EAST LANSING - After squeaking past Chicago State on Saturday night in a poorly played
game - and dropping two spots in the polls in the process - Michigan State (10-2) hopes to put it behind them as they face a
strong Belmont (7-3) team on Tuesday night at the Breslin Center in
East Lansing.
Trailing by one point with nine minutes to play in the game, Drew Neitzel sparked a nine-point turnaround with a three-pointer and a jumper to
put the Spartans up by eight points at the time and ahead for good.
The Spartans beat the Cougars despite 21 turnovers and being out
rebounded on the offensive glass 16-7.
Tom Izzo was left fuming after the game due to his team’s performance.
“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,” said Izzo.
Now looking at a much better opponent than Chicago State, the Belmont
Bruins visit East Lansing hoping to catch the Spartans with their heads
down.
Junior guard Justin Hare leads the team with 15.5 points per game and
although he is the only Bruin scoring in double-figures, Belmont
features a very balanced offensive attack that returns six of its top seven
scorers from last year’s team that went to the NCAA Tournament.
“This team does run but they are very efficient offensively,” said
Izzo. “They have two good post players that they rotate, they have three
very good shooters which creates some problems on the perimeter. It
definetly will be a game we’re going to have to play better in than we
played against Chicago state in to win.”
In its last outingS, the Bruins trailed Illinois by only six points,
only to fall 77-51 after a strong second half by the Illini.
Drew Neitzel has been the Spartans’ leading scorer in nine of the
team’s twelve games this season and is also averaging nearly 21 points per
game in the last eight games.
Isaiah Dahlman will get his second start of his career after scoring a
career-high 11 points in his first collegiate start last game against
Chicago State.
MSU finds itself in a tough stretch without starters Raymar Morgan and
Maurice Joseph, two big shooters and contributors to the Spartan
offense.
Adding to the fire, power forward Goran Suton has been suffering from
the flu for the past week and saw limited action against Chicago State,
only scoring seven points.
Suton had a full day of practice on Monday and should be close to
healthy for Tuesday’s contest, according to Izzo.
Facing a veteran Belmont team, the Spartans are going to have to pull
together and show a much stronger effort for their Coach, possibly
starting with holding on to the ball and cutting down on the turnovers.
ed note: According to the latest reports, Goran Suton is doubtful tonight due to flu-like symptoms