Madison, Wis. — Tom Izzo thinks MSU should be considered 2-0 in the Big Ten right now. Oh sure, the standings will show Illinois and Wisconsin each recently recorded a victory over the Spartans. But as far as Izzo is concerned, MSU might as well get credit for beating itself in those two games.
"I've always been one to give credit, but I think sometimes you've got to give blame," an exasperated Izzo said after his team got pounded by Wisconsin on Sunday, 82-63.
"I don't like to admit that because then I've got to take it myself. But you've got to give some blame to Michigan State."
Izzo said what many of his players must have been thinking — that while Illinois and Wisconsin have both played extremely well against MSU, the Spartans haven't done much to help their own cause.
And he's right. MSU has played about as poorly as it's capable of playing in the last week, just as Illinois and Wisconsin have played about as well as they're capable.
The problem for MSU in these two losses has been letting the opponent dictate the way the game is played.
These are not your big brother's Spartans. They aren't built to win games in the 50s, as much as Izzo might wish they were.
The Spartans like to get the ball in the open court, where their offense is as close to an art form as basketball can get.
The Badgers — and most of the Big Ten — like to do just the opposite. If they could petition the NCAA to make the shot clock 35 minutes long, they probably would.
When two teams of equal talent but different style play each other, the game often comes down to which team can impose its will on the other.
And Wisconsin not only imposed its style on MSU, it knocked the Spartans to the ground and then beat them over the head with it for 40 minutes.
They limited the Spartans to just two fast break baskets, and neutralized the team's one-two punch even more so than Illinois did.
Paul Davis ended the first half with as many points as Anthony Hamo, which, in case you weren't keeping score at home, was zero. Davis finished with only two points on 1-of-6 shooting.
Maurice Ager, who was so consistent earlier in the season it sometimes felt like he was scoring even when he wasn't on the floor, missed 14 of his 19 attempts and managed just 11 points before fouling out.
"Our two stars are not playing very well," Izzo said. "It's no big secret. In fact, they're playing awful.
"I'm not sure I understand what's happened to our offense."
And he's not talking about a there's-a-little-something-wrong-with-their-jumpshots-but-we'll-fix-it-in-practice kind of way. It's more like a the-basket-looks-200-miles-away-every-time-they-come-down-the-court kind of way.
Maybe it's just the shock of readjusting to the bruising Big Ten style of play. Maybe the pressure to handle so much of the scoring is starting to take its toll on Davis and Ager. Maybe the rim is smaller on MSU's end of the court. Izzo doesn't know, the players don't know and I certainly don't know.
But what everyone's agreeing on is that the Spartans can't allow this early string of hardships to send them into a tailspin, especially since things won't get any easier from here.
The Spartans face an absolutely backbreaking conference schedule, which this week has them facing the Big Ten's two other ranked teams, Indiana and Ohio State.
But Izzo refuses to use the schedule — or Dee Brown's career performance or Ray Nixon's banked 3-pointer — as an excuse. This is all about his team. And by putting all of the responsibility on the Spartans for the hole they've dug themselves, Izzo also has given them all the power to reverse their fortune.
"I did not think the schedule was very fair," Izzo said. "Now I think the schedule is perfect, because we have done to us more than the schedule has done to us. We deserve this. It's our job to work us out."
Izzo asserted himself at the podium. Now the Spartans have to do the same on the floor.
Tom Keller is a State News men's basketball reporter. Reach him at kellert1@msu.edu.
