But Saturday night against No. 13 Indiana, (21-4 overall, 10-2 Big Ten) Izzo watched his team throw passes out of bounds, travel with the ball and give the Hoosiers easy points off turnovers.

“(The game) changed with a turnover,” he said. “They had four breakaway layups off those turnovers. That’s eight points. Turnovers make a big difference — this has not been a problem that has gone away. I’m really disappointed about it.”

Going into the game against Indiana, No. 10 MSU (20-5, 8-4) had averaged just 10 turnovers in the past two games against Northwestern and Purdue. It seemed as if that bridge had been crossed and left behind forever.

Unfortunately for the Spartans’ basketball fans, the team is still in the middle of the wobbly structure.

“We keep turning the ball over and it’s killing us,” freshman guard Kalin Lucas said. “We’ve gotta keep playing in order to fix it, and we can’t let it hurt us too much but we have to play better to get better.”

“Kel-vin Samp-son!”

After being accused of violating five NCAA recruiting regulations, Hoosier head coach Kelvin Sampson has no idea what his future entails.

Will he finish the season or will he be kicked to the curb?

At Assembly Hall Saturday night, Sampson’s team didn’t seem too concerned with what was going on off the hardwood.

“(The situation) definitely energized them,” Izzo said. “That’s what athletes do when their backs are against the wall. The crowd gave so much energy. Players play the game — they did a hell of a job.”

Hoosier freshman guard Jordan Crawford even said the team stayed a tight-knit group throughout the week.

“We are family — you can’t get between the family,” he said.

“Coach comes in, works us out and we practice just like we have been doing all season.”

Indiana fans even chanted “Kel-vin Samp-son!” during timeouts and other breaks in the action.

“I was happy for them chanting the names — showing they were into the game and helping us win the game,” Crawford said.

Switch-a-roo

Izzo had started the same five Spartans for the past 10 games.

But the Green and White’s lineup saw two fresh faces Saturday night, when Izzo started freshman guard Kalin Lucas and junior forward Marquise Gray, instead of junior guard Travis Walton and junior center Goran Suton.

Gray finished with just two rebounds and zero points while Lucas scored seven and had three assists.

Despite the smaller numbers on the stat sheet, Izzo was pleased with them.

“I thought the lineup change was OK,” Izzo said. “Marquise played very well early, and Kalin struggled a bit tonight, but he’ll be great. I’m not worried about him.”

Lucas came out colorful and fired up, given the opportunity to start the basketball game.

“I just wanted to play with energy and get my team involved in the game early,” he said. “It felt good to start.”

But Walton never hung his head, charging off the bench when he got the call, scoring eight points and dishing out four assists. Izzo said he brought energy off the bench.

“We’ve got to find the missing piece of the puzzle,” he said. “We’re switching things up and trying to win games. The key is to find the best combination, some way, some how.”