| Detroit Free Press
Tom Izzo: Michigan State Basketball Is Made By Mistakes, Not Dismissal
Tom Izzo said the 20-day leave in Michigan State basketball was not the reason for turnover and shots that missed were lost 67-7 to Rutgers on Thursday.
Chris Solari, Detroit Free Press
PISCATAWAY, NJ – The return to competition in Michigan State could not have started much worse.
Rutgers scored the first 15 points in 5 minutes and dominated defensively. After 20 days of leave, the Spartans rusted equal parts and looked flat on both sides.
Yet they cleaved back to make it a one-handed game just before half-time, only to emerge from the locker room plagued by the same problems – turnover, blocked shots and defensive interruptions.
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There was little Tom Izzo could do on the sidelines as he watched MSU return after nearly three weeks with a 67-37 lifeless defeat on Thursday night over Rutgers, the Spartans’ lowest scorer since 2008 and their first loss to the Scarlet. Knights in 12 meetings.
MSU lost 43-36 to Iowa on January 12, 2008. But the circumstances of the Spartans were considerably different this time.
It was MSU’s first game in 20 days since a 55-54 defeat to Purdue on January 8. The Spartans (8-5, 2-5 Big Ten) beg to look more like a team that will be fighting on the bubble for the NCAA Tournament rather than the three-time defending conference champion.
MSU played both senior guard Joshua Langford and rookie Mady Sissoko in their return from COVID-19. Sophomore Steven Izzo also undertook the journey and entered the game at the last minute, with first-year member Davis Smith and junior Gabe Brown remaining in isolation, along with coach Dane Fife.
No MSU player scored double figures, as the Spartans scored only 28.6%. The players Izzo counted on were his Big Three – Aaron Henry, Joey Hauser and Rocket Watts – combined for 17 points on 8-for-22 shooting, five rebounds and 10 rebounds.
Henry’s seven points led MSU, while Marcus Bingham had seven rebounds and four points. Langford plays 21 minutes and finishes with three points on 1 or 8 shots, while Sissoko is pointless in four seconds.
The Scarlet Knights (9-6, 5-6) scored 33 points from 21 MSU turnover in the game. But it was the first salvos of each half that crushed the Spartans.
That included eight points in the first five minutes of the game from five MSU gifts and nine points from another four turnover in the first four plus minutes of the second period. Rutgers outscored the Spartans 26-2 in those two pieces.
Myles Johnson had 13 points and 14 rebounds to lead Rutgers, with five others scoring between eight and 11 points.
MSU returns to East Lansing on Friday and then departs for Columbus, Ohio, a day later. The Spartans come on Sunday afternoon at no. 15 in Ohio, and Tuesday at 7 Iowa, a rescheduled game from Jan. 14 that began with the postponement of three games for the Spartans.
Contact Chris Solari: [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @chrissolari. Read more about the Michigan State Spartans and sign up for our Spartans newsletter.