Bloomington, Ind. — Not counting walk-ons, nine Spartans saw the floor in Sunday's game against Indiana. All of them had at least one turnover.
There was sophomore forward Goran Suton getting stripped on a drive to the basket, then watching Indiana's Lance Stemler take it 70 feet for an uncontested layup. There was Suton and MSU's other post players responding to constant double teams by throwing the ball to no one in particular. There was MSU's guards bouncing lazy passes at the top of the key that the Hoosiers stepped in front of with ease.
MSU had 20 turnovers altogether; the Hoosiers only seven. With that many possessions surrendered, the Spartans never had a chance as the Hoosiers cruised to a 73-51 win at Assembly Hall.
"The pressure killed us," freshman forward Raymar Morgan said. "I think we got panicked a little bit, and we didn't handle it well. We've just got to stay focused with the ball."
The damage from those giveaways was splattered all across the stat sheet. Indiana (10-4 overall, 1-1 Big Ten) attempted 23 shots more than MSU (13-4, 0-2) and had a 24-4 advantage in points off turnovers.
"The game was decided by their effort-related things and our lack thereof," MSU head coach Tom Izzo said.
Sophomore guard Travis Walton (12 points) and junior guard Drew Neitzel (10) were the only players in double figures for MSU, which suffered its worst conference defeat since February 2004 and is 0-2 to start the Big Ten for the second consecutive season.
Walton was forced to the bench 30 seconds into the game after taking an elbow to the face. By the time he checked back in five minutes later, Indiana had built a 12-4 lead and the Spartans were playing from behind the rest of the game.
"We couldn't get into an offensive rhythm," sophomore guard Maurice Joseph said. "We were turning over the ball it seemed like every other possession … so it's going to feel like we're playing catch-up the whole game, which we pretty much were."
After Indiana scored the first four points after halftime to go up 42-27, the Spartans rattled off eight straight to pull within seven and temporarily revive hopes of a comeback. Sophomore center Idong Ibok blocked D.J. White on the next play, but the ball kicked out to a wide-open Lance Stemler, whose 3-pointer put the Hoosiers up 10. MSU never got closer than nine again.
White, Indiana's leading scorer, met little opposition in the paint, muscling his way to 21 points on 8-of-12 shooting. Stemler added 16 points for the Hoosiers, who have won three of their last four meetings with MSU.
The only encouraging news for the Spartans was that Morgan looked unhampered in his return to the lineup after missing seven games with a stress fracture. He had three points in 19 minutes and reported no pain after the game. Joseph also reported no problems in his second game back from the same injury.
"It's real hard, sitting out for a month and trying to get the timing back with the team and just clicking," Morgan said. "That's probably my biggest problem right now."
The return of those two gives a few more options to Izzo, who vowed to shuffle his rotation for Wednesday's game against Northwestern at Breslin Center.
"Sometimes, things have to be done," Izzo said. "Maybe I'll get some guys to wake up."
