Sophomore guard Durrell Summers drives past USC guard Daniel Hackett to shoot during the first half of the second round NCAA Tournament game Sunday afternoon at the Metrodome.
Minneapolis — Before his team suited up to take on Southern Cal, Marquise Gray called teammate Durrell Summers over for a little chat.
“I told him we can kind of lean on each other,” said Gray, a senior forward. “Everybody has their struggles, so I just told him to go over there and play.”
Heeding Gray’s advice, as well as some beneficial instructions from MSU head coach Tom Izzo, Summers finally jettisoned his stubborn shooting slump against the Trojans.
The sophomore guard finished second on the team with 11 points, helping the Spartans dispatch USC 74-69 in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
“Coach has been trying to let me know I’m not getting as much lift (on my shot) as I have, and finally I just kind of bought into it in practice,” Summers said. “Once I did that, I started hitting shots in practice and started feeling more comfortable, and it came out during the game.”
After scoring 21 points on Feb. 4 against Minnesota, Summers averaged just 4.5 points on 28.5 percent shooting (20-of-70) over his next 10 games. When the postseason arrived, he became even more ineffective, totaling just five points against Minnesota, Ohio State and Robert Morris.
But with his team knotted in a close game with the Trojans, Summers knew he needed to be a difference-maker. Helping him do that was the fact that USC’s defenders, perhaps not respecting his shooting ability, were giving him too much space to release his sometimes deadly shot.
“I figured the guy’s too far back and I can jump a little so I can get some lift and possibly shoot over him,” Summers said. “I got them up to the sweet spot and let them go, so that built my confidence and if I get another one I’m going to let it go the same way.”
Coming off the Spartans’ bench, Summers shot 4-of-5 from the field, including 3-of-4 from 3-point range. Two of his treys came midway through the first half when MSU had trouble mustering offense against a variety of USC zones, while his other triple with 14 minutes left gave the Spartans their first lead (50-47) in six minutes.
Summers also was a force on the glass — especially on the offensive end, where he snatched four rebounds in 26 minutes. He finished with eight total rebounds.
“He grabbed some big rebounds,” Gray said.
“They helped us win the game.”
Throughout his shooting slump, MSU’s coaches continued to give Summers the green light to shoot. Freshman forward Delvon Roe said that’s the only thing you can do with a player as talented as Summers.
“When a guy like that is struggling, you just got to keep talking to him and keep trying to convince him to (shoot) until the ball starts dropping in the basket,” Roe said.
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