Spartans Punish The Citadel 82-56 After Another Slow Start at Breslin Center

Spartans Punish The Citadel 82-56 After Another Slow Start at Breslin Center Breslin Center East Lansing, MI The Michigan State Spartans came of arguably the

Spartans Punish The Citadel 82-56 After Another Slow Start at Breslin Center

Breslin Center

East Lansing, MI

The Michigan State Spartans came of arguably the worst regular season loss in Spartan basketball history with another slow start. However they came out in the second half and punished The Citadel 82-56.

Izzo said of the slow start that, “There were just some things we didn’t do right. We had a couple of mistakes there that we solved at halftime. There were still a lot of times we had three freshmen in there and no insult to me or to them, but they aren’t Kentucky freshman.”

He still had his mind on the TSU loss saying, without being asked,”I try to look back and still give Texas Southern credit for what they did. We didn’t play as bad as it looked. We just didn’t make a shot.

The Citadel head coach Chuck Driesell said of the Spartans team, “That is a great team that we played with a great coach. They are going to be really good this year. In the second half they just really really defended us as well as we have been defended all year. Their transition game got going and there was nothing we could do from there.

Denzel Valentine led the Spartans in scoring with 18 points while Matt Costello added 13 and Marvin Clark had 12. Travis Trice dished out 11 assists and Valentine and Clark each led with six rebounds. The Spartans shot 60% while holding The Citadel to 41%. MSU had only 10 turnovers to The Citadel’s 15 and led on the boards 34-19.

Izzo said, “WOW it’s been a weird year already. I told my guys something I am embarrassed to tell you. I think we practice them out of shape. I don’t think we are in great shape. I just don’t think we are there. Hopefully we will get a little rest and go at it hard.

The Spartans fell out of the top 25 after the embarrassing loss to Texas Southern. They return to action after closing out non-conference play tonight with Maryland to kick of the B1G campaign on December 30. That game is here at the Breslin and can be seen on CBS with a 4 PM tipoff.