KU’s building tough place to play

By Drew Sharp - Detroit Free Press     Nov 27, 2003

? Allen Fieldhouse isn’t for the claustrophobic.

Everyone’s on top of you, looking over your shoulder, watching every step you make. It’s the reason why coach Tom Izzo brought his third-ranked Spartans to one of the citadels of college basketball.

Those that are good enough and fortunate enough to persevere along the road to the Final Four in four months are the ones most capable of melding talent with toughness.

Maintaining their focus amid one of the noisiest dens in the country was the Spartans’ first test of a young season.

“I had heard that some of the students were so excited about this game that they slept in front of the arena the night before,” MSU center Paul Davis said. “I know now why everyone says that this is one of the two or three toughest places to play. It just stayed loud all game, but that’s what we were prepared for.”

At first blush, there is no passing grade emerging from the Spartans’ 81-74 loss to sixth-ranked Kansas on Tuesday in what was ordained as the season’s first marquee matchup of the nationally elite.

Exactly how can there be a “marquee matchup” in a season that seems only hours old?

If ESPN says it’s big, then it must be.

But there were plenty of eyes on the Spartans, and they disappointed to the extent that they were sloppy offensively and lazy defensively. The veterans counted on for stability in a hostile setting disappointed with their casual demeanor with the ball. Kansas scored 34 points off 24 turnovers.

And you can”t credit the crowd for that. That responsibility rests solely on the Spartans.

“We threw interceptions for touchdowns,” said Izzo, using the Joey Harrington correlation.

The college basketball season affords a coach the luxury of turning an early blowout loss into a potential learning tool.

Most would figure a coach would shorten his rotation to heighten the margin for error against such a tough opponent, but Izzo scheduled such a fierce November trip with the hope that it might pay dividends in February in Champaign and Madison.

If wide-eyed frontcourt novices like Drew Naymick and Justin Ockerman, who didn’t fare too badly in their limited minutes, got a tiny taste of what’s expected later then perhaps there might be some residual value emerging from this initial disappointment.

The Spartans look soft. They have a serious deficiency at power forward.

Fifth-year senior Jason Andreas is a defensive liability, bobbling away what should have been two easy rebounds, and redshirt freshman Delco Rowley has to realize that although basketball is definitely a contact sport, a little more subtlety is required or else you’ll foul out by halftime.

At some point, Izzo will realize that his strongest lineup is the smaller outfit he had on the floor when the Spartans nearly came back from a 17-point deficit, pulling to within four points with three minutes remaining.

But another concern remains the juniors’ inability to assume control of this team. Sophomore Paul Davis is certainly a rising star and fellow second-year man, guard Maurice Ager, might be the toughest player on the team.

But the Spartans will go only as far as juniors Chris Hill, Kelvin Torbert and Alan Anderson take them.

They could have delivered an early statement that they’re ready to assume ownership of this team, but the deed remains unwanted.

Hill is supposed to be the primary offensive threat, but he had difficulty getting his shot, and Torbert still doesn’t possess the open-court fluidity many anticipated of him when he was one of the nation’s top high school prospects three years ago.

“You figure that mistakes are going to happen,” Izzo said, “but it shouldn’t happen from your experienced players the way that it did today.

But we’re going to be a better team because of this. I promise you.”

The Spartans have one of the toughest non-conference schedules in the country. They’ll host Duke next week and Oklahoma, Kentucky and UCLA remain on the calendar. Izzo wanted to face the Jayhawks on their floor, and it’s understandable because this is a fabulous venue.

The banner that rests atop the tribute to the long line of Jayhawk All-Americas bears a foreboding warning: “Pay heed, all who enter — Beware of ‘The Phog.”‘ It”s a reference to legendary Kansas coach Phog Allen, after whom the building is named.

It is truly a barn along the Midwestern prairie, but that’s its charm.

Fans lined up to enter through the front doors nearly three hours before tip-off. They screamed at the top of their lungs then, not abating until minutes after the game concluded.

If you’re mentally tough enough to hold it together there, few other situations should bother you. That’s the message Izzo wanted to send to his players.

He won’t know until later in the season if the players got it.

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