In the Big Ten, where size matters, Michigan State rebounded from its first loss of the season and dominated an undersized, overwhelmed Northwestern to cruise to an 84-53 victory Wednesday night at the Breslin Center.
The Spartans (13-1, 2-1 in the Big Ten), who had their 23-game winning streak snapped at Indiana on Sunday, stormed to a 41-24 halftime lead as they wound up outrebounding the Wildcats 46-17.
“I felt it was a good way to bounce back,” Michigan State coach Tom Izzo said of his defending NCAA champs. “I am still a little concerned about this team because we still don’t have all the pieces together. We are not where we need to be yet.”
Izzo shook up his starting lineup, inserting freshmen Marcus Taylor and Zach Randolph and deploying star point guard Charlie Bell at the off-guard slot. The freshmen combined for 15 points, eight rebounds and seven assists.
“I am into the mood of challenging these players right now,” said Izzo, who drew a technical foul for arguing with an official. “We’re going to play at the level I think we need to play.”
The Spartans, energized by 14,759 raucous fans, strutted their quality depth by watching more players score (10) than Northwestern dressed for the game.
“If they had had five guys [dressed], we would have been at a disadvantage,” Northwestern coach Bill Carmody said. “I don’t think depth was a factor tonight.”
Andre Hutson led all scorers with 19 points on 8-for-9 marksmanship. Bell had 14 points, Jason Richardson 13 and Randolph 11.
“I think it was good for us to try to get that loss out of our system,” Bell said. “Once that loss happened, everybody was talking about it every day. One loss probably is not going to lose the Big Ten for us, but we know that two or three could.”
It was on the boards–where Richardson and Hutson each grabbed nine rebounds–that Michigan State had its easiest way with the Wildcats.
“They were just getting every rebound. But I didn’t sense we weren’t playing hard,” Carmody said.
NU (7-8, 0-3) was outscored by Michigan State 22-6 on second-chance points. Winston Blake was the only Wildcat in double figures with 13 points on 4-for-12 shooting from the field–all three-pointers.
“I liked the way our guys played the first 10 minutes of the game,” Carmody said. “They sort of hung in there for a little bit. But there was just relentless pressure on the backboards. It seemed that it was more than 30 rebounds that they outrebounded us by. I don’t know if we can do anything to remedy that.
“What I liked about [MSU] on tape is they pass the ball around so nicely. That’s a mark of a good and unselfish team. A real powerful team. I wasn’t that unhappy that we lost by 30 because we are trying to make small steps right now.”
Spartans seniors won the 100th game of their collegiate careers. The Big Ten record is 108 victories by a group of seniors. Even without last season’s stars–Mateen Cleaves and Morris Peterson–Michigan State appears in sync.
“Cleaves ran the team so well and was a natural leader,” Carmody said. “I think they are still searching for that a little. It is hard to fill those shoes. Maybe Bell can equal Cleaves’ leadership. If you lose two guys like Peterson and Cleaves and still play very well, it says something about the program.”
