There's no shortage of big bodies eager to mix it up in the paint on the MSU men's basketball team.
Though the inexperienced White squad fell to the Green squad, 84-44, its frontcourt demonstrated the talent and resolve necessary to give MSU a solid bench throughout the upcoming season.
Redshirt freshmen Idong Ibok and Goran Suton showed no hesitation in attacking the basket from the low block during Saturday's Green-White scrimmage, despite being matched up against more experienced players. The two struggled to put the ball in the basket in the first half, but came back strong in the second. Suton finished with 18 points, and Ibok netted 12.
"I think I was a little bit nervous, coming out and playing in front of 12 -13,000 people," Suton said. "It took us a little while to get going and start pushing, and then we created some opportunities."
The aggressive play also led to a rash of fouls, including five from Ibok. MSU head coach Tom Izzo said he was pleased to see such tenacity from his young big men, even if it led to foul trouble.
"If there's one thing we have this year, it's depth inside," Izzo said. "If we play a little harder and get in foul trouble on the inside it's not as critical as getting in foul trouble outside. Last year, we had the opposite problem."
MSU's returning players also put forth a strong showing, especially on the wings. Senior guard Maurice Ager put up 26 points and junior guard Shannon Brown filled the statistics sheet with 20 points and six assists.
Izzo said the combination of Ager and Brown could spell trouble.
"They've got a ways to go, and there will be ups and downs, but they've worked so hard," Izzo said. "They can guard each other, and I'm not sure anybody else can guard either one of them."
Senior center Paul Davis made the play of the night, slamming a swinging reverse dunk off a missed layup by freshman guard Maurice Joseph.
"Paul does stuff like that all the time," redshirt freshman forward Marquise Gray said. "That was a nice dunk. You don't see it that often from him, but I see it every day, so it's really not that exciting to me."
Izzo said the team needs to eradicate its sloppy tendencies, especially with the little time they have to prepare before facing quality out-of-conference opponents. The scrimmage featured a wealth of deflections, poor passes and defense lapses.
"A little bit of the problem with this team is we have segments of things," Izzo said.
"We have a shot blocker that's got to become a better offensive player; we have an offensive player that has to get good enough on defense. You have to play both ends of the floor."
