An afternoon earlier, as he sat in his office, Michigan State coach Tom Izzo fretted.
“People ask me, `Where do you think you guys are?’ It’s hard to tell,” he said of his young Spartans, and his ignorance was not the only reason he was concerned.
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On Sunday at the Breslin Center, they bumped up against Bradley, a dangerous member of the very major midmajor Missouri Valley Conference. Already this season one of its teams, Wichita State, had won on consecutive weekends at George Mason, LSU and Syracuse. And another, Missouri State, had defeated then-No. 7 Wisconsin, one of the Big Ten’s best.
Bradley itself had routed DePaul by 20 and fallen to Illinois by only four after frittering away a late lead, and the Braves arrived with an array of shooters who were operating like cold-blooded snipers. That was the biggest reason for Izzo’s discomfort. He was short of reliable guards and perimeter defenders, so he expected the game to be tough “because of the matchups.”
There was every reason to believe his Spartans might end up as another pelt on the Valley’s belt, but they adamantly refused to accept that role. Instead they gave a glimpse of their possibilities with a full-bore effort and an unrelenting defense in an 82-53 rout of the Braves that was every bit as bad as the score looks.
Consider some numbers. Four times in its first seven games, Bradley (5-3) had shot better than 50 percent. Sunday it shot 29.8 percent. And over those first seven games, Bradley had gone for more than 80 points four times and averaged 85.1. Sunday it finished 32.1 points short of that average. And during those first seven games, Bradley had scored 40 or more points in a half eight times. Sunday it did not get its 40th point until 4 minutes 28 seconds remained.
“The first half defensively, except for three possessions, we played the best defense ever since I’ve been here,” Izzo said of a unit that held Bradley to 21 points. “That says a lot, considering the championship teams I’ve had here.
“Everything we wanted to do defensively, we did. That’s effort-related, and (a 45-27 edge in) rebounding is effort-related. I was impressed with us, and I don’t say that very often.”
Said Braves coach Jim Les, whose team was led by Daniel Ruffin’s 13 points: “That was a thorough butt-kicking. I’m disappointed Michigan State didn’t get a taste of Bradley basketball. Our kids usually show more fight and fire and intensity. If we miss shots, fine. I wanted Michigan State to know it was in a back-alley fight, but they had their way with us pretty easily.”
That is the way to success for these Spartans (7-2), who are not abundantly talented. They have no depth at guard, where they lean heavily on Drew Neitzel, who led all scorers with 20 points, and Travis Walton, who added 15. They are woefully inexperienced down low, though they have an emerging star in freshman Raymar Morgan, who came up with 18 points and seven rebounds.
So they must rely on their defense, rebounding and grit–plus the one word that courses through any conversation with Izzo. That word is effort.
He said he had recently told his Spartans: “You’re a blue-collar team in talent. You’re not a blue-collar team in effort.”
But against Bradley, they had been just that.
“Don’t disregard [Bradley],” Izzo said in conclusion. “It’s a Missouri Valley team, and look what Missouri Valley teams have done. I saw them against DePaul and against Illinois. (Illini coach) Bruce Weber called me right after that game and told me to hang on, this was a good, good team.
“Down the road, I think this is going to be a big win on our schedule. A big win. We’ve got a long, long way to go. But we’re making some progress.”
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