Junior guard Durrell Summers shoots with Northern Iowa guard Kerwin Dunham in his face during Friday’s NCAA Tournament victory over the Panthers at Edward Jones Dome in St. Louis. Summers was the game’s top scorer with 19 total points.
St. Louis — Potential seems to be Durrell Summers’ middle name.
Every time there’s a conversation involving the No. 5-seeded Spartans’ junior guard — his abilities, his shooting, his defense or his consistency — it seems to always center on his potential.
As Summers is now in the midst of a six-game double-digit scoring NCAA Tournament streak, his potential is coming to fruition. And against a long, athletic and deep No. 6-seed Tennessee team on Sunday (2:20 ET, CBS), MSU head coach Tom Izzo said Summers is as important as ever.
“If you want to be a 20-point-a-game scorer, you get so many with your shots and you hopefully get four or so at the free throw line,” Izzo said. “And (former MSU guard Charlie Bell) used to get four to six points on just offensive rebounds. And I think Durrell has the ability to do that, and more.”
The six-foot-four guard is a freak athlete and has a rarely matched leaping ability. Because of that skill set, Izzo continues to harp on Summers’ rebounding potential. He constantly points out that Summers could be a phenomenal offensive rebounder.
“You hate the world potential but he has the potential but didn’t meet it,” Izzo said of Summers early-season struggles. “And so there’s no question I pushed Durrell to new levels, if you ask me. But it’s because I know what he has.”
Summers averages 4.6 rebounds per game. He’s scored 19.7 points per game in MSU’s three tournament games and the Spartans are 3-0 when Summers logs a double-double.
In Tennessee’s 76-73 win against No. 2-seed Ohio State on Friday, the Volunteers had 20 offensive rebounds and outrebounded the Buckeyes, 41-29. MSU, the No. 1 team in the nation for rebounding margin heading into the weekend, will face a challenge in matching Tennessee’s length and athleticism.
“As far as rebounding, coach is always telling me to be selfish in that way,” Summers said. “If you want to get baskets or something like that, just go get every rebound, on the offensive and defensive end.”
Senioritis
Last year, then-senior guard Travis Walton faced a serious sense of urgency in trying to avoid becoming the only player under Izzo to not reach a Final Four.
Although senior forward Raymar Morgan has reached his Final Four, he said he still feels that sense of urgency as his career could end any given night.
“Travis was saying something about the Final Four each day, which we really needed to get us going and push us to get there,” Morgan said.
Morgan has led MSU in scoring average in the past seven games (16 points per game). Against Northern Iowa, he was in foul trouble early and didn’t score in the first half.
Morgan said his teammates rallied around him at halftime and he came out to finish with seven points and five rebounds in the second half, including a crucial go-ahead basket with 2:19 remaining to break a 51-51 tie.
“Through every minute of every game it plays on me,” Morgan said. “Coaches did a great job and my teammates did a great job in encouraging me and telling me they needed me in the second half.”
Injury update
After playing 27 minutes Friday in what he called the worst pain of the season in his right knee, sophomore forward Delvon Roe said he was experiencing some soreness Saturday.
“I’m sore,” Roe said. “But it’s all worth it. Whenever you get a win and put yourself in a position to get to a Final Four, I would do whatever I can for that opportunity.”
After the game, Izzo said he likely would rest Roe on Saturday. Roe made no bones about his determination to play through the pain Sunday.
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Roe played a key role in MSU’s burst out of the second-half gates Friday and provided energy in some big plays. But the knee injury, he said, would have prevented him from doing so had he not been able to gather himself running the length of the floor.
“That’s just the nature of the injury that I have,” Roe said. “I’m not able to make those quick jumps. The pain is just too bad and I don’t have it in my knee to do that. But if I had the momentum to run into it, it feels normal. The doctors have already told me it can’t get worse. I just have to go out there — if you can tolerate the pain, you should be fine.”
