Spartans Roll to 94-53 Win Over NMU to Start Exhibition Play!
Breslin Center
East Lansing, MI
The #13 Michigan State Spartans opened up the exhibition season tonight with a 94-53 win over NMU.
Tom Izzo had bragged all off season and preseason about Bryn Forbes and it showed immediately. Forbes led the way for MSU scoring 23 points. Izzo continued to praise him saying, “Forbes really started getting in the groove in the second half. What Bryn did he showed some confidence. Missed some shots, but didn’t quit shooting. Always ready to shoot, but doesn’t force shots.â€
The other player Tom Izzo had talked often about this off season was the much heralded TRUE freshman Deyonta Davis. Izzo loves players who show emotion and talk on the court. Neither of which Davis had done much of in his career up to tonight. Behind 12 points, four rebounds and four monster blocks in only 12 minutes, Davis was an emotion spewing machine that played like one of the nation’s elite youngsters.
Izzo could hardly contain his excitement with the play of his burgeoning superstar saying, “DD I thought was as solid and consistent as most guys that we had. We played with some excitement and emotion and I don’t know where that came from, but I am going to bottle it and use it. I thought DD played pretty well. DD was definitively the star of that (freshman) class. He even talked some in the huddle.â€
I mentioned to Izzo that if I had told him DD would get reprimanded by the refs for his emotion he would have never believed me prior to the game, but that happened twice. Izzo smiled and said, “That is one technical I would have welcomed.â€
On the night star senior Denzel Valentine chipped in 14 and added 10 boards and 10 assists for the double double. Gavin Schilling had 10 points and five rebounds and Javon Bess added 11 points and nine rebounds.
The Spartans won on the boards 55-32 and shot 51% from the field and 74% from the charity stripe. The Spartans also had nine turnovers, but remember that in exhibition play Izzo uses a myriad of different lineups, many of which won’t happen in the regular season.
Izzo said of his team’s overall performance that, “Very disappointed with my team in the first half. Probably have to blame me. I tried to do a substation pattern that gave everyone a chance to play. Looked a little like the Bad News Bears there for a little while. We have a lot of work to do.â€
The Spartans will return to play with their second and final exhibition game on the ninth against Ferris State. That game tips at 7pm.
Add us as a preferred source on Google