HOMECOURT EDGE: With Help From the Izzone, Spartans Defeat Excellent Gonzaga Team!

November 17, 2009 East Lansing, MI Breslin Center  In a night that the officiating got so bad in the first half that the famed Izzone began to chant

November 17, 2009

East Lansing, MI

Breslin Center

 

In a night that the officiating got so bad in the first half that the famed Izzone began to chant Hightower, clamoring for their arch nemesis referee Ed Hightower, the Spartans showed guts.

With The Crowd Leading the Way, the Spartans Defeated Gonzaga! Photo Courtesy of Bill Marklevits

 

Mid major, but legitimate power Gonzaga was all they are billed to be. They came into the Breslin Center tonight not the least bit intimidated. Using their size, they took on the Spartans at their weakest point, the middle.

 

With 7:54 left in the first half the Spartans saw themselves down 13 and they could have folded. This team looked like they hadn’t practiced together and they hadn’t. Injuries and sickness have hindered the preseason #2 team in the nation from getting time together, and with two true freshmen leading the way at center, it was apparent.

 

Lack of practice time was a legitimate complaint for this team, but what they lacked in practice time they demonstrated in toughness. Derrick Nix and Garrick Sherman attacked on the defensive end and the offensive end, and the Bulldogs had to take notice.

 

Although neither will show up on tonight’s state sheet as major contributors, they got incredible minutes and experience. Izzo was not in a mood to give much praise to his young bigs tonight, but I am. 

 

When March comes, the Spartan Nation will look back at tonight’s contest as a learning experience more than a win. It was a Final Four type game with a Final Four type atmosphere. Neither team has a reason to hang their head.

 

You could tell that the Spartans hadn’t had a lot of time with each other, whether it was spacing issues or being out of position, and those things can be taught. What can’t be taught is toughness and grit, and this team has a lot of it.

 

The world doesn’t crash when you don’t play well against a good school, and this early in the season, Izzo is loaded with his beloved tape to teach and to pressure his players for more. Izzo even reflected on the game saying, “I enjoyed watching their team more than ours tonight.”

 

With 13:54 left in the game the raucous crowd was at a deafening tone, and with a timeout they somehow erupted to another level of decibel at the urging of Durrell Summers. 

 

On a night when the Spartans were not at their best, the Breslin crowd was. At levels not heard in many years, they willed this team to a win. How good were they? They even got the people in the lower and upper bowl to stand. Chris Allen commented to me after the game that he couldn’t hear Kalin Lucas calling plays at some points.

 

Izzo’s praise for the crowd said it all, “Like old times when the crowd won the game for us.”

 

The Spartans responded to their sixth man. With 12:30 in the half, Kalin Lucas sidestepped a Bulldog and coolly nailed a three that tied the game, and once again the Breslin Crowd erupted in a euphoria that literally made it impossible to hear your neighbor.

 

Durrell Summers refused to lose. With 9:23 in the second half, he drove the lane for the two and made the free throw to move the Spartans to within 4 at 56-52. It was at that moment you knew this was going to be a dogfight that would make the big dance proud, but you could also sense the Spartans were going to win.

 

The Spartans won tonight for the main reason that their program has become a nationally elite power, toughness. This is the toughness that Izzo wills on them and toughness that Izzo preaches. Tonight was a program win.

 

Izzo’s cagers didn’t play well. They looked at times sloppy from the lack of practice time, but when it mattered, they dug deep and with the adrenaline of their crowd they pulled out a win over a very good Gonzaga team. Izzo said it best, “We looked sloppy…we looked out of sync.”

 

In a win that could be an early defining moment for this crew, they rose to the expectation of their ranking. They played in a way that made past, present, and even future Spartans, like Russell Byrd (2010 recruit from Fort Wayne, Indiana in the crowd), proud.

 

With as hard as the youngsters played early, it was the Spartans’ captains Raymar Morgan and Kalin Lucas whose scoring put the Spartans in position to win. Clearly hindered from his ankle injury that has him playing at about 70%, Raymar Morgan poured in 16 points. In fact, Izzo described it as, “One of the more heroic performances I have seen since I have been here.” Morgan went down having hurt his other ankle and within seconds of reaching the bench was VEHEMENTLY informing Izzo that he would return and return IMMEDIATELY. Fellow captain Kalin Lucas added 19 points and five assists.

 

As critical as the play of the captains was, it was the athleticism of Durrell Summers that was on display for the nation. He had another great game leading the Spartans by scoring 21, but more importantly, his athleticism kept the Spartans in the game and puzzled Gonzaga that had no player that could match up with him.

 

Gonzaga head coach Mark Few talked about the crowd in glowing terms. “Terrific college basketball atmosphere, BEFORE Thanksgiving. It felt like a game that would clinch a championship in a league. I think both teams rose to the level of the atmosphere.”

 

The final score was 75-71, but it was even closer than that. Tonight was a game that will be an instant classic. It will be one that years from now Izzo will show young players and reflect back on with admiration. Tonight was more than an early season win. Tonight sent a message. It sent the message that Izzo has harped for years. Good teams find ways to win when they aren’t playing well. His did tonight.