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MSU stunned by Texas Southern in overtime

The Spartans drop a home game to 2-8 Tigers.

December 20, 2014
<p>Head Coach Tom Izzo looks out to his players with associate head coach Dwayne Stephens and assistant coach Dane Fife Dec. 20, 2014, during a Spartan free-throw at the end of the second half during the game against Texas Southern at Breslin Center. The Spartans were defeated by the Tigers, 71-64. Erin Hampton/The State News</p>

Head Coach Tom Izzo looks out to his players with associate head coach Dwayne Stephens and assistant coach Dane Fife Dec. 20, 2014, during a Spartan free-throw at the end of the second half during the game against Texas Southern at Breslin Center. The Spartans were defeated by the Tigers, 71-64. Erin Hampton/The State News

Photo by Erin Hampton | The State News

Travis Trice realized the men's basketball team were in trouble early, when the Spartans consistently failed to take advantage of opportunities and take care of the ball. 

Matt Costello thought the Spartans were in trouble at halftime, when they led by just five against a 1-8 Texas Southern team. Ask the players, coaches or fans, and the answer is likely the same — the Spartans weren't themselves on Saturday, and head coach Tom Izzo takes full blame. 

After strong practices in preparation for the wins against Eastern Michigan and Oakland, Izzo cut the length of Thursday's and Friday's practices short in fear of overworking his team. 

He believes that is ultimately why the No. 25 men's basketball team (8-4 overall) suffered a historic upset to Texas Southern (2-8 overall) on Saturday in overtime, 71-64. 

"I did not work my team," Izzo said. "I did not work them like I normally do and I put a lot into the Oakland Eastern thing, and got just what I deserved. It's not like we took days off but we didn't practice as hard. Too worried about my little guys getting tired."

The loss might be the worst of Izzo's career. Prior to Wednesday, MSU had won 78 of its last 79 home games against unranked opponents, according to ESPN Stats & Info. The Spartans had a 98 percent chance of winning the game, per KenPom.

As a point of reference, Michigan had a 97 percent chance of beating New Jersey Institute of Technology, a game the Wolverines lost on Dec. 6 in one of the biggest upsets in NCAA history. 

"Just ashamed, but give (Texas Southern head coach) Mike Davis all the credit in the world," Izzo said. "His kids played harder than us, they shot better than us ... they made big plays, they made there free throws, they got to the free throw line. Our whole game plan was to stop penetration, and we didn't do that."

Texas Southern senior forward Jason Carter, who regained eligibility for the Tigers this week, was a hero for the away team, converting several late shots to help them get the win. Carter finished with 13 points and a pair of steals.

The Spartans were without senior forward Branden Dawson, who fractured his wrist on Wednesday against Eastern Michigan. Freshman forward Marvin Clark Jr. started in his place and didn't see time in the second half after numerous defensive miscues.

MSU shot 39.9 percent from the field, 19 percent from behind the arc and 57.1 percent from the line. The Tigers shot 53.3 percent from the field and managed to score timely buckets throughout the night.

"We didn't shoot it well, we had some great shots," Izzo said. "We live by the three and die by the three."

Junior forward Matt Costello and sophomore forward Gavin Schilling were MSU's most consistent source of offense, converting several difficult shots in the paint. Costello had a team-high 17 points and 10 rebounds.

Freshman guard Javon Bess converted a layup after grabbing an offensive rebound to give MSU a seven point advantage, 45-38, with 11 minutes left.

A couple possessions later, Bess slash and kicked to Valentine in the corner for a 3-pointer, pushing the lead to eight.

The Spartans showed regret at not capitalizing on the opportunity to push the lead even higher after the game. But Schilling was called for a questionable foul with just under seven minutes left that killed some of MSU's momentum.

"I thought that was when we were going to pull away," Trice said. "Usually we play well in the first half and don't pull away, but we started off slow and started picking it up. I thought we were going to go on a run and we just didn't."

MSU missed several opportunities to put the game away late in the second half, and as a result, the Tigers kept it close. Schilling fumbled a pass under the rim with about four minutes left that would've pushed the lead back to eight. The Tigers capitalized, converting a layup on the other end to cut the lead to four.

"That one with Gavin, that's a dunk and it just went right through his hands," Izzo said. You just needed one basket. So we missed some plays."

After another empty MSU possession, Texas Southern senior forward Jason Carter sunk a corner 3-pointer to give the Tigers the lead with 1:18 left.

Bess split a pair of free throws with six seconds left to tie the game at 55 and send the game into overtime. The Spartans simply couldn't convert in the final five minutes, missing three of four free throws and making four of 13 shot attempts. The Tigers converted 12-of-17 free throws outscoring MSU 16-9 in the period.

Junior guard Bryn Forbes airballed a corner 3-pointer with just over a minute left that could've cut the lead to two. Texas Southern responded with two free throws to seal the upset victory.

The Spartans will return to action on Monday against The Citadel at 6 p.m. Izzo said he will "rectify" his mistake of shortening practice with a long one on Sunday, starting at 8:30 a.m.

"Coach says he takes blame for it, but at the end of the day, he isn't playing," Valentine said. "We are. And if we had no pride, we would've went out there and played. We let coach down. I don't think it's his fault. He thinks it's his fault, but there's no way we should've lost to that team."

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