DETROIT - Michigan State survived a chaotic Saturday night contest 69-61 which saw East Lansing police intervene in a halftime fight between a Chicago State player and the head coach, saw MSU give up 16 offensive rebounds and Tom Izzo benching two starters.
"For a team to get 16 offensive rebounds against us, it's an embarrassment to everybody that ever played here," fumed Izzo. "If you ask me, it was a very poorly played game, other parts weren't very well done, and most of all, it was a very poorly coached game, and that's my fault and my issue. I'm definitely going to make sure that everybody understands that this team has a long way to go."
While State moved to 10-2 on the season, it didn't seem matter to head coach Tom Izzo if they won or lost the game. Izzo was fuming in the post game press conference over what he perceived as a lack of effort on the part of his troops.
"I will put up with a lot of stuff, but the effort-related things I'm not going to put up with any more. If that means we lose a game, then saddle up and get ready for the talk shows and the papers to write a lot of nasty things because we're going to lose a game."
Izzo proved he was serious when he benched point guard Drew Neitzel and shooting guard Travis Walton and inserted two walkons, DeMarcus Ducre and Brandon Darton into the starting lineup at half. CSU jumped all over the pair and an MSU eight-point halftime lead quickly vanished.
Once re-inserted into the game, Neitzel was red hot, shooting the lights out en route to a 32-point performance that bailed out MSU, but Walton continued to struggle. MSU was without starters Raymar Morgan and Maurice Joseph due to injuries.
On the other side CSU head coach Kevin Jones was trying to arrange alternate transportation for forward Cam-Ron Clay who challenged him to a fight at halftime.
Jones was trying to coach up Clay who responded to it with a resounding "bleep you" according to Jones who said Clay then stripped off his jersey and challenged him to a fight.
Jones' son, Kevin Jones, Jr. intervened on his father's behalf and a full blown brouhaha was underway. Clay was kicked off the team and escorted out of the locker room by East Lansing police.
MSU next faces Belmont University on Tuesday at 7:00pm at the Breslin Center in East Lansing