Spartans' inconsistency shines through vs. Indiana"
Despite a roster that includes three starting freshmen (and nine total on the 14-player roster), Indiana was a constant threat to the far more experienced Spartans throughout the opening 20 minutes.
Despite two errant field-goal attempts and six turnovers on their first eight possessions, the fuzzy-cheek Hoosiers still were an absolute thorn in Michigan State's side during the first half.
And
in spite of an Indiana squad that is the least experienced in Big Ten history, returning just 19 total points and only 185 playing minutes from last season -- and ranks either 10th or 11th in pretty much every Big Ten team statistical category -- the Spartans' largest first-half lead of nine points, at 33-24, didn't even occur until Cedar Springs' Austin Thornton hit a pair of free throws with 78 seconds on the clock.
Take away half of the Hoosiers' 12 first-half turnovers and improve their 30-percent shooting for the period just a tad, and IU likely would have led Michigan State at the break.
It wasn't until Kalin Lucas' driving layup with 13:47 remaining that the Spartans were finally able to put up a double-digit advantage (41-30) against the undermanned Hoosiers. That also was part of a 13-1 MSU run that finally gave this game the appearance of a first-place conference team schooling the league's cellar-dweller.
But Michigan State was never able to put away Indiana prior to redshirt senior center Goran Suton's complete inside domination of the youthful Hoosier beginning halfway through the second half. The Spartans, despite their many advantages over a Hoosier squad that pretty much lost everything from last season with regard to coaches and players, never really delivered a legitimate knockout punch inside Breslin Center until Suton took over."
Despite author Howie's screed, this post looks like a 3rd grader's attempt to spite our Spartans, though in spite of Howie's college degree, he seems to be a 4th grader trying to impress his teacher, despite the odds of any educator giving this idiocy a D or worse, in spite of red-shirt-post-grad-soon-to-be-unemployed Howie's spiteful post.
