Keith Appling did what Keith Appling does down the stretch. Denzel Valentine provided a steadying influence and all-around presence. The two helped rescue MSU from a 10-point halftime deficit and, more pressingly, overcome the injury losses of Travis Trice and Gary Harris.
It wasn’t a pretty 80-75 victory over Illinois on Thursday night – “We found a way to win, which is about the only good thing I have to say,” MSU coach Tom Izzo begrudgingly admitted afterward. The Spartans struggled with turnovers and inability to guard the perimeter early in falling behind 37-27 at intermission.
“We took a giant step backward in the first half,” Izzo said. “Inexcusable effort and inexcusable performance.”
His team opened the second half, however, with a 14-0 run to pull away for good, though the Illini remained close throughout the final 20 minutes. Appling scored 19 of his game-high 24 points in the final half, adding eight rebounds and seven assists. Valentine added 14 points, just one turnover and played some strong defense.
And MSU needed every bit of it.
Trice left the game in the first half after taking a knee to the head. He did not return to the bench, and Izzo did not know his status. “That ain’t good,” he said of Trice, who suffered a broken nose and concussion in the opening game against Connecticut.
Harris suffered back spasms after falling hard to the floor on a breakaway dunk attempt on which he was fouled. He left the arena midway through the second half and eventually returned to the bench, but Harris did not play the final 12 minutes after scoring 14 points.
That left Appling and Valentine (with a little aid from Russell Byrd) to occupy the perimeter for the rest of the game.
“I think I have that winner’s mentality,” said Valentine, who had 12 points in the final half. “When the pressure’s on, I feel like I can step up and make plays and do whatever my team needs to win.”
The two combined to score 24 of MSU’s final 33 points over the final 13:09. Branden Dawson (who didn’t start the second half) had six of the other nine down the stretch, including an alley-oop dunk off a brilliant Appling drive and lob that essentially sealed the game with less than two minutes to play.
“I really don’t have to get motivated for crunch time. It’s crunch time – you should always be motivated,” Appling said. “That’s winning time. I feel like that’s the part of the game where I focus in the most.”
Izzo though said he wants more out of his point guard when the game is not on the line.
“You can’t (just) operate in crisis management time, you have to do it in preventative management time,” Izzo said of Appling. “But at least he did it.”
As for one of his other captains, Izzo said he benched center Derrick Nix for the game’s first 9:17 because the senior missed a class on Friday and skipped a tutor appointment Monday.
Izzo called it “a distraction” that contributed to the Spartans’ lackluster first half. Nix finished with eight points and just one rebound, but Izzo hopes he took home a bigger message.
“Derrick Nix is 13 credit hours from graduating. He will be the first human being in his family who has graduated,” Izzo said. “It will be a cold day in hell before I do anything but get him graduated.
“If he has to sit the rest of the games, he will. … For that kid to graduate in four years will be triumphant for me in a positive way. Presidents and the NCAA have put it on the coaches to get these kids to graduate. Did that hurt my team tonight? you’re damn right it did.”
Izzo brought up lack of leadership and the Nix “distraction,” two of the things the coach said plagued his team two years ago. The one other negative he left out was chemistry, though his Spartans were in each others’ faces often throughout the game.
Still, they improved to 18-4 and 7-2 in the Big Ten, a game behind Michigan and Indiana.
“It’s hard as a coach to give your team credit. You wonder why coaches never give their team credit. Too many other people are tweeting them all the credit, and some guys just couldn’t handle it,” Izzo said. “I thought we had some guys who showed they couldn’t handle success, and it really bothers me and shows maybe our lack of leadership. We’re going to have to grow on it and gain from it.”
MSU gets six days to heal some wounds – physical and mental – and figure out who’ll be missing for how long.
It’s equally as imperative that MSU players take that time to also internally search for those qualities Izzo thinks are missing, that emotional glue which has made his good teams great and his great teams champions.
His Spartans tend to discover those intangibles in February.
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I thought the izzone failed also for much of the first half…much like the players…they were standing around waiting for something to happen…how about getting involved and willing the team to victory…
Great point, unfortunately the present iteration are fair weather fans on the main.
Izzone is not what it used to be I fear.
Crackhead says that Derrik Nix has a cavalier attitude towards his benching, well here’s a quote from a real reporter (Joe Rexrode) who has access, you be the judge:
“I missed class and he don’t allow that,” Nix said of Izzo. “You can miss class sometimes and don’t get caught but I missed and I got caught, and I paid for it. … I’m just being lazy and just, you know, regular student, â€I ain’t going to class today’ and they checked and I got caught and I had to sit.”
Joe hurt his knee participating in the teams most recent war drill, I heard Couch was afraid and didn’t participate or was it he just wasn’t asked.
Some good stuff on coach..http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20130131/SPORTS0202/301310365/1004/
Thanks for posting the link. God Bless Tom Izzo!
“Derrick Nix is 13 credit hours from graduating. He will be the first human being in his family who has graduated,” Izzo said. “It will be a cold day in hell before I do anything but get him graduated.”
Got to love Izzo for that comment.
http://www.freep.com/article/20130201/SPORTS07/302010051/Michigan-State-redshirt-Kenny-Kaminski-helps-out-practice-holds-promise-future
Chris, just because players are “in each others faces” doesn’t mean there’s a lack of chemistry. In fact, it can mean just the opposite. If the players don’t talk to each other, that’s a bigger problem. This team’s chemistry is night and day compared to two years ago.
Observing it up close on the court last night, there’s a difference between in-your-face psyching up a teammate and in-your-face tearing him down. MSU is treading that fine line right now. It’s all in the body language and their tone with one another. Appling rolling his eyes when no one responded to his arm-waving directions at the end of the first half. Dawson yelling at Payne while walking away, flailing his arms in disgust. Payne sitting down and pounding the floor with his hands in frustration. Byrd staring at the floor when he makes a mistake. Little things that aren’t evident from the stands or TV. Then again, Izzo builds thick skin in his players with his own words and nothing they say to each other could be more brutally honest than he is.
Chris, they let me into the shootaround in Minnesota Dec 30th and Dawson was doing the exact same stuff, I do not think it is an issue.
Good stuff, Chris. I hope this team gets on the same page and young Mr. Nix realizes what a leader is supposed to be and does the “little things” the right way. Like attend classes and not standing up a tutor, then say, “… it’s no big thing, everyone on the team skips classes, I just got caught…”
Gotta appreciate Bob Knight’s comments about the fab 5:
http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20130201/SPORTS0201/302010431/1004/sports/Ex-Indiana-coach-Bob-Knight-on-Fab-Five–â€They-never-won-anything’
Watching on TV Valentine played perhaps his best game. Appling was again the end-of-the-game scrapper that seems cool as ice. Before he left Harris was continuing to elevate his game even though he had some uncharacteristic TOs. The Bigs were OK but didn’t seem to be hungry enough compared to how the Illini aggressively went after boards and loose balls. This team is developing nicely but will surely need Harris and Trice to make a run for the BIGTEN Championship and later games. Go Green.
Your sister paper down road just reported an interview with Travis Trice’s father. He said his son was a little banged up, but not like in November, and should be OK for Wednesday’s game with Minnesota. These were his words, not mine.
What’s up with Dawson these days? I love the guy as a player/Spartan and think the sky is the limit for him, but he was off in space (mentally) for some key parts of yesterday’s game.
Go Green.
Ignore my comment above…just saw the following at Detroit News
Dawson’s self-analysis
Branden Dawson certainly was not the star for Michigan State but he did have 12 points and nine rebounds.
However, he called himself out for not playing hard early in the game and told his team afterward it wouldn’t happen again.
“In the first half, I took Illinois for granted and kind of underestimated them a little bit,” Dawson said. “This is just another game and Illinois will be an easy win. That didn’t happen. I told my teammates that I’m going to pick it up from now on. I don’t care who we’re playing, whether it’s Northwestern or Nebraska, it doesn’t matter because in the Big Ten once teams get going there’s no looking back.”
I noticed he looked pretty sluggish as well. He is a force when he has the right attitude, just needs to bring it to every game…
Very few off nights ahead he will be challenged eight of the last nine games
Wow, lots of negativity here. I guess I understand it, we have after all, lost 2 of our last 15 games! A lot of you guys sounds like whiney U of M fans (I know a few, I lived in Ann Arbor for 13 years).
Check the scores today. Teams ranked higher than us (Butler, Syracuse, KU) have all lost. Either IU or Michigan will lose in a few hours. We’re on our way to a 2 seed, which is practically a bye to the sweet 16! Enjoy the run, guys, and hope that 2 more Spartans (Celek & Robinson) get Super Bowl rings tomorrow. GO GREEN!
Correction: Butler won, but they lost earlier this week. The Ducks did lose, though (talk about over-rated!)
Looks like after tonight, IU will be #1, FL #2 M will probably drop to 3 or 4
Celek and Robinson didn’t get their rings, but that didn’t bother me, the 40 whiners were dominated, final score doesn’t show how bad it really was.
Trice will play Wed according to his Dad.
Here’s a line from couch’s latest thread: “I didn’t picture the Spartans as realistic contenders in the Big Ten”
Now there are a couple of reasons we could give for this stupidity, 1) he’s anti-MSU (and although I think he’s anti-DI programs (the MAC is just cannon fodder, I’m not sure he’s exactly anti-MSU) 2.) (the actual winner of this little poll) He knows nothing about DI Basketball.
Now, reason #2 is probably rooted in his luv of the MAC and not having access to the Spartans, but as anyone knows who has followed the Spartans even a little, when Coach Izzo has the horses (and over an uneven preseason each pony stood out on occasion), a B1G/NCAA title run is probably.
Just another example of Cracker showing is ignorance of gthe subject he’s supposed to be covering.