Syracuse's size too much for Michigan State
Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo reacts as he watches his team play Syracuse in the first half during the Jimmy V Classic tournament. (Dec. 7, 2010) Credit: AP
No top college basketball team has run a tougher gantlet early this season than Michigan State, and it didn't get any easier for the No. 7 Spartans (6-3) in the Jimmy V Classic on Tuesday night at Madison Square Garden. To their previous losses to No. 1 Duke and No. 6 Connecticut, they added a 72-58 pounding from No. 8 Syracuse (9-0).
They say what doesn't kill you makes you stronger, and Tom Izzo's team certainly is putting that theory to the test. As tough as the Spartans might be, they were no match for the size Syracuse put on the floor in Jim Boeheim's trademark 2-3 zone that forced Michigan State to attack from outside. The Spartans made only 7 of 24 shots from three-point range and shot 38.9 percent overall while being outrebounded 38-30.
"We let them dominate us on the boards," Izzo said. "We turned into a pretty-boy jump-shooting team instead of a blue-collar, fist-fighting team. We got beat because [Jim] Boeheim's team played a lot harder, a lot more physical, played a lot better . . . We played like a bunch of girls. Our identity is soft.
"I feel like the New York Jets . . . We laid an egg."
Ooof, the unkindest insult of all.
Star guard Kalin Lucas was limited to eight points, and Korie Lucious added 10 from outside for the Spartans, who were led by Durrell Summers' 18 points. Syracuse power forward Rick Jackson has emerged as a true force this season, and he demonstrated it again with 17 points and 16 rebounds to help the Orange win the scoring battle in the paint, 42-24. Scoop Jardine added 19 points, and Kris Joseph had 14 for Syracuse.
"I feel like if Rick brings it to the table every night, nobody in the country can stop us," Jardine said. "He's the force we need him to be, and the young guys follow his lead. He lost 30 pounds; he worked hard all summer, and it shows."
Down by 12 early in the second half, Michigan State fashioned a 12-2 run that included a three-pointer by Lucas and a three-point play by Derrick Nix to cut the deficit to 48-46. Both teams turned up the defensive heat, leading to a rash of turnovers.
But Syracuse continued pounding the ball inside while the Spartans settled for three-pointers over the Orange's big bodies. As a result, Syracuse regained a 60-50 advantage with 5:25 showing. At that stage, Lucious threw up an air ball from three followed by a missed three by big man Draymond Green. At the other end, Jackson power-dunked for the 10-point lead.
After four more Michigan State turnovers and two missed threes, Syracuse extended to its biggest lead of the game at 68-52 on two straight fast-break layups by Jardine off turnovers at the end of a 20-6 run, and the Spartans were done.
Asked if the Orange gained confidence from beating a team like MSU that reached last year's Final Four, Jardine said: "A lot. I feel like our young guys really saw what college basketball was about tonight."
Notes & quotes: In the early game, No. 4 Kansas (8-0) broke out of a 39-all tie early in the second half with 63-percent second-half shooting to whip No. 13 Memphis (7-1), 81-68.
The Morris twins, forwards Markieff and Marcus, totaled 30 points and 15 rebounds, and Kansas got a 10-10 effort off the bench from Thomas Robinson. Point guard Tyshawn Taylor, a Hoboken, N.J., native, added 13 points and four assists. Freshman Will Barton topped Memphis with 16 points.
As dominant as the Jayhawks are in the frontcourt, on Dec. 18 they'll add highly touted freshman guard Josh Selby, who was suspended for the first nine games for accepting improper benefits.
"That will be the most anticipated home game in years,'' Kansas coach Bill Self said. "Josh has to just be part of it. He's not going to be the guy. We don't have the guy.''
