Izzo hopes distractions done for MSU

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During his team’s three-game losing streak, Tom Izzo was looking for some resiliency and a rallying cry from his players.

The MSU men’s basketball head coach thinks he found it during Saturday’s 65-54 win against Penn State, and a key reason was junior guard Mike Kebler’s defensive performance on Penn State guard Talor Battle.

“I think Mike did a great job coming off the bench, a great job defensively,” Izzo said Monday at his weekly press conference. “But what made it even better was the way our guys did rally around him. From (junior guard Kalin Lucas) to (junior guard Durrell Summers), (sophomore forward Draymond Green) of course, but there were a lot of guys that really supported him and that’s kind of what happens sometimes when you have issues.”

Izzo said he’s had to deal with more distractions this season than he has in a long time. From the inconsistent play of Summers and senior forward Raymar Morgan to the recent one-game suspension of sophomore guard Korie Lucious, Izzo said the distractions have hurt his team.

“We have had a few more distractions this year,” Izzo said. “It’s something that I haven’t been real pleased with and I think it’s hurt our growth as a team, and I’m hoping now that we’re putting most of it behind us.”

Izzo did say he believes Summers is about to take a big step forward in the next few games and he senses this adversity is bringing the team closer together.

“I don’t think distractions ever bring you together, but adversity does,” Izzo said. “For us right now, in at least that one game, I felt on the bench and in the locker room that, definitely, we took a step in the right direction.”

Green slumping

After a 17-point, 16-rebound performance against Illinois on Feb. 6, Green has gone into an offensive slump of sorts.

Green shot 1-for-13 against Purdue the following game and shot 0-for-7 at Penn State on Saturday, scoring a total of eight points on the week.

But Izzo said he’s not worried at all about Green’s recent scoring woes.

“I think people are alarmed by his 1-for-20 shooting, but remember, Draymond Green gets a lot of tips,” Izzo said. “Those tips count as shots, rightfully so, but I mean, he missed a couple of good shots, he missed quite a few tips where he just was going after the ball. I’ll bet that of those 20 shots, eight of them were tips. He still had eight rebounds and five or six assists. (Green), I’m not worried about. A couple of the other guys I still have some concerns with.”

To his credit, Green hasn’t let his scoring drought affect the rest of his game. He had 15 rebounds and seven assists in the past two games combined and still leads the Big Ten in rebounding in conference games (8.2 per game).

“I’m not in a big slump right now but I’m just in here, working every day, constantly working on my shot,” Green said. “I think it’s more mental than physical and it starts to get in your head when you can’t hit shots, but just keep on taking them and not just because I’m missing them, stop taking them.”

Lucious returns

After a one-game suspension, Izzo shed light on why Lucious did not travel to Penn State Saturday.

Izzo referred to missing classes as a violation of team policy but said Lucious still is practicing and will travel with the team to Bloomington, Ind., for Tuesday’s game against the Hoosiers.

“There was an extra emphasis put on last week after losing to Purdue and knowing it was snowing out,” Izzo said. “I said, ‘Make sure we act more like Yoopers than we do Southerners and I don’t really give a damn how much snow we got … take care of the things we have to do.’ He didn’t, so there are consequences, but, as we do with everybody, the consequences are paid and then you move on.

“He’ll be traveling (today) and he’s been practicing the whole time and hopefully he’ll grow up.”

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