Spartans to face Wolverines in rivalry game

Tom Izzo disagrees with former football coach and current trustee George Perles’ famous quote, “They all count one.”

Izzo

The mantra is something the MSU men’s basketball head coach won’t be thinking tonight when the No. 5 Spartans (17-3, 7-0) travel to Ann Arbor to face Michigan (10-9, 3-4).

“I’ve always thought a rivalry counts one and a half,” Izzo said. “Not necessarily if you win or lose, just because of the approach of the game and the magnitude of it and who gets to talk at the water coolers. You want to embrace everybody in the program and rivalry games are one way you do that.”

U-M’s success runs through senior forward DeShawn Sims and junior guard Manny Harris, who average more than 36 points per game combined.

Harris was suspended for one game last week following an altercation in practice but has been reinstated.

“Harris and Sims are as two good of players as there are in the league or in the country,” Izzo said. “They’re guys that have started a lot of games and played in a lot of games. I think Sims is playing his best basketball right now. He’s making shots from everywhere.”

Sophomore forward Draymond Green might be matched up on Sims throughout the game and said the Spartans will look to limit Sims.

“He’s a great scorer,” Green said. “It’s hard to just come out and stop a great scorer, but as long as we can contain him we should do well.”

Harris leads the Wolverines, averaging more than 19 points per game. Last season, the Spartans stuck Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year Travis Walton on Harris, who was held to seven points.

Without Walton, the Spartans will turn to team defense and likely use multiple players to guard Harris.

“On defense, we have to lock down and be solid,” junior guard Kalin Lucas said. “We have to make sure we have six eyes on Manny.”

Rebounding is a specialty of the Spartans, and against the Wolverines — who are last in the Big Ten in rebounding margin — it could be a key for MSU.

“It’s tough to do when you’re small and not as strong,” U-M coach John Beilein said in a teleconference. “The best you can do is box out the best you can and hope the ball bounces your way a little bit. If it stays in shorter areas where they can get to you or it goes high, they’re going to get a lot of those because they’re taller than us (in) a lot of positions.”

The Spartans have been on a roll this Big Ten season and recently have dominated the rivalry against U-M, but Izzo doesn’t see his team becoming complacent tonight.

“I definitely don’t think we’re fat and sassy going into this game,” he said.

“We know what Michigan is capable of, we know they have two players as good as anybody on any team in the country as a combination group.”