Michigan State out-athleticized Northwestern all night in a 91-70 win, consistently playing in a spot the Wildcats are unfamiliar with: Above the rim.

“I said when we came in here that, if we could win by one point, I’d be happy”, Michigan State coach Tom Izzo opened his postgame press conference by saying. A lack of smile belied what he must have been feeling – jubilation. Last year, Northwestern visited Michigan State and Left with a victory. Izzo said he didn’t use last years loss as motivation; but, whatever he used worked as his Juniors ruled the day. Big first half from Durrell Summers and a bigger second half from Kalin Lucas helped the Spartans to a 91- 70 win over the Wildcats of Northwestern.

By Big 10 standards the 161 points scored is what you might call “absurd”. For a high scoring game this one really struggled to find a flow, though. Northwestern struggled to find their shot for long stretches in both halves, and the second half dragged with 30 total fouls called.  Say what you want about the ‘Cats, though, they were consistent. They shot 37.1% in the first, and 37.0% in the second. For their part, State had the stroke working late in the first, and all through the second.

Northwestern looked to capitalize on a perceived weakness in the MSU offense by coming out in the 1-3-1.The have Spartans struggled mightily in this young season, as they did last season, with the zone defense. Northwestern was aggressive and quick closing out on the wings.  After a travel by Lucas less than 2 minutes in, though, the Spartans handled it with ease. State showed a rare patience in capitalizing by moving the ball side to side and getting 18 points in the paint in the first half, including 5 from Draymond Green. Despite how often, and how early, State was able to get the ball inside against the zone, the ‘Cats stayed with it until the under 12:00 timeout (with 10:44 to go IN THE GAME). In the game, when the Spartans were up by 18 points.
The ‘Cats were able to take advantage of another unSpartan-like weakness in this season to keep it close through the first half. Despite shooting only the aforementioned 37.1% in the first half, the ‘Cats took 8 more shots than the Spartans by pulling down the same amount of offensive rebounds. While the Spartans usually dominate the boards, Michigan State held only a 19-16 advantage at the break. Over the first 20 minutes, there were 6 ties and 10 lead changes. Despite the hustle plays, the ‘Cats cold shooting began to catch up with them late in the first  and a 12-3 run by State over the final 3:19 sent MSU to the locker room with their largest lead to that point - 8.

The first 20 minutes were the Durrell Summers Show. Sure, he “only” had 14 points and 6 boards. But, every time it felt like Northwestern was gaining some momentum, Summers made a big play, including 2 big triples.  He took apart the Northwestern zone both inside and out, forcing the ‘Cats to close out on the wings and enabling State to get the ball inside for easier baskets. Izzo was sure to laud Summers’ effort the last few weeks, citing his extra effort outside of practice, as being the difference in his game.

Northwestern wouldn’t be able to close the halftime gap to anything less than 7 and after the under 16:00 timeout, the Spartans really started to pour it on because that was Kalin Lucas time. Izzo said of him after the game “you saw a more aggressive Kalin Lucas”. After the under 16:00 time out, the pre-season Big 10 Player of the Year took the game over. He had 15 second half points on 5-6 shooting, including a huge 3 with at 11:03 that put MSU up 15 and was really the nail in the coffin.  “He’s a jet” Northwestern head coach Bill Carmody said of Lucas after the game. Stroking his Junior point guard, who he asked to leave practice last week, Izzo was quick to say “when [Lucas] is playing aggressively, he’s one of the best guards in the country, in my opinion”.

The difference for both the Spartans and Lucas himself in the final 20 minutes was the aggressiveness they showed. And, as usual, as Lucas went so did MSU. So while Kalin’s aggressive play lead the highflying Spartans, he was not the only one.   The Spartans dominated the boards in the final 20 with a +9 margin, including 7 offensive rebounds and 10 second chance points.  The Spartan effort was punctuated by a half court alley-oop from Chris Allen to Raymar Morgan. After three consecutive Wildcat possessions ended in points (two of them with 3’s), Allen and Morgan sprinted up the court off the made basket. Allen received the inbound, took 2 dribbles, and lobed a perfect arc to Morgan for the two handed throw down. The Green and White faithful, which numbered nearly half the crowed, erupted.

“Versatility is the key for successful teams” Izzo said after the game, in reference how the Spartans used senior forward/guard/everything Raymar Morgan. According to the Spartan coach, they used him at three positions through the game, and he played well everywhere. He pointed out that Morgan “did a little bit of everything”, shooting 5-9, including 1-1 from three, while adding 6-7 from the line and pulling down 5 boards.

Izzo wasn’t happy with everything - “I’d like to see [Morgan’s] rebounding numbers be a little better. That’s something we’ll address” and “gotta get [Sophmore Forward] Delvon [Roe] going a little bit” the coach added. To be sure, after a strong start, where he was disrupting around the rim including 2 blocks in the first half, Roe was virtually a nonfactor in the game.  He also wanted to see Summers stay out of foul trouble; which he was in throughout the second half. But, “I think we’ve played better than we’ve been playing”, he said.

In the end, Izzo was not smiling, but he must have felt good.