For the second consecutive game against Minnesota, MSU struggled with turnovers.
This time, the Spartans handed the ball back to the Golden Gophers 18 times. Combine that with the 21 turnovers the Spartans had in the last meeting between these two teams and that makes for two sloppy games.
MSU decidedly won both games.
"They deserve 65 percent of the credit, and we deserve 35 percent of the blame," MSU head coach Tom Izzo said.
In comparison, in the three games before Wednesday's game, MSU committed only 31 combined turnovers in games against Iowa, Ohio State and Michigan.
But what is it that Minnesota does that is causing all these turnovers?
Nothing, according to many of MSU's players.
"They do a good job of playing defense and pressuring, but it's just us and being careless with the ball," sophomore guard Shannon Brown said.
Brown had eight of the 39 turnovers, two coming on traveling violations in Wednesday's tilt.
Senior guard Chris Hill, who has accounted for seven of the turnovers, looks at it the same way.
"We got a little bit careless towards the end, but most of those are our fault," Hill said.
On the other end of the spectrum is freshman guard Drew Neitzel, who has only turned the ball over two times, both on Wednesday.
Not everyone agrees
Minnesota head coach Dan Monson, seeing the criticism MSU has received from the media, wondered what the deal was.
"I think it's ridiculous," Monson said.
"They're the most underrated team out there. What are they, 18-4 now, and people think they're underachieving? I'd take that team."
Monson then went on to list MSU's losses to Duke, Illinois, George Washington and Wisconsin and mockingly implied that they were bad losses.
Club 1,000
With a first-half free throw, junior center Paul Davis became the 34th player in MSU history to record 1,000 points in his career.
Davis joins Hill, senior guard Kelvin Torbert and senior swingman Alan Anderson to reach the plateau.
MSU now becomes the seventh team in Big Ten history to have four 1,000-point scorers on its roster at one time.
Davis finished the game with 14 points and 12 rebounds, his third double-double in the past four games.
