Hope still exists for MSU men’s basketball team

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Saturday night’s 61-57 win over Illinois wasn’t enough to take the MSU men’s basketball team off the bubble or make the Spartans a lock for the NCAA Tournament.

However, it was enough to make that bubble a little bit stronger and subdue — at least for now — the thought of MSU (15-11 overall, 7-7 Big Ten) missing its first big dance in 14 years.

It was a win that sorely was needed, especially with a tough road game at Minnesota coming up Tuesday followed by a home game against No. 10 Purdue, which recently beat No. 3 Ohio State on Sunday. Most importantly, it was another win for a team that could use as many victories as possible as it tries to improve its tournament résumé.

With ESPN’s College GameDay in town, Breslin Center was filled with a raucous crowd all morning for the weekly show and when the two teams took the floor later Saturday night, head coach Tom Izzo said the intensity of the players, coaches and fans made it feel like a tournament atmosphere. And really, for all intents and purposes, that’s exactly what it was.

Lose, and the Spartans’ tournament outlook would have appeared to be at its bleakest. Win, though, and it’s one step closer to March Madness for Izzo and MSU.

So that’s how the Spartans played Saturday. They came out with the same mindset as if it was the first round of a single-elimination tournament and one loss meant the end.

In fact, despite the loss to OSU last week, that’s the way MSU has played for the last three games ­— and probably for the first time all season. When it seemed the Spartans were headed for a much-earlier-than-usual end to the season, they started playing like they never were going to play another game.

It’s impossible to narrow MSU’s turnaround down to one event or reason. Senior guard Kalin Lucas, who is averaging more than 21 points in his last seven games, finally playing at 100 percent for the first time since rupturing his left Achilles’ last season has helped. Fellow senior guard and former walk-on Mike Kebler’s emergence as a reliable defender and hustle player ­— with a little offense sprinkled in every now and then — also has given a shallow backcourt a needed boost.

But maybe the most important reason for the Spartans’ improved play in the last two weeks might be the fact they can just focus on basketball again. The distractions that bothered the team for seemingly the whole season don’t appear to be as prominent.

Derrick Nix’s weight issues aren’t being thrown around in public like they were early in the season, and the sophomore center is showing flashes of being a serviceable post player. More recently the hangover from junior guard Korie Lucious’ dismissal seems to have subsided, and for the first time all season, it feels like MSU is a true team.

Lucas undoubtedly stole the show Saturday night by scoring 25 points. But the Spartans don’t beat Illinois with a sick second-best player (junior forward Draymond Green) and injured post starter (junior forward Delvon Roe) without contributions from all nine guys who played, and Lucas knows it.

“My teammates put me in great position to score,” Lucas said. “And I was just trying to create; create for my teammates, but create for myself as well.”

The senior guard has been around long enough to know he can’t do it all by himself, and in the last three games, his teammates have proven they’re willing to help him out however they can.

It’s taken all season, but it appears MSU — from Izzo all the way down to the last player on the bench — finally has figured out what it needs to do to be a winner again.

And if the Spartans, who likely need a couple more wins to make the tournament, keep playing the way they are now, not only will they find themselves playing in March, they also will be a tough out for anyone unlucky enough to play them.

_Jeremy Warnemuende is a State News sports reporter. He can be reached at warnemu3@msu.edu. _

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