Ball screens, communication give Spartans fits

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The MSU men’s basketball team struggled defensively off ball screens and it cost them another game Tuesday, as the No. 10 Spartans lost to No. 6 Purdue, 76-64, at Breslin Center.

The Spartans have struggled with ball screens the past two games, at Wisconsin and Illinois, which led to several 3-point baskets. Tuesday was the second straight game the Spartans gave up a key 3-pointer late in the game after cutting the opponent’s lead to one possession.

Tuesday, after Purdue used a ball screen up high, MSU defenders would mix up their coverage, leading Purdue to hit wide-open jump shots or dish off to a wide open Boilermaker down low.

“Ball screens are very important. I think it’s a tough thing to defend, that’s why you see a lot of college teams really using ball screens,” Purdue head coach Matt Painter said. “We tried to get a lot of screening action. They, obviously, switch with their guard and switch with their bigs so we tried to play off that, we tried to use that to help us, sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn’t.”

Junior guard Chris Allen said Purdue’s screens were different than what MSU had practiced against and, coupled with communication problems, they gave the Spartans fits.

“The stuff that we were supposed to do, we were doing it, but they just moved a little bit different,” Allen said. “Now we’re supposed to do (something else) but it’s not working. What we thought was going to work wasn’t working so we had to switch up in the middle of the game and it’s kind of hard because guys get fatigued.”

Summers absent

There was a key member of the Spartans missing in the second half. Junior guard Durrell Summers didn’t see the floor after playing 16 minutes in the first half. He scored two points in the first half.

Izzo often has questioned Summers’ defense this season.

“I just tried to play the guys I thought had the best chance to win, that’s all,” Izzo said.

Allen and junior guard Kalin Lucas wouldn’t comment on the situation. Lucas only would say the issue was between Summers and Izzo.

Allen lights it up again

In a game that didn’t have many bright spots for the Spartans, Allen was one of the few Spartans who appeared to be on his game. Early on, Allen scored eight of MSU’s first 10 points before being taken out.

Allen scored 12 first-half points, finishing the game with a team-high 21. Tuesday’s 21-point performance comes after Allen scored 15 at Illinois on Saturday.

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