Michigan State vs Penn State Basketball Recap

Michigan State 65, Penn State 54

 
Talor won the Battle, but in a matchup of elite guards, Kalin Lucas won the war.

In some quarters, there was some discussion as to whether Kalin Lucas - the Michigan State star who had been limited in recent weeks with an ankle injury suffered on Feb. 2 at Wisconsin - should even play on Saturday afternoon in University Park, Pa.

Sparty, after all, was taking on a last-place Penn State club that entered this game with an 0-11 Big Ten mark. Surely, the worrywarts in the crowd said, Lucas should sit out against the woeful Nittany Lions. MSU, even without its best player, could take down Coach Ed DeChellis's PSU crew. Lucas could heal for a few more days and be fresh for the February home stretch against tougher opponents.

Well, for one thing, Lucas proved to be healthy enough to perform. Secondly, the five-star scorer brought his best brand of ball to the Bryce Jordan Center on the Penn State campus.

Third, and most instructively, Lucas needed to be as good as he was in order for coach Tom Izzo's team to leave Happy Valley in a good mood.

Penn State guard Talor Battle did outscore him by a 30-24 margin, but Lucas used his all-court excellence to power Michigan State to an 11-point win which snapped a three-game losing streak and kept the Spartans atop a crowded Big Ten. Battle - the one high-level hooper on the Nittany Lions' roster - was brilliant and relentless on Saturday, banging in 7 of 11 3-pointers and constantly running around high elbow screens to the chagrin of Spartan defenders. Despite his presence as PSU's one credible scoring threat, Battle was still able to get open, still able to knock down shots, and still able to keep this game dead-even through the first 29 minutes. With 11 minutes left in regulation, the score was knotted up at 46, and with Battle distorting the shape of MSU's defense, it seemed entirely possible for the cellar dweller to knock off the team that reached last season's national championship game.

Fortunately, Lucas - who had scored 17 points in those first 29 minutes, propelled by a 6-of-6 start to his day - kept Michigan State at sea level up to that point in the proceedings. Given a lifeline by its anchor, the MSU team then drowned the Lions with a convincing display in the final 11 minutes of play.

Between the jump shooting of guard Durrell Summers, the aggressive, attacking play of forward Delvon Roe, and another burst of excellence from Lucas, Sparty found form and function at the offensive end of the floor, all while getting in Battle's face on defense. Michigan State carved up Penn State with drive-and-dish plays on offense. At the other end of the floor, Izzo's athletes found a way to negotiate the screens that were part of DeChellis's pick-and-roll-oriented PSU plan. As a result of their adjustments and their team-based improvements midway through the second half, the Spartans turned on the afterburners and scored 11 straight points to take a 57-46 lead at the six-minute mark. Penn State never made another credible reply, and MSU's three-game slide was over.

Kalin Lucas, contrary to some opinions, needed to play on Saturday. Moreover, he needed to play well. Tom Izzo knew what he was doing by starting his star performer. That's why Sparty - and especially its coach - has succeeded so substantially over a great many years.

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