Spartans Cruise Past Wichita State

The crowd began to rock as they prepared to see their Spartan cagers fresh off of a victory in the famed Madison Square Garden in New York City long before the Spartans tipped off the ball.

Matt Trannon and Marquise Gray, both coming off of career games in New York, looked to continue that aggressive and athletic play here in the Palace. With Wichita State being a more athletic team, it was assumed that Goran Sutton would pick up some important minutes.

Gray got the start at the 4, but Trannon, for sure, would get his minutes. The development of the 4 is very critical for the Spartans to reach the lofty expectation. However, it was Sutton who was brought in next with 2:21 into the game.

The Spartans took control early with aggressive defense and a fast transition game. When Trannon entered the game, he, by far, got the loudest response from the crowd, as the Spartan Nation faithful respects Trannon’s two sport and hard work efforts.

As they should, the Spartans had control early. Following the lead of Mo Ager, Shannon Brown and Paul Davis simply pushed and prodded all through the first half keeping Wichita off balance with the Spartan defense.

With about 3:30 left in the 1st half, Izzo slowed the offense down and the half ended with a 15-point lead.

That was the interesting part of the game. The Spartans never really relinquished control and cruised. With big games coming up, the Spartans needed to take care of business in this game, and they did.

“Tonight was a big game for us, here at the Palace. We certainly wanted to come down here, it is still our state, and take care of business” said Paul Davis. “Sure playing down here is special, we love the opportunity to come here to this facility and location and play in front of so many of our fans,” said the Spartan’s head coach Tom Izzo.

Tonight’s performance was a good one. Wichita had taken Illinois (the team many feel will be MSU’s best competitor for the Big Ten crown) to the wire. “That is the best team we played all year,” said the WSU head coach. That was certainly something that the Spartan Nation liked hearing but not Izzo, who was quick to tell us why the complimentary coach was wrong.