Michigan State vs Gonzaga basketball Recap

Michigan State 75, Gonzaga 71

For much of last season, Durrell Summers was an athlete who played basketball. If the first showcase game of the new season is any indication, Durrell Summers has now become a superb basketball player who also owns a fair amount of athleticism.

His teammate, Kalin Lucas, might have made the biggest play of Michigan State's hard-fought win over Gonzaga on Tuesday night at the Breslin Center, but Summers was the man who carried the Spartans for most of this contest.

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Last season, Summers came off the bench for head coach Tom Izzo. Gifted with remarkable leaping ability and a streaky outside shot, Summers made a profound impact on some games, but not most of them. The 6-4 performer from Detroit contributed a high-value stat line once every three or four outings, but lacked the consistency needed to crack Izzo's starting five. With lock-down defender and team leader Travis Walton in charge of the Spartans on the floor, Summers bided his time in search of a more complete game.

Then, at last year's Final Four in the city where he was born, Summers began the process of growing into a better overall player. When he dunked on Connecticut's long and lanky Stanley Robinson with 5:50 left in the national semifinals, Summers found a fresh tank of confidence. When Connecticut closed a big Michigan State lead to just 74-71, it was Summers who produced an old-fashioned 3-point play with exactly one minute left to carry the Spartans across the finish line first. That day - April 4, 2009 - marked the beginning of a personal journey toward improvement. That journey through the offseason has evidently been a very successful one, because in MSU's first spotlight game in the 2009-10 campaign, Summers looked the part of the starting guard he's become.

In this battle with the Bulldogs of Gonzaga, Summers made highlight show editors happy by creating two lasting and unforgettable images: At one point midway through the second half, when the previously listless Spartans were trying to find a spark, Summers skied to make a jawdropping block of a Gonzaga layup attempt. Several minutes later, Summers pulled off a hockey spin-o-rama and promptly threw down a 15-foot jumper near the left elbow. A Durrell Summers game is a highlight-reel game--that's no surprise--but what made this contest different for the junior was that he stayed in the arena and became a consistent force for Izzo's roster.

Summers didn't just lead all scorers with 21 points on 8-of-9 shooting; he led all REBOUNDERS with 11. In what was a big-boy basketball game, a vigorously-contested slugfest that featured full-tilt effort from both the Zags and Sparty, Summers dove into the fray with more awareness than anyone else on the court. Yes, Lucas provided the game's most critical play - a gorgeous gliding layup that gave MSU a 73-70 edge with only 37 seconds left - but from start to finish, it was Summers who made Autumn a little more magical in East Lansing, Mich.

If this is the Summers who shows up for all of Michigan State's season, it's very likely that the Spartans will be playing in April once more... in a city called Indianapolis.

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