MSU at Purdue Review

A. Isaac Senior Editor

Recap
Box Score

Thoughts:

No coach is above criticism and that includes a man I respect and admire, Tom Izzo. MSU failing to win big ten road games
should not be that suprising however. The last couple of years have been filled with home victory after home victory and beating weaker big ten opponents on the road.
The pressure defenses that many coaches in the Big Ten employ, kills MSU. Our half-court sets, while effective against teams that have not seen them
before, become stagnant when coaches can prepare tapes of past games. And since MSU decides not to pressure the ball on the defensive end, they cant capitalize
on other teams mistakes. At best, MSU has to get lucky that a team does not get hot from the perimeter to win. That’s a recipe for disaster as more teams
are using the three point line to the tune of 20-30 times a game.

The problem at State is not the talent, its the philosophy. We can win the tourney games because our sets get our shooters good looks but in the Big Ten, thats just
not going to fly.

It’s time for Izzo to step back and say, how can I use the talent I have to win more games? We have athletes on this team and yet, we make them sit back and
react to what the other team is doing instead of dictating tempo and pace.

How can you call yourself a running team if you cant force turnovers?

A big test of Izzo’s stubborness will be on display Saturday. If Travis Walton starts and plays big minutes, then deep down I think we all know that nothing is really changed.
Playing 3 on 5(Naymick and Walton) to start a game puts us behind the eight ball. Its no wonder that Morgan and Neitzel couldnt get a shot off in the first half yesterday.
Shade a guy off Walton every time and dare him to shoot. More than likely he wont or he will throw up a brick.

You cannot, I repeat, you cannot fall behind 16 points on the road and expect to have any type of regular success. It just doesn’t happen.

Please Tom, for the love of God, do the following.

1. Start Lucas the rest of the season
2. If teams are going to pressure, make it a point to pound it into the post. The weave and picks for Neitzel are not working.
3. Force turnovers more. We should walk in against teams like Iowa and Penn State and blow them out in the first 10 minutes.
4. Stop pulling guys out after one mistake. They play timid when they know they are just playing not to screw up.

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