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BASKETBALL

High-tempo Spartans explode for transition points; Izzo vows team will continue to play faster game

Tom Keller
January 22, 2007

State College, Pa. — The green light is on again. With their perimeter depth at least somewhat restored for Saturday's game against Penn State, the Spartans revived their struggling fast break — just as head coach Tom Izzo had been aching to do all season. The Spartans had three transition baskets in the first seven minutes of their 91-64 romp, and they finished the game with a 16-9 edge in fast-break points. "We're going to keep running," Izzo vowed afterward. Part of the equation was intense ball pressure up top from junior guard Drew Neitzel and sophomore guard Travis Walton, which forced several turnovers that led to transition baskets. "You pressure the ball, get a couple turnovers, (and) it gets you going on defense, it gets you going on offense," Walton said. But even on missed Penn State shots, the Spartans were getting back up the court with the urgency of someone trying to catch a bus, and Neitzel and Walton did a superb job of getting the ball ahead to streaking finishers.

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Spartans look to forget slow Big Ten start

Ethan Conley
January 9, 2007

Tom Izzo knew this year's team would struggle at times, but that doesn't mean he has to accept those struggles. Road losses to Iowa and Indiana put the Spartans in an 0-2 hole in the Big Ten, and Izzo is wondering what happened to the squad that played so well in the early portion of the season, when the Spartans topped Texas and hung tight with Maryland. "The last five games have not been played nearly as well as the first seven," Izzo said Monday in his weekly press conference.

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More road woes

Bloomington, Ind. — Not counting walk-ons, nine Spartans saw the floor in Sunday's game against Indiana.

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MSU supports Ohio State in suit against former coach

Laura Collins
December 6, 2006

MSU was part of an 18-university group that filed a brief last week supporting Ohio State in its bid to overturn a $2.4 million award to former men's basketball coach Jim O'Brien. O'Brien was fired in 2004 after he admitted giving $6,000 to the mother of a 7-foot-3 Serbian recruit, Aleksander Radojevic. The Ohio Court of Claims ruled earlier this year that although O'Brien committed NCAA violations, the university improperly fired him by not following the terms of his contract. All 10 Big Ten schools other than Ohio State signed the brief, as did the Big Ten, Pacific-10 and Big 12 conferences.

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Hoops preview

TONIGHT'S HOOPS GAME What: MSU men's basketball (7-2) vs. IPFW (3-5) Where: Breslin Center When: 7 p.m. NOTES: • MSU leads the Big Ten with a plus-11.4 rebounding margin.

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Izzo still concerned about crowd

Ethan Conley
December 5, 2006

Tom Izzo wants more from you. The MSU head coach is looking for better crowd support. He said before the season he was worried that fans have become numb to success because of the team's recent history of Final Four appearances, and his concerns haven't been helped by sparse crowds at MSU's first few home games. "I hope we're not getting fat and sassy," Izzo said. MSU has reported a sellout in each of its seven home games thus far, but plenty of empty seats have been visible in both the Izzone and the regular-seating sections.

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Morgan has stress fracture, may miss up to 3 weeks

Ethan Conley
December 5, 2006

MSU's most promising and versatile young player has been sidelined by an injury that has plagued the program for years — a stress fracture. Head coach Tom Izzo said Monday that freshman forward Raymar Morgan will miss Wednesday's game against IPFW with a stress fracture in his right shin.

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Trannon out, others step up

Joey Nowak
December 4, 2006

Bradley's four-guard lineup Sunday normally would have meant extended minutes for senior forward Matt Trannon, whose versatility has helped neutralize smaller post players in the past. But Trannon didn't play a single minute Sunday and won't for the rest of the season — head coach Tom Izzo announced Friday that Trannon won't return to the basketball team and instead will prepare for the NFL Draft. Trannon averaged 4.6 points and 4.3 rebounds a game last season and was one of MSU's best defenders.

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Spartans bounce back with win

Ethan Conley
December 4, 2006

Tom Izzo wasn't particularly happy with any of his players following MSU's loss to Boston College on Wednesday, and sophomore forward Marquise Gray was responsible for a large part of the coach's ire.

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As the turkey digests, let's reflect on MSU hoops

Ethan Conley
November 27, 2006

1. Junior guard Drew Neitzel has embraced his role as the team's go-to scorer. Neitzel averaged 33 points per game as a senior at Wyoming Park High School but was more of a distributor during his first two years at MSU, deferring to Paul Davis, Maurice Ager and Shannon Brown.

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MSU's primary color

Ethan Conley
November 27, 2006

Marquise Gray's college basketball career has been a roller-coaster ride. In three up-and-down seasons, the sophomore forward has battled several injuries and has struggled to live up to the hype that came with being an elite recruit. Gray's performance against Oakland (4-3) on Saturday was one of the "up" days.

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New York, new hope

New York — If you had asked most pundits a month ago what the greatest strength of this year's MSU men's basketball team would be, most of their answers would have sounded something like this: "It'll help pass the time until next year's Top 5 recruiting class gets here." Well, after upsetting No.

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Morgan's job: Contain Durant

Ethan Conley
November 14, 2006

The biggest factor in determining whether Thursday night will be a triumph for the Green and White or the Burnt Orange might be a matchup between two 18-year-olds. MSU (3-0) faces No.

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Not just Neitzel: Offense spreading wealth

Matt Bishop
November 13, 2006

A balanced scoring attack is what MSU didn't have last season, as three players combined for almost 80 percent of the Spartans' offense. But a balanced attack is what the MSU men's basketball team got Sunday evening at Breslin Center, as eight players recorded at least six points each to lead the Spartans to a 73-41 win against The Citadel. Pacing the attack was junior guard Drew Neitzel with 17 points, followed by freshmen Raymar Morgan and Isaiah Dahlman with 10 each. Both Morgan and Dahlman were effective from outside, each going 2-for-2 from beyond the arc. "I think he had his best game," MSU head coach Tom Izzo said of Dahlman, who turned 19 on Sunday.

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Izzo introduces highly touted recruits

Steve Highfield
November 9, 2006

About eight hours before his team kicked off its 2006-07 season, head coach Tom Izzo was busy introducing one of the most touted recruiting classes of his tenure. Guards Kalin Lucas, Durrell Summers and Chris Allen, who signed letters of intent Wednesday, make up a three-guard class that's ranked No.

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Top priority in tonight's opener: Cut turnovers

Ethan Conley
November 8, 2006

Ever wonder where all of Roy Williams' and Jim Boeheim's hair has gone over the years? Maybe it's a pesky gene that caused the tops of their heads to become bare as their coaching victories piled up. Or maybe they've just spent too many years pulling their hair out because of turnovers. And if that's the case, Tom Izzo's hairline might not be far behind. The Spartans committed 38 combined turnovers in their first two exhibition games, including 21 against Northern Michigan on Nov.