Heading into Saturday’s matchup with No. 14 Purdue in West Lafayette, Ind., junior forward Draymond Green and the rest of the No. 17 MSU men’s basketball team knew it would be difficult to slow down guard E’Twaun Moore and forward JaJuan Johnson.
The Spartans (12-7 overall, 4-3 Big Ten) were right, as the third-highest scoring duo in the country combined for 46 points for the Boilermakers (17-3, 6-1) in the win.
However, much like when reserve Brandon Paul scored 20 points in No. 23 Illinois’ win against MSU on Tuesday night, Green said it was Purdue’s third option — point guard Lewis Jackson — who hurt the Spartans’ chances Saturday.
“Those are the guys that you have to try and keep at their average,” Green said of Jackson. “We know that they have two stars, and their two stars are probably going to play well. But you have to keep the other guys in check.”
MSU struggled to stop the 5-foot-9 Jackson from getting into the paint throughout the entire game, especially in the first half. During an 8-0 run that helped the Boilermakers pull away in the final 10 minutes of the first half, Jackson scored on three straight layups on the way to scoring 19 points on only nine shots.
“Everybody’s always kind of worried about (Johnson and Moore), so they’re tight on them,” Jackson said. “And it really just gave me opportunities to get easy buckets.”
Summers gets defensive
For the second consecutive game, the Spartans allowed their opponent to shoot better than 50 percent from the field, as Purdue shot 29-for-50 (58 percent) in the win.
Still, Izzo said he was happy with his team’s defense for all but six minutes of Saturday’s game. Izzo said he especially was pleased with senior guard Durrell Summers, who has struggled to impress his head coach on defense for his entire career.
“I thought the second half was the first time in three years that I don’t think I talked to him about a defensive lapse,” Izzo said. “That’s big for us. When he starts checking somebody, we’re going to be a better team.”
Lucas goes cold
While Purdue’s star players spent Saturday night shooting the lights out, MSU senior guard Kalin Lucas shot a dreadful 3-for-16 and finished with nine points.
Despite Lucas’ poor numbers, the Spartans still shot a respectable 44 percent from the field and 50 percent from the 3-point line, and Izzo said things might have been much different had a couple of Lucas’ near misses went in the hoop.
“Going 3-for-16 was probably the difference,” Izzo said. “If he shoots anything normal, we shoot 50 percent.”
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