Junior guard Denzel Valentine maneuvers around Illinois guard Malcolm Hill Feb. 7, 2015, during the game at Breslin Center. The Spartans were defeated by the Fighting Illini, 59-54. Erin Hampton/The State News
With 17 seconds left, junior guard Denzel Valentine missed a potential game-tying shot from no more than five feet away from the rim. After the miss, Valentine was forced to foul and picked up his fifth personal, leaving MSU without its best all-around player with 15 seconds left on the clock.
Valentine said he got bumped on the attempt but called it a bad shot after Saturday’s 59-54 loss to Illinois.
After a made Illinois free throw, a three-point heave from senior guard Travis Trice came up short and MSU’s day was over.
This final sequence was just more evidence that the Spartans lack a closer. Valentine is the closest thing MSU has to one, but too many times, he’s been sidelined because of foul trouble down the stretch.
Valentine scored the game’s first points at the 19:36 mark but he didn’t score again for almost 18 minutes. He struggled in the first half, making just 2-of-7 field goals, including two missed three pointers.
After halftime, Valentine’s game elevated dramatically. He drilled his first three at the 16:31 mark and scored or assisted on the team’s next seven points.
He picked up his third foul with about 13 minutes left after disrupting a three-point attempt from Illinois’ Kendrick Nunn.
“But Valentine got undisciplined and (got) in foul trouble, fouled the jump shooter, he had two ridiculous fouls and he fouls him on that three,” Izzo said. “You can't do that. You just can't do those things.”
Izzo, who had previously talked about rethinking his strategy of sitting players with two fouls, yanked Valentine for the next two minutes.
When he reentered the game, he was effective once again. The troubling part of Valentine’s performance was that despite his versatility, he didn’t step to the free throw line once. MSU was disastrous from the line as a team, but Valentine, an 83 percent free throw shooter, never had the opportunity to help.
“I drew a couple fouls, but they were on the floor fouls in the second half,” Valentine said. “It’s frustrating.”
After 18 second half minutes, Izzo said Valentine was worn out at the end at the end of the game. Between being run down and a fourth foul that he picked up at the 2:02 mark in the half, it was only a matter of time before MSU would be without Valentine.
Last week, Izzo talked about how Valentine “puts way too much pressure on himself.” His personal, team, and program goals are far-reaching. Seeing him running on fumes at the end of the game attests to just how hard he plays and the fouls may point to him simply trying to do too much.
“I don’t ever go to bed at night wondering if he cares,” Izzo said. “I don’t ever go to bed at night wondering if this isn’t the most important thing in the world to him.”
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