Nate Erickson, Michigan State student blogger

It was a tale of two cupcakes – after blowing out Alcorn State by 58 points last weekend, the men of Sparta were heavily favored Wednesday night against The Citadel, .500 on the season with a couple of bad losses including Iowa and riding a two game streak of close L’s to Elon and UC Davis.  Early on, things looked to be going the Spartans way, getting off to an 8-0 start with the help of Lucas, Morgan and Roe.  From there, however, there was little indication that this game was going to be anything close to the blowout we saw on Saturday.  MSU won the game 79-65, but these types of games won’t cut it down the stretch, especially with big games against Texas, defending national champion Kansas, and the always-tough Big Ten slate just around the corner.

The Good:

• Raymar Morgan. Morgan goes as the team goes.  One night he looks like a Naismith contender, the next, you wonder if he even likes basketball.

• Delvon Roe. While it didn’t show in the points column, Roe played a solid game – four steals and a blocked shot helped us keep our momentum.  Look for his minutes to continue to rise moving toward the season.  This kid is a player, he loves MSU (check the tattoo on his left arm), and he’s got a lot to show us.

• Kalin Lucas also did a great job distributing the ball and is really starting to mature as a leader on this team.  Eight assists, one turnover.

• It’s good to see Suton back, too.

The Bad:

• Free Throw Shooting.  On an Izzo-coached squad, you can’t shoot 23 for 35 from the charity stripe.  We’ve all seen the commercial.

• Chris Allen did a lot of shooting, but it was just wasn’t there tonight.  He had more shot attempts than Morgan but less than half as many points.

• Travis Walton can’t just be the vocal leader of this team, he’s going to have to lead by example.  Last night was most definitely an aberration, but five turnovers with no points is simply unacceptable.

What do we take from this win?  CitadelSports.com’s headline reads, “Michigan State Outscores The Citadel, 79-65.”  Outscores.  Fitting, because at moments, it certainly didn’t look like the Spartans were outplaying The Citadel by any stretch of the imagination.  From one game, we see the athleticism and toughness of the Flintstones era, I see glimpses of the Brown-Ager-Davis, “we’ll-just-win-because-we-shoot-better” mentality – and we all know how that ended.  Remember George Mason?  From game to game, this squad leaves us wondering who – if anybody – is going to show up?  For the depth of this Spartan team, you can forgive cold shooting, but you can’t forgive sloppy ball-handling and being out-hustled for easy rebounds – something I’m sure Izzo has and will remind his team of plenty before playing the Longhorns.

Nate Erickson is a senior at Michigan State University. He can be reached at NateMSU@gmail.com.