Following three straight road losses, the MSU men's basketball team is limping back to Breslin Center with a do-or-die attitude for tonight's contest against Penn State at 6 p.m.
The Spartans (9-7 overall, 1-3 Big Ten) are losers of five of their last six games and on the brink of starting the Big Ten season 1-4.
Don't think it hasn't gotten to head coach Tom Izzo.
Izzo again cited MSU's costly turnovers, spotty free-throw shooting and inconsistent field-goal percentage as thorns in the Spartans' side Monday. But said he's still confident in what his squad is capable of.
"We feel we have to quit turning the ball over as much," Izzo said. "And maybe get back to playing the kind of defense we've played in the past if we're going to regroup here and be a threat in this league."
The Nittany Lions (5-9, 0-3), on the other hand, are the evil twin of the Spartans. Penn State is the only team in the conference sporting the dubious distinction of averaging more turnovers per game (16.9) than MSU (16.1).
But don't chalk up tonight's game as a slopfest yet.
"It's a team with two great guards in (Brandon) Watkins and (Sharif) Chambliss," Izzo said. "And as we know, great guards can really help you. And when guards are struggling, it really hurts you.
"I don't mean to make them out like the Lakers, but I'm going to tell you, if we don't play well, we won't win this game either."
Despite being winless in conference play thus far, the Nittany Lions are proving to be proficient in an area where the Spartans have been shaky. Penn State leads the Big Ten in free-throw shooting, netting nearly 76 percent of its attempts.
But according to Nittany Lion head coach Jerry Dunn, the Spartans' current three-game losing skid is simply the result of shifts in player personnel.
"I think they're a youthful team," he said. "And I think they obviously don't have a natural point guard that's in the lineup right now."
Dunn added a lack of a true point guard should not be construed as Izzo's fault.
"Tom Izzo is the same coach he was when he went to the Final Four and won it," Dunn said. "Sometimes it takes a little longer to get guys to buy into what you're doing."
Coaching systems aside, Izzo and his team know tonight's matchup is a key opportunity to curb their losing ways.
"We've got a little bit of a slide," Izzo said. "But we're focused on it not being an avalanche."
