EAST LANSING - Maurice Joseph, Drew Neitzel, and Marquise Gray each scored 13 points
as Michigan State (8-2) pounded IPFW (3-6) 80-43 on Wednesday night at
the Breslin Center.
The Spartan defense held the Mastodons to 26 percent shooting from the
field, forced 18 turnovers, and blocked eight shots, while dominating
on the boards, 45-25.
“Being a veteran of the Big Ten, I know Michigan State's going to play
hard, play tough, but I've never seen anything like it to be honest
with you. I haven't seen an MSU team defense as tough as they are playing
at this point,” said IPFW Coach and former Indiana star Dane Fife.
With starting small forward Raymar Morgan out with a stress fracture in
his shin, Isaiah Dahlman saw extended action and impressed the home
crowd with his play, finishing with nine points in 27 minutes.
“We felt like we needed to get (Dahlman) more and more time, and I
thought he made some good moves with the ball, but I think I'm most
impressed with his defense,” said Coach Tom Izzo.
Due to Morgan’s injury, eight Spartans saw at least 16 minutes on the
court. Goran Suton nearly scored another double-double but fell short by
one rebound, finishing with 10 points and nine boards. Gray added eight
rebounds to his 13 points as well.
“We were just sitting there with four players to rotate in three
positions, and four players with 120 minutes means that each guy averages 30,
and I'm constantly still paranoid about Drew (Neitzel) and Travis
(Walton) playing too many minutes, but as we always say, somebody's
misfortune is somebody else's opportunity,” said Izzo.
“Those guys took the opportunity, and I even enjoyed having Raymar on
the bench, listening to some of his comments. In that way maybe it'll be
a blessing, he'll get to see things a little bit more,” added Izzo.
Tyler Best led the Mastodons with 12 points and six rebounds and Jaraun
Burrows added 10 points. Justin Hawkins scored nine points, going
3-for-3 from three-point.
MSU led 39-24 at half and extended the lead to 45-25 to start the
second half.
“It was a good win for us, but we can't make some of the mistakes we
did, like not knowing where our men are, like our play before halftime,”
said Izzo. “We step up three notches on Saturday, and we're going to
have to be a lot better.”
MSU plays BYU on Saturday at the Palace in Auburn Hills for the Spartan
Clash.