Spartans bemoan turnovers

By Chris Wristen     Nov 26, 2003

Thad Allender/Journal-World Photo
Michigan State coach Tom Izzo gets after an official in the first half.

Michigan State basketball coach Tom Izzo didn’t expect his Spartans’ trip to Kansas University to be a walk in the park.

Apparently his players didn’t see it that way. A recurring lack of focus proved catastrophic against No. 6 KU’s ferocious defense. The final damage was an 81-74 loss for the No. 3 MSU Tuesday night at Allen Fieldhouse.

“I was really disappointed with the casualness of the turnovers and the way some of them occurred,” Izzo grumbled following the loss.

Izzo ripped his team for the fact that most of State’s 24 turnovers were for lackadaisical reasons — seven were traveling violations, while a few others were errant passes or swipes from behind.

Kansas turned those 24 turnovers into 34 points — 42 percent of its total offense. The Jayhawks punished the Spartans for each and every mistake.

The only Spartan who didn’t draw Izzo’s ire was junior Shannon Brown, whose hustle led to three straight buckets that sparked State’s rally from a 15-point deficit midway through the second half.

A deafening fieldhouse crowd roared after each of KU’s 15 steals — seven by junior point guard Aaron Miles.

Michigan State junior guard Alan Anderson turned it over five times. Sophomore center Paul Davis gave it up four times and had four fouls. Junior guard Chris Hill had four fouls and three turnovers.

“Our turnovers were almost criminal,” Izzo said. “You have to give Kansas a lot of credit for a few of them, but not 24. You can’t do that in a place like this.

“You look at the 34 points off turnovers and then you look at the number of free throws, and I don’t know how we were in the game. I guess we were a little better offensively than I thought and a little better defensively.”

Careless ballhandling against the KU defense wasn’t State’s only problem, however.

Wayne Simien was an unbreakable bull in the paint, and Davis was totally baffled by his 28 points (18 in the first half), eight rebounds and two blocks.

Simien scored on spin moves, layups, dunks and even drained a three-pointer. Typically known for their tough inside play, the Spartans were stifled by Simien.

“He’s just quick and he’s got his footwork down,” Davis said. “He’s going to give a lot of teams trouble this year.”

The Spartans weren’t totally ineffective offensively or defensively. They managed an 8-2 run late in the first half that cut the deficit to 34-31. They mustered a 12-2 spurt midway through the second half that brought them back within seven.

Brown and Davis burned KU freshmen J.R. Giddens and David Padgett for a few easy baskets. Maurice Ager drained a pair of three-pointers late in the game that pulled the Spartans within six. Davis jammed home Hill’s missed layup and pulled State within four with less than three minutes left.

In a game where the Spartans never looked like the traditional Izzo-coached squads of the last decade, the one thing that was familiar was the lack of quit. The Spartans never rolled over, and that’s what Hill said they would hang their hat on.

“It shows we’re capable of playing with anybody in the country anywhere,” Hill said about the late rally. “We had it to a four-point game with three minutes left. I think it says a lot about our team.”

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