In addition to the progress Michigan State’s inside players have made, Izzo is pleased with the improvement in guard Eron Harris over the past five games. Tracy Abrams, Mike Thorne Jr. and Leron Black all have been sidelined for the rest of the year due to season ending injuries. At Michigan State, owning the glass is a culture many years in the making.
Advertisement
Michigan State ranks 11 in defensive efficiency, offensively they’re 13 with 1.165 points per possession this season. “He looked good at practice yesterday but before the game he wasn’t quite his old bubbly self”.
“As he said to me, he was a little out of sync tonight and he brought that up to me”.
But this Spartans team that won its first 13 games including victories over Kansas, Louisville, Providence and Florida, has a ton of talent and depth. An 8-0 run did wonders to keep things close, but a late spurt by Michigan State killed the late first half comeback. Michigan State turned the ball over twice during the stretch.
IL (8-7, 0-2) has opened Big Ten play with a pair of losses.
Later in the half, when it appeared that Penn State was going to give the Spartans a battle, Bryn Forbes stepped up to push the Nittany Lions out of reach.
Much like the previous games, Maverick Morgan struggled on defense.
“As the father of three kids, I felt like he needed to be there”, IL coach John Groce said. The hope was to free up Finke for more shots.
Shep Garner scored five quick points in the early stages of the second half but Michigan State once again responded and a three pushed the lead to 17 with just over three minutes gone by in the second half.
The Spartans (15-1, 2-1 Big Ten) missed Valentine for a fourth straight game. By then the rout was on. Not only is Valentine out for MSU, but the Fighting Illini will get back Khalid Lewis from injury.
“Illinois was missing a good player”, Izzo said.
Nunn did not travel with the team to East Lansing Wednesday, staying in Champaign to be there for the birth of his first child.
Alas, Nunn’s son was in no hurry to greet the world so the contingency never materialized.
“We’ve prepared as though he is playing and we’ve prepared as if he would not be playing”, Groce said.
Advertisement
“I don’t want to get out there until I’m completely 100 percent”, Valentine said. Michigan State built a 25-point lead at halftime, and that was the margin of victory 20 minutes later. Matt Costello and Gavin Schilling are experienced bigs and should dominate the boards, and five-star freshman Deytona Davis is putting up solid numbers (8.3 points and 5.2 rebounds) for an underclassman.
