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Fouls disrupt pace in win

February 27, 2003

It was a traffic jam of a game.

Stops and starts of plays, officials' whistles and the timekeeper's horn were the most distinguishable features of MSU's 71-61 win over Minnesota on Wednesday night in front of a capacity Breslin Center crowd.

Officials whistled 55 personal fouls against the Spartans (15-11 overall, 7-6 Big Ten) and Golden Gophers (16-8, 8-5), 27 and 28 each respectively. Between stoppages in play and subsequent free throws once teams were in the bonus situation, the game clocked in at about two hours, 15 minutes overall.

The flow of the game, or lack thereof, made it difficult for either team to establish momentum or control the tempo of play.

"If we were fouling that much, or they were, there was no flow to the game," MSU head coach Tom Izzo said. "I know that's the way (Big Ten officials) want it called, so it's not the officials' fault."

Oddly enough, the only time this season MSU collected more personal fouls was against Minnesota in Minneapolis on Jan. 18 when they were whistled 29 - 28 on the Gophers.

But in a reversal of misfortune, foul trouble was a headache for the Gophers this time around.

Minnesota forward Michael Bauer, who torched the Spartans last time for 21 points and connected on five 3-pointers - played only seven minutes in the first half after picking up two quick personals.

His frustrations were evident when, after garnering his fourth personal with 15:00 left to play in the game, Bauer slammed his water bottle to the ground under the Minnesota bench.

Minnesota star forward Rick Rickert - who blazed the Spartans for 21 points the last time out in Minneapolis - was the game's only foul-out, collecting his fifth foul with 17 seconds left to play.

Keeping Minnesota's offensive weapons on the bench with foul trouble, while navigating the way around its own foul woes was the difference for MSU, said Minnesota head coach Dan Monson.

"To say we lead the league in scoring, to say we had an off-night shooting is too simplistic," Monson said. "They got into us. They frustrated us on the offensive end and we never got into a rhythm."

But the sluggish stop-and-go nature of the game was not the fault of the men in black-and-white striped shirts, Monson diplomatically added.

"I thought we got a fairly officiated game," he said. "That was a good, old-fashioned Big Ten game."

And always, when there are personal fouls, there are free throws. MSU took the edge in chances from the charity stripe, making 31-of-40 (78 percent) chances. Minnesota didn't fare as well, connecting on 19-of-29 (66 percent).

"We had by far our worst free-throw shooting performance of the year," Monson said. "We were never in an offensive rhythm and our free-throw shooting was indicative of that."

MSU freshman center Paul Davis, who scored 10 and hacked four, said maintaining focus in such a game is difficult, especially when so much was riding on the outcome for both teams.

"It's hard for any team to stay focused with those stoppages," Davis said. "(Rickert and Bauer) got into foul trouble, so we just had to maintain (focus)."

Sophomore guard Chris Hill agreed about the logjam tempo. Hill followed up his explosive 34-point long-range shooting performance from Sunday against Syracuse with eight points, going 0-for-6 from beyond the arc.

"There were some good calls and some bad calls, I guess," Hill said. "It does make it hard to get into a rhythm."

Slow and steady, though, might be the Spartans' style if it equates to finishing the season on a strong note and improving chances of earning a sixth-straight NCAA Tournament appearance.

But win or lose, the game took its toll on attention spans around the arena.

"It just seemed like it took one hundred years to finish that game," Izzo said.

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