A Spartan rebound
MSU dominates glass, gets crucial victory over Purdue
Senior forward Raymar Morgan drives past Purdue guard Chris Kramer to reach the net in the second half of the game in Mackey Arena. Morgan had 16 total points and 11 rebounds at the end of the game, adding to the Spartans’ 53-44 victory over the Boilermakers.
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West Lafayette, Ind. —
Derrick Nix knew it was going to happen.
The freshman center wasn’t surprised that No. 14 MSU was able to defeat No. 3 Purdue, 53-44, Sunday afternoon at Mackey Arena.
“I knew we were going to win,” he said. “I was telling people before we played them. I was messing with their manager in the layup line saying, ‘We’re going to beat you.’ I just knew we were going to win.”
Nix was one of several contributors as the Spartans (22-7 overall, 12-4 Big Ten) moved into a three-way tie in the loss column Sunday in the Big Ten standings with Purdue (24-4 overall, 12-4 Big Ten) and Ohio State (23-7, 13-4).
If the Spartans win their final two regular season games against Penn State and Michigan, they will earn at least a share of the Big Ten title.
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MSU was led by much-maligned senior forward Raymar Morgan, who scored a game-high 16 points and grabbed 11 rebounds.
Without starting forward Robbie Hummel, who will miss the rest of the regular season with a torn anterior cruciate ligament, the Boilermakers were unable to find an offensive flow, matched with an increased intensity on the defense end by MSU.
“I thought Michigan State, with one fewer skilled guy (for us), really forced some guys to make an open shot,” Purdue head coach Matt Painter said. “There’s no question when you take a skilled guy out of the lineup and you don’t have the same skill, you’re going to be able to give more attention to (guard E’Twaun Moore) and (forward JuJuan Johnson).”
The Spartans held Purdue to 30 percent shooting from the field. Moore led the Boilermakers with 12 points while Johnson scored 11.
For the Spartans, it was the signature win that men’s basketball head coach Tom Izzo was looking for.
“The only good thing for us to me was it was kind of a tournament win,” he said. “It was just a knock-down, drag-out (game).”
After being outrebounded 31-30 when these teams met Feb. 9, the Spartans took it upon themselves to grab every rebound — and they almost did. The Spartans outrebounded the Boilermakers 46-20.
“(Assistant coach Mike Garland) has been stressing it all week and we’ve been crashing the boards crazy with War Drills all this week and I think it just paid off,” Morgan said. “We worked at it so hard this whole week, it was ridiculous so I’m not surprised.”
The Spartans got into foul trouble before the game even started, it seemed. MSU committed five fouls in the first five minutes and Purdue went into the bonus with nearly 14 minutes still to play in the half.
After MSU was able to calm down and take a lead, the Spartans’ turnover problem began to rear its ugly head again, and as MSU wasted possessions, the Boilermakers made theirs count. Purdue finished the half on a 12-4 run highlighted by two steals and breakaway layups by Purdue guard Chris Kramer. The teams went into the locker room at halftime with Purdue leading 28-26.
As the second half began, the Spartans went back to what was successful for them in the first half: playing in the paint. MSU went on a 6-0 run to start the half with all three buckets coming inside the paint.
The Spartans finished with 25 points in the paint compared to 15 by Purdue.
“We knew we would have the advantage if we went inside, and I felt that every time we went inside, something good happened,” sophomore forward Draymond Green said. “I kept telling the coaches to give me the ball and I made something out of it.”
Green finished with 12 points and 11 rebounds for his sixth double-double of the season.
The Boilermakers cut the Spartans’ lead to 42-38 with less than nine minutes to play and Mackey Arena was buzzing. But while the Spartans’ guards had turnover issues, Green took over the team and scored eight consecutive points for MSU. In one sequence, he missed two layups but grabbed two offensive rebounds and finally put the ball in to give MSU a 50-44 lead with 1:25 to play.
A 3-point shot by Moore rimmed out with one minute to play and an alley-oop dunk by Morgan finished it off.
The Spartans finish the Big Ten season 7-2 on the road and are playing the tough basketball for which Izzo’s teams are known.
“It was the prettiest ugly win I’ve ever had or the ugliest pretty win I’ve ever had,” Izzo said.
Commentary
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JDMSU
(02/28/10 6:40pm)Report
RM finally woke up…Good Win guys, now finish the season out with Wins….
Bill
(02/28/10 8:29pm)Report
First off, Great Win. We really got those guys back for what they did to us at Breslin. Two things however worry me. 1) The lack of discipline when not taking care of the basketball is really starting to become apparent. If these guys are serious about actually competing in the NCAA Tourney or even have a shot at winning the Big Ten Tourney, they have to utilize their other team mates and distribute/handle the rock more efficiently and with better care. 2) I know Raymar is a great statistic. He mostly ends up doing well scoring for the team and that is good. But I still do not like his attitude and I think he is not doing a good enough job getting his teammates involved during the game. To me, it seems like many times he is just playing for himself and not his team. In my opinion, if he wants to win over more people (like me), he’ll show more heart and not cry like a baby whenever something doesn’t go his way. Just shut up and play ball Ray.
Sloppy Game
(02/28/10 9:10pm)Report
We only won because Purdue’s #1 player is out… otherwise if Hummel were to be in the game, we would of gotten lit up. Can’t play like this in the tournament.
Not a big win
(02/28/10 9:18pm)Report
People you forget this isn’t the same Purdue team that beat us at home. We beat a Purdue team who is missing its “Michael Jordan”. Actually this game worried me a lot. We aren’t as good as we think we are, I doubt we make it past the sweet 16.
alum2000
(02/28/10 9:24pm)Report
They may have been missing Hummel, but they’ve still got a couple of all-stars on the floor. They have to watch the turnovers, but the great thing to take from this game was the solid defense for 40 minutes and the outstanding rebounding performance. And Morgan actually worked for most of the game! Now they just need to finish it out to get a piece of the crown.
Not a satisfying win
(02/28/10 9:32pm)Report
This win isn’t satisfying. We played awful and no Hummel means we really didn’t play the same team at beat us at Breslin. We did not get them back for beating us at home, more like we played a team who lost a star and now we can take advantage type of win.
Road Dog
(02/28/10 9:46pm)Report
Any info on Summers’ condition?
???
(02/28/10 10:17pm)Report
Not a satisfying win? Yea, your SO right. Maybe when coach Izzo holds practice tomorrow, you can tell him that one! Or maybe we should put an asterisk next to it when we win the Big 10 because you think we shouldn’t have won that game. What a stupid thing to say. A win is a win pal. Try adding that one to your repertoire, people find that much more positive.
A WIN IS A WIN!
(02/28/10 11:20pm)Report
A win is a win regardless of how shitty we played. Yes they we’re missing Hummel but that wasn’t the reason we out-rebounded them 46-20. Nor is it the reason that Moore and Johnson shot a combined 7-27. Despite the sloppy ball handling and numerous turnover, we beat a higher ranked team on their own court. That is a GOOD win
Sparty Alum 2004
(03/01/10 12:11am)Report
i agree, this win would feel better if we beat them with Hummel playing. Watched this game at a MSU bar in Chicago, normally the bar would be going crazy after a win not to mention a win over the #3 team in country on their own court, but no one really seemed to care about the win… everyone knew we beat team Purdue Minus Hummel, not Purdue.
Fair weather fans
(03/01/10 12:26am)Report
Do you guys hear wisconsin or illinois’s fans complaining about a win over michigan state when kalin lucas was out? NO!!
Don’t take anything away from our guys they fought hard. Izzo neutralized johnson by making him guard a larger post player in NIX!! HIGHLY EFFECTIVE!!!!
Then lets not take away from morgan’s great game, or discount the fact that GREEN played over eight minutes with 4 fouls and was highly effective down the stretch without fouling out.
A WIN IS A WIN…you guys would be complaining about the lack of heart we had if we would have walked into mackey and lost. No hummel has nothing to do with how poor they shot or how they got murdered on the boards. GIVE THE SPARTANS CREDIT.
Lastly…i think all you guys need to stop looking at jerseys and see that this years championship is still up in the air and can be won. All this crying about a signature win…what if we would have beaten unc, or texas, then what? These teams are all but finished and have fallen out of the top 25 rankings.Even though we lost to them we found a way to salvage our season and stay in the rankings, while they have all but given up. Texas was even ranked number 1 in the country and have struggled down the strech. SO if msu sucks so bad y are we still ranked? Credit purdue’s on ball defense. We need to keep the turnovers down. Its all mental. While we turned the ball over alot, we also made them turn it over. Ugly game, but we won..
student
(03/01/10 12:56am)Report
Spartans,
Don’t be fooled by these pseudo-Spartans. Those are wolvies reflecting their low value on others.
GO GREEN!!! GO WHITE!!!
Joshua Vincent
(03/01/10 1:05am)Report
Go Green!
Go White!
Go Spartan Basketball!!!
REALLY?
(03/01/10 8:16am)Report
Hummel is their Michael Jordan? HAHAHAHAHA Not by a long shot. Was it a good win? Yes. Did we play well? Not Really. Is it something to build on? In the words of Sister Sarah – Youbetcha
But to say they didn’t have their Michael Jordan is just stupid. When you think of Purdue you think of E’twuan Moore not Robbie Hummel.
Sloppy Win
(03/01/10 9:27am)Report
I agree it was a sloppy win, but I have to agree with everyone else…it’s a win. We didn’t get any sympath with Kalin out. I do however feeel that we could be in trouble if we can’t get the TO’s under control. We’ve been outrebounded lately, so to see us dominate on the boards shows the coaches are working hard along with the players. We have yet to play a game where we are running on all cylinders, but when we do….watch out!
My biggest takeaway from this game has to be the play of Derrik Nix. He played great defense, made some nice post moves, and made his lone free throw!! Very impressed with him. Looking for more of the same in the futre. Lets finish strong MSU!
JDMSU
(03/01/10 9:51am)Report
Hummel doesn’t even lead Purdue in any categories…Give MSU credit for coming out early and finally staying on top…But yes I agree that maybe they need to work on holding onto the ball in practice this week….
A Win's a Win
(03/01/10 10:28am)Report
It’s a win; no asterisk will be involved. We could have played better, but I’ll take it. If you wanna get technical, Lucas was hurt when we played the first time.
Also, whoever said Hummel is the Jordan of Purdue is an idiot. He’s awesome, don’t get me wrong, but I think you’re forgetting the National Player of the Year Candidate on their team.
Regardless, GO GREEN GO WHITE
Chris
(03/01/10 10:29am)Report
it was an ugly win, but at least they won. how many times this year have we had a winnable game and turned it over like crazy and lost (texas, unc, florida, illinois). the big men played very well. hopefully that keeps up and the aliens who abducted lucas bring him back to us ;)
MSU Chicago
(03/01/10 12:12pm)Report
A win is a win, no matter how ugly. Lucas needs to pull his head out of his ass or sit on the bench. Its like his girl has been playing mind games with him for months and he doesnt know how to break it off type of crap. Yeah your ankle was hurt and yes you may not be 100% but that doesnt give an excuse to play this bad. Without a floor leader Spartans will not make it back to the Final Four.
MSU Chicago
(03/01/10 12:15pm)Report
Dear Mr. Izzo,
Nixs is working hard to be productive. Give the big man a chance. He has decent hands and can make most layups. At least leave him in long eough to get in foul trouble. Keep Sherman on the bench.
Thanks.
Izzone Alum
(03/01/10 2:57pm)Report
Yes I agree that a win is a win but what I think everyone is forgetting is that WE ARENT ANY GOOD… If you ask me it takes a ‘real’ fan to be a realist about his team rather than blindly follow their God/Allah Tom Izzo.
alum
(03/01/10 4:08pm)Report
2 home games away from a bigten championship. this team is highly flawed BUT we win games. I am very grateful for that. look at texas, unc, ucla….look at uconn, louisville and pitt. MSU is consistent, it would suck to be at the top of the mountain one year and fall of the face of the earth then next.
.
(03/01/10 7:25pm)Report
it was a good win, not perfect. Our ball handling was god awful. But our rebounding, that’s how we want it done.
E'twaun Moore? Really?
(03/01/10 8:25pm)Report
This comment is to REALLY? Definitely don’t think of E’twaun Moore when I think of Purdue basketball. I think of Robbie Hummel. Both are good but Hummel makes them better. If Moore would have been out yesterday instead of Hummel, I think Purdue would have won.
alum
(03/01/10 9:14pm)Report
well yea purdue wasn’t short on guards, they lost half of their depth in the front court…..