Michigan State Beats Central Connecticut St 89-69
EAST LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Tom Izzo knew his Michigan State basketball players were getting too much praise after six straight victories. He corrected that problem Wednesday night.
"I'm as disappointed as I've been all year," Izzo said after the Spartans got out of the gate slowly before beating Central Connecticut State 89-69.
After a terrible start, Izzo called on Travis Trice to turn things around. The team's smallest player gave the Spartans a huge lift with a career-high 20 points off the bench in the program's 300th win in 344 games in Breslin Center, which opened in 1989.
Trice, a freshman point guard, was 6 for 8 from the field — 4 for 4 from 3-point range — and 4 for 5 at the line. He also led the Spartans (7-2) with five assists.
"They jumped on us early," Trice said of an 11-point deficit. "But watching film, we said, 'They're pretty good.' Any time a team has three guys averaging 20 points, it's dangerous. And we needed to get going offensively and defensively."
Draymond Green had 14 points and nine rebounds, barely missing his fifth double-double this season, while Derrick Nix added a career-high 13 points and Branden Dawson had 11 points and 11 rebounds in Michigan State's seventh straight win.
"We didn't show anything tonight but a lack of effort," said Green, a third-year captain who called a players-only meeting shortly after the game. "What won the game tonight was the name on the front of the jersey. It was just having better talent and not because of anything we did on the court."
Ken Horton had 17 points and Robbie Ptacek 16 for the fast-starting Blue Devils (5-3), who led 22-11 after the first seven minutes. Horton and Ptacek each had 30 in CCSU's last win over Sacred Heart.
"We were concerned about being intimidated with Michigan State's name and the crowd and everything," Blue Devils coach Howie Dickenman said. "But I thought we held our own for 20 minutes. I was pleased we only had 11 turnovers. And we had 23 offensive rebounds against the strongest team we'll see."
The Spartans pulled away in the last 20 minutes after leading by just two points at halftime. When Central Connecticut began to tire, its shooting dropped dramatically, finishing at 35 percent from the field.
Michigan State shot 67.9 percent from the field in the second half and 52 for the game, finishing with 25 assists on 33 baskets. But the nation's No. 1 rebounding team managed only a 44-37 edge in that category, thanks to Central Connecticut's 23 offensive boards.
"We concentrated on rebounds a lot," Horton said after grabbing nine of them. "The first half went back and forth. But good teams make runs. And our shooting fell off in the second half. We only had nine guys."
The Blue Devils came out firing, hitting 56 percent of their shots from the field and 57 percent of their 3s in doubling the Spartans' score. They also held their own on the boards, with David Simmons grabbing six quick rebounds. He finished with 10.
Central Connecticut led 28-22 when Michigan State went on an 8-0 run. The Spartans took their first lead on Trice's contested 3 with 5:06 left. But the Blue Devils were far from done, going up 34-32 on 3s by Malcolm McMillan and Adonis Burbage.
"When people ask me when I don't give the players more credit, it's because they can't accept it," Izzo said. "We had a couple of guys who didn't guard anybody."
Meanwhile, Michigan State kept missing, with Russell Byrd airballing two 3s. Still, the Spartans took a 36-34 lead into the locker room when Nix scored in the paint and Trice swiped the ball for an uncontested layup.
"Trice looked good," Izzo said. "He made some shots. But Nix deserves as much credit for that with the passes he made from the post."
After losing Shelton Mickell for the night with a left shoulder injury on a wicked backcourt screen by Green and seeing Horton go down for the final minutes of the first half with an ankle twist, Central Connecticut saw Simmons go the bench after banging with Green on the first basket after the break.
Michigan State led 47-38 when a wild skirmish produced four steals in 15 seconds, indicative of the way the teams were struggling at that point.
The Spartans gradually pulled away and finished the job when Dawson came to life, scoring all his points in the second half. He finished with seven offensive rebounds.
But Michigan State's effort was sub-par for much of the night, something that it can't get away with when it plays at No. 23 Gonzaga Saturday night.
"We know Gonzaga is going to shoot a lot of 3s," Izzo said of one of the biggest teams the Spartans will face. "We gave up seven 3s in the second half of the last game and nine more tonight. That's what happens when you don't guard anybody."
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