Michigan State vs Michigan Basketball Recap

Michigan State 57, Michigan 56

 
This is getting ridiculous... well, unless you're a Michigan State basketball fan, that is.

Just three days after playing sluggish basketball for 90 percent of a game at Minnesota, only to make a late rally and win on a Kalin Lucas jumper, the boys from East Lansing pulled off an eerily similar feat in Ann Arbor, Mich. Frustrated and foiled by Michigan's defense in a rugged rivalry game at Crisler Arena, coach Tom Izzo's crew put itself in position to win with one basket, and sure enough, Sparty's primo point guard answered the bell once more.

Lucas - who has had an uneven season but has hit a number of ballsy jumpers in crunch time - nailed a 14-foot shot near the right elbow with 3.5 seconds remaining in regulation, as Michigan State remained unbeaten in the Big Ten. This win moved MSU to 8-0 in the league, two games ahead of 6-2 Wisconsin and way ahead of everyone else in the conference.

Lucas did deliver the dagger at the end of this nip-and-tuck tilt, but lost in the shuffle was the fact that when Michigan led, 56-53, with 1:14 left in regulation, the Spartans showed their savvy and strength in the form of Draymond Green.

Lucas might get the lion's share of publicity, and Raymar Morgan might be viewed as the second leading performer on the Spartans, but it was Green - a blue collar bruiser near the tin - who put MSU in position to steal this win. With his team down by three, Green outworked a Michigan defender near the baseline on the right side of the basket. He plucked a missed 3-point attempt by teammate Durrell Summers and then made a perfect feed to Morgan for a layup that made the score 56-55. When Michigan big man DeShawn Sims missed a trey on UM's following possession, Lucas was then able to work his magic.

Tom Izzo's Michigan State program has been so successful because of the decorated coach's insistence on defense and rebounding. On a few days, when Sparty's offense is clicking and everyone in green and white is sticking jump shots, this Big Ten juggernaut is virtually unbeatable. But even when the jumpers aren't falling - and they didn't in this rugged grinder against Michigan, a backyard brawl played in the 50s - MSU was able to hang around because of its defense. The Wolverines shot only 33 percent from the field and only 24 percent from 3-point range. Michigan State's balky offense might have coughed up 18 turnovers, but Sparty's field goal percentage defense enabled this game to remain close, and that's when an assassin such as Kalin Lucas - with an assist from Draymond Green - delivered a dagger that all but ended a 10-10 Michigan team's hopes of being an at-large team in the NCAA Tournament.

Michigan State's last minute wins are, from one standpoint, remarkable. Then again, they're the fruit of the virtues cultivated among the Izzone for over a decade.

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