we’re Michigan State, we’re not going to drop our head one bit and I’m the captain of this team and nobody will drop their heads,” senior guard Travis Walton said. “We’re going to regroup, we’re going to get better — everybody’s against us right now — but we’re going to get better, we’re going to work hard and you will see a different team.
“By the end of Christmas we will be a different team. Guaranteed.”
Commentary
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Brian
(12/04/08 11:39pm)Report
I thought MSU looked strong against Carolina Blue in the first half. MSU clearly were close in matching NC’s athleticism, I just think the first half really boiled down to too many turnovers on our part. The second half, clearly, we were not our our game, as MSU’s shooting was ice cold. My impression while watching the game was that MSU became demoralized as the second half progressed, but in reading the article, it does make sense that we were most likely tired given the scheduling. Watching the first half, I definitely believe MSU will be a strong team to contend with when they get their new guys some more playing time and play at full strength. As for Carolina Blue, they are clearly a bunch of semi-pro animals that will probably walk over everyone this season. They are stacked with 9 McDonald’s All Americans.
Justin
(12/05/08 12:17am)Report
I agree with most of what you said. I thought in the first half State looked like they could match North Carolina’s athleticism but turnovers and too few defensive stops held any momentum for the Spartans in-check. I think that by the end of the season, with Goran Suton and the rest of the team healthy, that MSU will be a team to talk about for the NCAA Tournament. How serious the discussions of MSU and Sweet Sixteen, Elite Eight, etc. will obviously depend on how well they limit turnovers and defend. They have the skill to be a very good team, but great teams don’t turn the ball over as much as these Spartans have (I don’t know how many turnovers UNC had but probably not too many). They also need some guys to step up and start hitting some more three pointers.
Joe
(12/05/08 9:38am)Report
Kalin Lucas looked exhausted, especially when he was trying to keep up with Lawson. Chris Allen looks like he might have found his shot again and Raymar needs to remain consistent. Once Roe and Suton get back to 100%, we’ll be very strong contenders for both the Big Ten and NCAA Championships. Our young guys will find their roles and our chemistry will improve. We definately have the athleticism to match up with just about everyone. UNC doesn’t count, they’re the NBA’s newest expansion team.
Chi-Town Spartan
(12/05/08 9:53am)Report
Watching this team against North Carolina it was obvious that this team has a ton of a talent. They were obviously tired and couldn’t stick with North Carolina in the end (reminded me of a certain final four game a few years back). This team is going to be incredibly good as the season continues though. Nobody is going to beat North Carolina, everyone else in the country is playing for second place.