“When you’re going to be a great team, you have to have two or three guys that are playing consistent all the time,” Izzo said. “We haven’t had that.”

For whatever reason, the Spartans rarely have had more than one or two players step up in a big way on any given night. Izzo said from injuries to other possible distractions, it’s been a combination of issues keeping MSU from having more consistent scoring options.

Still, Izzo, who will coach his 14th consecutive NCAA Tournament starting at 9:20 p.m. Thursday against No. 7-seed UCLA in Tampa, Fla., said MSU is more than just Lucas.

But if the Spartans do need to depend on Lucas, much like they have for portions of this season, Izzo said his team has shown it still has a chance.

“If we are that, we’ve done well enough to get in the NCAA Tournament, which I know isn’t very good around here or to me,” Izzo said. “But it’s still one of the 68 teams still playing out of 347.”

Summers repeat?
After a solid regular season last year, then-junior guard Durrell Summers exploded in the NCAA Tournament to lead the Spartans to the Final Four without Lucas for much of the way.

Summers scored more than 20 points per game on the way to being named Midwest Regional MVP in Lucas’ absence.

This season hasn’t gone as planned for Summers, who has struggled for almost the entire second half of the year, but Izzo said that doesn’t mean he won’t be able to have a similar performance as last March.

“Can he come back? Yes, because he’s already done it,” Izzo said of Summers. “But is it as easy maybe when you have a longer slump? That’s harder.”

Izzo said Summers still isn’t shooting the ball like he’s capable, but he is doing a better job rebounding and defending while looking to break out of his offensive slump.

And if Summers can combine his improvements in other areas of the game and find his offense, Izzo said other teams in the tournament should watch out.

“If he does,” Izzo said of Summers stepping up as another scorer, “We’re going to be a team to be reckoned with.”