Northwestern coach Bill Carmody usually would love to praise one of his players who scored a combined 60 points in two games against a top-10 team.
But as it was earlier this season when the Wildcats (14-7, 3-6 Big Ten) lost to Michigan State at home, forward John Shurna’s efforts were rendered meaningless Saturday night in a loss to the No. 5 Spartans (19-3, 9-0) on the road. This time Shurna scored 31 points in the 79-70 setback at the Breslin Center.
“I’d rather not talk that much about it because it’s a team game and we lost,” Carmody said. “I’m happy for him, but we have things to work on so I don’t want to say anything.”
Shurna wasn’t exactly doing cartwheels outside the Wildcats’ locker room either.
The Wildcats played a solid first half to trail Michigan State 30-28. After halftime they withered into a shell as the Spartans outscored them 18-4 in the first 10 minutes. Northwestern could manage only one field goal in that span and trailed 48-32.
The Spartans shot 75 percent in the second half on their way to shooting nearly 52 percent for the game.
“That really was the game,” Carmody said.
Nothing makes a team doubt itself like an opponent crashing the offensive boards and smashing at least three monstrous dunks, as Durrell Summers did. Summers’ season-high 24 points and 10 rebounds, including four offensive boards, made a vast difference as the Spartans outrebounded Northwestern 37-27.
“We talked the other night (and) he learned he has to play with that emotion,” Michigan State coach Tom Izzo said.
Summers’ performance also made up for the absence of starting forward Raymar Morgan, who fouled out with no points in 16 minutes.
Perhaps the most telling difference between Michigan State and Northwestern is that the Spartans can go 1-for-11 on 3-pointers in the first half and watch one of their key starters go scoreless and still win, while the Wildcats can make 11 3s total and watch one of their key starters post a career high in points and still lose.
“They’re a good team,” Shurna said. “They’re athletic and they play good defense. We were playing good defense ourselves, but we gave up too many offensive rebounds early on and … it was hard to get rhythm after that.”
Northwestern climbed back to within six points with less than two minutes remaining as the Spartans made only one field goal in the final six minutes. Michigan State converted 22 of 31 free-throw attempts to help stay ahead.
The Spartans remain the lone unbeaten team in the Big Ten, while NU needs to figure out quickly which way its season will go.
“We just have to stay focused,” Shurna said. “We started out well, but we’ve lost a couple so we have to bounce back.”
———-
sryan@tribune.com
