Spartans dismantle Cats
Looking on the bright side, Northwestern shot 56 percent from the field.
But Michigan State took 30 more shots in an 87-58 victory Saturday. Northwestern played without Davor Duvancic due to the flu and with T.J. Parker only able to play five minutes in his recovery from the same flu bug.
The flu also hit reserve forward Ivan Tolic, who missed the game. Freshman Brandon Lee played sparingly as he continues to recover from the broken facial bone suffered courtesy of a Mike Thompson elbow.
The team that suited up included walk-on Michael Jenkins, who started and played 36 minutes, and little-used reserves Evan Seacat and Vince Scott. Factor in soon-to-be-redshirted freshmen Sterling Williams and Gary Lee and Northwestern really only had eight players on its bench.
Everyone loves Jenkins, but the thought of playing a walk-on for more than 30 minutes in consecutive Big Ten games is scary. The lineup at a certain point of Jenkins, Seacat, Hachad, Scott and Vukusic may have been the worst lineup the Cats have played in the last decade.
Vukusic missed much of the game after hurting his shoulder in the first half. He appeared to nearly dislocate his left shoulder on a foul in the first half, but returned to play in the second half.
Thompson scored 16 points on 5-of-6 shooting and was a presence offensively. However, he continued his foul shooting woes with 5-for-11 shooting and is shooting 45 percent from the line for the year. Northwestern is shooting an atrocious 61 percent from the foul line this year.
Michigan State's defense forced the Cats into numerous shot-clock violations in the first half and then wore down Northwestern in the second half.
Cat-killer Maurice Ager led Michigan State with 18 points. Ager scored 24 against NU last year and is 16-for-19 in three-pointers in his careers against the Cats. The Spartans' Paul Davis dominated inside with 17 points on 8-of-10 shooting. Davis put on a clinic at the expense of Scott.
Overall, a difficult game against a superior opponent. Northwestern's weaknesses in depth, shooting and turnovers were clearly evident.
Northwestern plays Michigan in Ann Arbor at 6 p.m. CST Wednesday.