I love MSU basketball, but I don't love, love this team. To be fair, things appear to be getting better, sort of. The effort against OSU was excellent and it would be interesting to see what would have happened if bucksnorts hadn't taken 23 more free throws than MSU and been whistled for more than 12 total fouls (for the game, 12 (twelve)).
What I like: Lucas is looking much more like the Lucas of old, getting into, and out of, the lane and scoring (21+ per game average over the last 6). Green is playing more of what his game should be; spending most of his time midrange where his mismatch skills are most effective. Payne and Nix looked excellent against OSU, and Sherman showed an ability to use positioning. The defense was solid, although heavily penalized. Even Kebler, Thornton and Roe looked good in their limited time. Roe was obviously very limited.
Has anyone seen D. Summers? If you've seen his body you surely haven't seen his heart. It is missing.
This team seems to be on the cusp of figuring things out. The Roe injury does not help for a team just appearing to come together. There is no room for error. This isn't a team solidly in the tournament that can afford to lose a few games. Unfortunately, at 14-11 with 5 games left, MSU likely needs to win 4 to get in or 3 with a run to the Big10 Tournament championship game. Either way, today's home game is a must get.
Which is interesting because Illinois is in a similar situation. Although at 17-9, Illinois is really underachieving for having so much experience and talent. I feel stronger each year in saying that Weber is a good guy and a pretty good recruiter, but not a great coach. That isn't to say Illinois doesn't jump up from time to time to beat teams it shouldn't. Much to the contrary, they do (Purdue) but then lose to crap teams like Illinois Chicago, Indiana and Penn State.
I predict a close game today if Illinois doesn't shoot 70% from the floor. That seems to be as big a factor this year as anything; teams that shoot well despite the defense applied break the will of this team. By halftime this team will check out mentally if their defensive efforts aren't paying off with stops on the defensive end.
McCamey is a tough matchup without Roe. Davis and Tisdale are agile and can step out to the perimeter as well. Tisdale is more up and down this season than I expected for the 8th year senior (and what about lighty for osu? didn't he play with scoonie penn?).
Lucas has to get in the lane on offense and Summers has to, has to show up. He has to make his defender work on both ends. The bigs will have to help because McCamey is big and strong, far too strong for Appling to guard alone. Closing out defensive stands with rebounds is key against a team like this. Nix and Sherman have to take Tisdale out of the game by being legit threats.
It will remain close, but Lucas wins it down the stretch.
MSU -- 69
iLL -- 66
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