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Young Spartans perform under pressure

February 25, 2002
Junior forward Adam Ballinger blocks a shot by Indiana forward Kyle Hornsby, one of his two in the game, in the first half of Sunday —

If young teams are supposed to fold in high-pressure situations, someone forgot to tell the Spartan men’s basketball squad.

With an opportunity to raise their NCAA Tournament stock, MSU used late-game heroics to come from behind to upend No. 23 Indiana 57-54 Sunday at Breslin Center.

Spartan head coach Tom Izzo’s inexperienced squad had its chances to let the win slip away, something it has done before. MSU (17-10 overall, 8-6 Big Ten) has lost four conference games by a total of 10 points.

“This is one time where I think my team deserves a lot of credit for what they did today,” Izzo said. “They could have folded on maybe three different occasions and they didn’t.

“I’m proud of the way we handled it.”

By not folding as in previous occasions, the Spartans gained a new level of experience.

“It’s a feeling this team hasn’t quite had all season,” freshman guard Chris Hill said. “We’ve stayed in games, close games we’ve lost and it hurt, maybe even more (than if they weren’t close).

“But to finally get one and earn it the way we did, it was just a huge relief and a confidence boost.”

The Spartans trailed the Big Ten-leading Hoosiers (18-9, 10-4) by as many as 16 in the first half and by as many as eight in the second, before shining down the stretch.

And while several Spartans stepped up late in the game, one MSU player took the contest over.

After falling behind by eight points with eight minutes to play, Izzo called a timeout and challenged his best player in sophomore guard Marcus Taylor.

“Probably for the first time since I’ve had him, I told him ‘I recruited you to be a superstar, this is your chance,’” Izzo said.

The 6-foot-3 Lansing native responded in a variety of ways, Izzo said.

“I think Marcus is taking over and in better ways,” he said. “I told him in that timeout, ‘You’re going to take this game over and it might not be by scoring.’”

And though Taylor added eight of his game-high 16 after Izzo’s challenge, it was his three assists that proved to be as crucial - the last setting up junior forward Adam Ballinger’s three-pointer to knot the score at 53 with 55 seconds remaining.

Taylor said he’s been waiting for his coach to order him to put the team on his back.

“It just hit me,” he said. “I kind of smiled a little bit because I realized what I had to do to win this game.”

And while Taylor answered the call to lead the Spartans, other MSU players filled roles down the stretch.

Freshman forward Alan Anderson came up with two key rebounds in the final 30 seconds and hit two free throws to put the Spartans up 57-54 with :06 left.

“I liked the way we found a way to get it done in the end. I think that can do a lot for a young team,” Izzo said. “I liked winning when you have a player that takes over like Marcus did. I think that can do a lot for him and our team. I like when guys respond to challenges.”

And one challenge Izzo made to himself after losing at home to Illinois 63-61 on Feb. 12, was to have his players executing better coming out of late timeouts.

The Spartans came out of two timeouts late in the game and executed plays for two baskets, one for Taylor and one for Ballinger.

“I thought today was just like old times as far as we made some plays out of those timeouts,” Izzo said.

But even though his young Spartan team has grown, it doesn’t mean MSU is ready to return to the sacred ground of the Final Four.

“It’s starting to click,” Izzo said. “Don’t read into this that this team is ready to conquer the world.

“But we’re making some steps.”

Dan Woike can be reached at woikedan@msu.edu.

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