Lucas shows grit, heart in loss

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Funny, the effect ankle injuries have on star MSU point guards.

Ten years ago, a young man named Mateen Cleaves hobbled out of the locker room on a big stage to lead the MSU men’s basketball team to what would become one of the program’s most signature of victories.

On Tuesday night, it was a different point guard, a different captain trying to will the MSU men’s basketball team to another inspirational and signature win.

The Spartans’ unfortunate outcome — a miserable 76-64 loss to No. 6 Purdue, the Spartans’ first defeat at Breslin Center this year — should not take away from the likely comparison and the heroic effort seen from the program’s latest Spartan warrior.

It was junior guard Kalin Lucas playing with what head coach Tom Izzo called “one and a half legs,” gutting it out with a sprained right ankle that had prohibited the leading scorer from practicing with the team since he injured it last Tuesday against Wisconsin.

Lucas didn’t start, but he played 29 minutes. He still had the Spartans’ second-highest point total of the game with 12 and reached the free throw line 11 times. He was instrumental in trimming Purdue’s lead from 18 to three.

But by the end of the second half, MSU head coach Tom Izzo was sending in reinforcements for defensive possessions as Lucas visibly winced heading up and down the floor.

And it was clear Lucas just didn’t have the juice he operated with in game-winning performances against Minnesota and Michigan.

Still, it was the kind of effort captains and leaders of this notoriously gritty program are known for. It’s the stuff that will take a player’s number off his back to be hung in the rafters.

“I kept asking him if he wanted to come out and he kept saying he wanted to play,” Izzo said. “If I had more guys with his heart, we’d be real good.”

In comparison, things were different for Lucas and the Spartans on Tuesday night than they were for Cleaves and those national champions.

Lucas didn’t get any help from his teammates against the Boilermakers. Sophomore forward Draymond Green, a spark plug in Lucas’ absence against Illinois, had an uncharacteristically cold shooting night. Senior forward Raymar Morgan was stymied by Purdue’s talented frontcourt. Flashy wing man Durrell Summers spent less time on the floor than the MSU Dance Team.

And in the end, the deficit was too much and proved to be insurmountable.

Cleaves’ valiant effort came in the last game of his fabled career. He left it all on the floor and didn’t need anything else in the tank. He was a senior with his story written. It was simply the icing on the cake.

Lucas is just starting to heal from his injury. He’s got a long way to go in a journey that could land him among not only one of MSU’s best scorers, but now one of the program’s best leaders. Tuesday night might have opened up an entirely different world for Lucas to be the next
great Spartan.

The beginning of that story has only just begun.

Joey Nowak is a State News men’s basketball reporter. Reach him at nowakjo2@msu.edu.

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