Spartans' Fidler Offers Strong Message to Team Following Upset
The No. 11 Michigan State Spartans (19-5, 10-3) failed to earn a much-needed home victory on Tuesday night as they were upset by the Indiana Hoosiers (15-10, 6-8) at the Breslin Center. One Spartan offered some motivation and confidence following their third loss in the last four games.
Spartan senior forward Frankie Fidler spoke postgame regarding the mindset of this team and where the turn after another underwhelming performance. Despite having transferred to Michigan State from Omaha this past offseason, Fidler is well aware of what is required to win here.
"One thing about this team is we're not going to back down," Fidler said. "We're going to fight to the finish, but at the same time, I think we haven't been playing the full 40 minutes. That's something we got to get better at. We got to watch film and learn from it and try our hardest to put a complete game together."
The Spartans got out to a 20-8 lead over Indiana in the first 10 minutes of the ballgame but were unable to keep that pace and mustered 67 points in the loss. Last weekend's comeback win over Oregon had them down 14 points at halftime. Playing a complete 40 minutes is beyond crucial.
Fidler kept his response about their latest loss to a minimum as he and his team look ahead to the final stretch of the season. He knows that this team has to be dialed in, mentally, if they want any chance at winning a Big Ten title this season.
"It's just a mental approach," Fidler said. "How this team's going to come out tomorrow, how are we going to come out during practice tomorrow? I think everyone on the team is hungry to win a championship, so I think our mindset is not going to alter after today's loss, but I do think we got to come to practice with the mindset of learning and growing from tonight."
Michigan State will be back in action Saturday night when they take on Illinois Fighting Illini (17-8, 9-6) in Champaign. The Spartans beat them once this season by 2 points on their home floor and will seek the season series sweep with what would be a massive bounce-back win.
Don’t forget to follow the official Spartan Nation Page on Facebook Spartan Nation WHEN YOU CLICK RIGHT HERE, and be a part of our vibrant community group Go Green Go White as well WHEN YOU CLICK RIGHT HERE.
