Tired Spartans Take Care of IPFW with Santa Hollis in the House!

East Lansing, MI

Breslin Center

 

With Santa Hollis in the House, the Spartans Cruised to Victory. Photo Courtesy of the MSU SID.

It wasn’t a pretty win. Certainly, the Spartan Nation is spoiled when you can say that after a 22 point 80-58 drubbing of your opponent, but it is true, it wasn’t pretty. The Spartans looked lethargic and tired, but they do what good teams do and kept winning.

 

Coach Tom Izzo, never one to shy from being critical of himself or anyone else, agreed. Izzo is one who, like it or not, takes criticism of his athletes and the entire Spartan athletic program to heart, and he came to the podium on fire for the talk radio and message board people who think student athletes have a “Special” and easy life. “If anyone ever tries to put athletes in a position where they're treated like normal students, I want to tell you that you're insane," were Izzo’s comments.

 

With all of the negativity being thrown around in the wake of the Spartan football off field issues, Izzo is testy right now. His team faced nine days off that were hard to practice with multiple finals, and with so many bemoaning the athletes having it easy line he was having none of it.

 

His team had 9 days off, but they weren’t able to spend loads of time practicing as Izzo makes his kids take finals when scheduled and it was tough. In fact, he said that on Friday they had “11” finals alone.

 

The Spartans did come out strong, but they ran out of gas and let IPFW come back into the game. 

 

The Spartans’ first half of the season is coming to an end. They now will face the biggest test of the season against a Texas team in Austin on Tuesday. Today, the Longhorns beat UNC who dismantled the Spartans earlier this year in Chapel Hill. This game could tell a lot about how far this team has come in the first half and especially since North Carolina. Then have an easy task on the 30th with Texas Arlington before starting Big Ten play.

 

The highlight of today was MSU AD Mark Hollis. Dressed in a Santa Claus costume, he traveled throughout the Breslin handing out candy to the boys and girls.