Washington, D.C. - The MSU basketball team continued to struggle in the second day of the BB&T Classic, but escaped with a 66-60 win over George Mason on Sunday in the consolation game at the MCI Center.
"We just didn't do the things we needed to," MSU head coach Tom Izzo said, while talking about his team's inability to widen its lead over the Patriots (3-3).
"We got sloppy in the second half; we turned the ball over and so many of them were unforced, and that's just a lack of focus," he said.
Izzo made some lineup changes after the No. 11 Spartans (4-2) lost to George Washington in the opening round of the tournament, 96-83. Senior guard Tim Bograkos started in place of sophomore Shannon Brown, and sophomore forward Delco Rowley started for junior center Paul Davis.
Izzo said the changes didn't make much of a difference, however.
"I didn't get what I wanted," he said. "And I didn't change the lineup, they did," he said, stating that the players didn't meet certain standards.
Izzo said he started Bograkos because of a much-needed improvement on the defensive end of the floor after giving up 96 points the day before.
Brown played 23 minutes and ended up scoring 10 points to go along with five rebounds and no turnovers.
Davis didn't enter the game until 15:43 remaining in the opening half, when the score was tied at eight.
"I had no argument, I didn't play like a starter should (Saturday)," Davis said about being benched after the loss to George Washington. "I'm not playing like the awards and pre-season things that I've gotten, and I'm not really playing like I did last year."
The 6-foot-11 Davis, a preseason All-Big Ten selection, continued to have problems adjusting to the flow of the game Sunday, finishing with 12 points and seven rebounds against a team with no player taller than 6 foot 7.
The Spartans and Patriots traded scoring runs in the first half, which hardly resembled Saturday's fast-paced and high-scoring game.
MSU led 35-30 at halftime after allowing George Mason to go on a 9-2 run, which followed a 15-2 run of their own.
Junior guard Maurice Ager once again led the Spartans in scoring early on, using his sharp-shooting skills to put eight points on the board in the first half. But foul trouble limited Ager's minutes, leaving him with 13 total points for the day to lead MSU.
George Mason guard Lamar Butler picked up where Ager left off, scoring 11 points in the second half and leading the Patriots back within a basket. He finished with 19 points to lead all scorers.
The Patriots cut the Spartans' lead down to one point with 4:38 remaining, but a strong Davis layup kept MSU ahead for good. George Mason head coach Jim Larranaga called it the "key basket" of the game.
Izzo also said that playing in the consolation game contributed to his team's lack of effort and energy on Sunday.
"To be honest with you, it's hard for us to play in the consolation game," Izzo said.
"We looked forward to getting a shot at Maryland and playing in the championship game," he said. "When you're a ranked team, you don't want to play in the consolation game."
Several players, including senior forward Alan Anderson, echoed their coach.
"It's hard," Anderson said, "especially when you've got the mindset coming in that you're trying to win your first championship of the season.
"We need to play better and we've got a long week ahead of us to get better, and we took a step today. We're just trying to get direction right now."
Anderson finished the game with 12 points and seven rebounds, while fellow senior guard Chris Hill added nine points and three assists.
"We know we're capable of playing much better basketball," Hill said.
The Spartans' next game is against Stanford (2-3) on Saturday at The Palace of Auburn Hills.
Jonathan Malavolti can be reached at malavol2@msu.edu.
