Spartans bruise and batter Cats
Michigan State overpowered Northwestern (10-10, 3-6) Saturday night, 77-66, before a "home" crowd of mostly Spartan fans.
State towered over and outrebounded the Cats, 40-24. No Cats player had more than five rebounds.
"We've been last in league rebounding every year I've been here,'' coach Bill Carmody told the Chicago Sun-Times. "We'll have to do something about that."
But would you play a 1-3-1 zone? NU switched out of it to man-to-man with similar success, but the 1-3-1 zone looks like a gimmick that should be shelved and only pulled out as it was in the second half to try to force turnovers. Against Michigan State's heady point guard, Drew Neitzel, and a huge Spartan frontcourt, it didn't seem like a great strategy.
And speaking of the Michigan State rebounding edge, is it time to end the Vince Scott experiment? Scott logged only seven minutes, while Bernard Côté finally showed the promise we had been expecting with 10 points in 19 minutes.
Côté was a key player in the Cats making a run at Michigan State. He hit a three-pointer at the start of the second half cut the lead to one, but Michigan State pulled away with 12 straight points and never looked back.
"It's hard coming back, even at home," Vedran Vukusic told the Tribune. "We knew we'd make a run, but couldn't come up with enough plays."
Vukusic fdinished with 23 points and was involved in a shoving match with Michigan State's Travis Walton at the end of the first half that resulted in offsetting fouls and a technical on a Michigan State assistant for leaving the bench.
The near-fight didn't give NU any more intensity, intensity that only seemed to show itself in the final minutes of desperation pressing.
"The way you’re playing when you’re down by 17 or whatever it was, you have to play that way all the time," Carmody told the Daily Herald. "With that kind of intensity, that kind of urgency."
But you have to ask where does that fault partially lie? The players, for the most part, but mellow coaching isn't motivating this team. The team has no fire and no intensity.
As usual, Michigan State's Maurice Ager killed the Cats with 21 points and Shannon Brown passed 1,000 career points in the win with 22.
The Cats face Iowa at home on Wednesday.
Related Links:
Wildcats lacking vs. Spartans - By Adam Rittenberg, Daily Herald
MSU's Brown hits milestone - by Terry Bannon, Chicago Tribune (subscription)
Push comes to shove - Spartans prevail, By Joe Goddard, Chicago Sun-Times