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DotComp: No shame, no banners, just regret in Michigan State's thrilling loss to Purdue

On3 imageby: Jim Comparoni01/17/23JimComparoni
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Tom Izzo and the Spartans battled hard without Malik Hall in an emotional loss to Purdue, on Martin Luther King Day, Monday at Breslin Center. (Photo by Rey Del Rio / Getty Images).

East Lansing, Mich. – When the Breslin Center stages great basketball like this, spiced up by a special performance from a Spartan like Tyson Walker, it usually ends with a Michigan State victory, and reason to store it in local memory banks as a beloved one. 

But not this time. No. 3-ranked Purdue, and National Player of the Year front-runner Zach Edey, were just a little greater in a 64-63 Boilermaker victory.

There have been other exceptions, when great performances fell short for Michigan State, here. Like the time Michigan State lost in overtime to Purdue in March of 1998 during Tom Izzo’s third year as head coach. Izzo seemed headed for a firing earlier that season. But he rallied Michigan State to an unthinkable 20-5 record, earned a share of the Big Ten title a week earlier at Wisconsin, and there were plans to unfurl a Big Ten Championship banner after what they hoped would be a Senior Day victory over No. 11 Purdue. 

Purdue won that thriller, 99-96. Despite the loss, in my opinion, it was the first time in the Izzo era that Michigan State played truly elite basketball on an elite stage. The banner remained coiled up in the banners after the loss, pointed out embarrassingly by Billy Packer to a nationally-televised audience. A young Izzo was enraged, and vowed that would never happen again. 

The banner was eventually unfurled, once the arena emptied. Today, it looks just as pretty as the others to Michigan State fans.

And then there was the time in 2004 when Izzo was convinced by promotional people once again that putting a banner in the rafters prior to a game against Wisconsin on Senior Day was a good idea. Beat Wisconsin, win the Big Ten title, then celebrate like crazy in front of March-mad fans, boosters and recruits with the new banner. 

Izzo went along with it. But broadcasters discovered it again, and ridiculed the Spartan program after Chris Hill, one of the best free throw shooters in school history, missed a foul shot at the end of regulation which would have secured the Big Ten Championship. Wisconsin won in overtime at a time when Izzo had an angry, one-sided feud with Badger coach Bo Ryan

Hit that free throw, win that game, and it would have been Izzo’s fifth Big Ten title, and his first after the Flintstone era, at a time when detractors were still challenging the notion that Izzo could establish a long-term championship program. 

Most losses these days don’t crucify Izzo the way those did, when so many people and entities were trying to block his path to success and eventual greatness. 

But this loss on Saturday to Purdue did indeed sting like those March losses. And it felt like March, because his Spartans were that brave, and Purdue was that difficult. 

When it was over, Izzo repeatedly heaped praise on the Boilermakers and Coach Matt Painter. Izzo, like most coaches, hates it when his team wins games and the beaten coach offers no credit to the winner and instead blames the officials or his own team. Izzo didn’t want to be that guy. And he says he wishes like hell that Michigan State would have won so that he could have said what he really thought about the officiating in this game, and the Big Ten schedule makers saddling his team with four games in 10 days. 

Izzo tried to steer clear of complaining about those things after this loss. He tried. But his feelings came through loud and with a sneer, as much as he tried – out of respect to Painter and Purdue – to backtrack. 

FIT FOR A KING

Izzo says he doesn’t enjoy most aspects of aging. But he was proud to tell his players that he is old enough to remember Dr. Martin Luther King. And he remembers the day we lost him. 

Izzo was excited to have his team selected to play in a nationally-televised game on FOX on Martin Luther King Day, which has become a traditional basketball afternoon in America. 

Izzo and his staff wore commemorative shirts. He had his players view a short film involving the “I have a dream” speech on Monday morning. 

Meanwhile, Izzo had to balance the emotions of senior leader Malik Hall learning that he is going to be out a long time with an ankle injury. Hall and the Spartans knew on Saturday and Sunday, after he injured the ankle at Illinois, that he wouldn’t play on this day. But the news grew worse as Monday progressed. 

Izzo said Hall had a Zoom meeting with doctors during Monday’s game. The exact prognosis wasn’t released to the public, other than Izzo relaying that Malik is “crushed.” 

Words like that, and Izzo’s beaten-down demeanor after this game, usually come in the wake of terrible news. We’ll likely hear more on Tuesday about Hall’s availability for the remainder of the season, if any. I suspect that Izzo already knows. And it’s not good. At all. 

Izzo took a chance by sticking with only 10 scholarship players this year rather than hitting the portal for reinforcements. He liked the potential, he loved the personalities and didn’t want to recruit over anyone’s head. If they stayed healthy and mixed well, he thought they could have been the surprise team of the Big Ten. And he felt the internal culture would benefit by standing pat with the roster, yielding a stronger overall unit in March.

That decision seemed to have so much merit when Michigan State stunned Kentucky in November, with Mady Sissoko suddenly playing good, solid, functional basketball. He’s still solid and functional. And Michigan State is still pretty good, without Hall. They were great on Monday. But how long can they sustain this level of play, with a bench having grown short, and the starting players not receiving enough quality contributions from reserve players? 

Not long. Unless they can get crucial, in-season development from sophomore Pierre Brooks and freshmen Jaxon Kohler, Carson Cooper and Tre Holloman. Cooper is trending in the right direction, but he is limited offensively. With this stretch of four games in 10 days subsides, maybe those young players can start to deliver the support needed for Walker, AJ Hoggard, Joey Hauser and a refreshed Jaden Akins. 

If Hall can’t come back, it’s going to take am amazing amount of work and progress from the support players, an unlikely occurrence, for this team to improve upon the handful of high marks it’s enjoyed so far this season. A win against Purdue on Monday would have been chief among them. But the future would have been daunting nonetheless.

Izzo’s hopes of an 11th Big Ten Championship banner ended on this day, with this loss, and Hall’s availability in doubt.

It’s reckless for me to talk about Big Ten Championship hopes as a thing of the past when we’re just three weeks into January. But, as well as Michigan State played in this game against a terrific Purdue team, it’s just not fathomable that Izzo can get them to play this well, with a thinned lineup, often enough to keep up with the Boilermakers in the conference standings. But Izzo knows they could have, with a win on this day, and if Hall were available.

REGRET, OUT OF IZZO’S CONTROL

There were no banners involved in this game. It’s too early in the season for that. And there is no shame. 

Just regret. 

Some of the regret was out of anybody’s control, such as Hall’s initial ankle injury, sustained when sprinting for a loose ball at the end of the first half against Michigan, and when he re-injuring it while stepping on the foot of an Illinois player with less than eight minutes to play at Illinois on Friday. 

The other regret stems from a key possession late in Monday’s game when Walker was called for a foul while battling to get over a screen. Michigan State led 61-60 at the time with :32 seconds left.

Michigan State held that lead because of Walker’s spectacular performance. Walker, the smallest guy on the court, went back and forth against Edey, the tallest man in college basketball, in a dual that was befitting of chapter and verse in a hoops Bible, if one existed.

Edey, at 7-foot-4, scored 32. Walker, at an exaggerated 6-foot-1, scored 30, sometimes with little Walker matching up directly with giant Edey.

When Michigan State ran ballscreen action for Walker, Purdue sometimes switched Edey onto Walker, creating “oohs” from knowledgeables in the crowd. How often do we see big vs small like this, with both en route to 30-point games? 

Walker hit a step-back 3-pointer over Edey to give Michigan State a 54-50 lead.

Next possession, Purdue tried to ice the ball screen. Michigan State flipped it. Walker didn’t have quite enough room to shoot. He passed to Akins and headed to the corner. Akins drove and kicked it back to him. Walker nailed a 3-pointer from the corner to make it 57-53 with 3:40 to go. 

Two possessions later, after Hoggard missed a pair of valuable free throws, Walker threatened the jumper, but then used a stop-and-go dribble to go around Edey and score a scoop lay-up at the rim, making it 59-58 with 2:10 to play. It was brilliant. 

He wasn’t done. Walker used a ball screen, and drove at Edey, who gave ground. Walker pulled up and hit a 19-footer with his toe barely on the 3-point line, making it 61-60 with 1:33 left.

Then came the foul call, and Purdue’s 62-61 lead.

Then came another amazing shot from Walker. This time, he drove at Edey, retreated back out to the perimeter and – in an instant – shook free from Purdue’s Ethan Morton with a killer crossover move and hit a pull-up 12-footer from the right wing. That gave Michigan State a 63-62 lead with :10 second left. 

That should have been enough. That should have ended this story. What Walker had done to that point in scoring 30 and carrying Michigan State against this Purdue team was right up there with some of the best moments we ever saw from Cassius Winston or Shawn Respert.

But there was more. 

After Edey’s final field goal, and a deflected pass out of bounds, and yet another review, the crowd cheered when learning that 1.8 seconds would be placed on the clock. That was enough time for one more amazing play from Walker. There was actually an expectation for the immaculate. 

And why not? The final :91 seconds of this game required 25 minutes and :26 seconds of real time, due to replays and time outs. The national TV audience watched the final 21 of those minutes commercial-free because the commercials had all been run. 

This crazy dual against Edey seemed likely to favor he who had the ball last. That would be Walker. And he would have scored 33, to Edey’s 32, including the game-winner, if his 3-pointer at the buzzer had gone in. 

Instead, that shot missed everything. And this senior from Long Island, N.Y., who had enjoyed one of the best scoring performances by a Spartan in Breslin Center history, instead ended the day with slumped shoulders, talking and thinking about a shot he missed at the end, rather than the magnificence of the 12 he made.

On that play, in-bounded with 1.8 seconds remaining, Walker came off a ghost screen from Hauser, and was open for a catch-and-shoot-3 pointer. 

Walker didn’t know how close the trailing defender was. Didn’t know how open he was.

“I just rushed it,” he said. “Missed it.”

Make it, and the celebration would have ranked among Izzo’s finest, just due to the circumstances, the comeback and the emotions. 

But Walker missed it, and the loss left Izzo searching and seething about the moment he felt was the cruelest – that being the foul call on walker with :32 seconds left.

THE PLAYERS DECIDED (MOST OF) IT

I don’t think it was a bad call, necessarily. Walker battled to get over a screen as Fletcher Loyer took a handoff from Edey. Walker was knocked off balance by Edey’s tree-trunk legs. Walker grabbed Loyer as he regained balance to change direction while Loyer went the other way off an Edey re-screen. 

Izzo was irate with the officials all day, as angry as I’ve ever seen him without getting a technical foul. He was lobbying officials all day to call Edey for elbowing fouls while getting position in the post. Edey finished the day without a foul. 

Izzo didn’t get his way on those calls. And then when Walker was called for the foul with :32 seconds, Izzo was incensed, claiming that the contact had “no bearing” on the remainder of the play. 

That’s debatable. But, basically, Izzo wanted the players to decide this game, not an official’s call. 

Edey scored in the final seconds. Good for him, and great job by Purdue to run a handoff near the hashmark, creating a defensive switch, and a brief moment for better passing lane to Edey.  

Edey’s last field goal and Walker’s last two misses were plays decided by the players. But in this 1-point game, the foul call on Walker took the play out of the players’ hands and sent a key possession to the foul line. Unlike Hill in 2004, Loyer made the shots. 

I’m not saying it was a bad call by the officials. I would have preferred to see how the last :13 seconds on the shot clock would have played out. Would Loyer have been cut off to the rim? Would Purdue have gotten the ball to Edey down low? Would he have made the shot for the go-ahead points, or assisted on them? Would a defensive hero have emerged for the Spartans? 

We didn’t get to see that part of the script play out. Painter nodded and clapped when the foul was called. He received the favorable call that Gene Keady didn’t get in 1990 when Dwayne Stephens made a steal and lay-up to give the Spartans a share of the Big Ten Championship on a day when Keady and Purdue wanted the outright title, when Breslin was brand new. 

Keady pounded the podium at the post game press conference like Nikita Krushchev. “That’s a foul! That’s a foul!” he yelled. 

“C’mon Gene, that’s ridiculous,” yelled Joe Falls of The Detroit News, a product of combative 1950s New York City sportswriting.

“No, YOU c’mon!” Keady yelled back at him, back in the days when curmudgeons from both sides of the microphone often made for interesting press conferences.

Izzo didn’t yell at this post-game press conference. But he did scowl at a reporter whom he caught chuckling. “What are you laughing at?” Izzo said in an ugly manner.

Izzo is human. In some ways this was nearly one of Izzo’s best days as a human. He loved the packed, raucous house. Breslin has never been that way on a weekday afternoon. The holiday provided the stage. It was almost perfect for Michigan State and Izzo, motivated to win for an injured leader. 

It’s rare for a January loss to hurt like this. But Izzo hurt for Hall more than anything. He hurt so much that he took it out on a reporter for a second. We’ll all survive. And we’ll remember this game a little more than we do most January games. 

Izzo won’t be down long. I’ve seen his Michigan State teams face greater problems and come back from worse. 

Izzo seemed beaten and beleaguered after this one, but his words held hope.

“We have played the best teams in the country and this was arguably the No. 1, 2 or 3 team in the country and we’re still standing,” Izzo said. “We have a lot of basketball left.”

They have two days to get ready for a visit from Rutgers, the second-highest ranked team in the Big Ten.

“I think Rutgers played yesterday,” Izzo said.

That’s how coaches think in these days of accordion-compressed schedules. Who gets an extra day to prepare? It means a lot. 

“It’s going to be a battle,” Izzo said. “So what we’ll do is have a lot of film sessions, a lot of walk-throughs and then you give them a bottle and put them to bed and that’s about what we’ll do for the next couple of days.” 

He won’t get to bang on them in practice, and fine-tune their movements at full speed. He won’t be able to go full-blast Izzo on them. When schedules even out for coaches and teams in March, that’s when he’s at his best. It’s no coincidence. That’s when he can make more of a difference. 

Right now, he’s short-handed on players, fuel and time.

“Nobody plays perfect, but we have to play more perfect than most, because of what we’ve got,” Izzo said. “But when you talk about competing, that was a hell of a basketball game. The fans were unbelievable. That place was packed early. It was rocking the whole game. Unbelievable atmosphere, hanging with these guys. 

“Mistakes? We made some. But I tell you what, they competed. There aren’t many times I go into a losing locker room and thank my team for competing. Tell them how proud I was of them for competing. That’s not to save them for the next game. That’s not my style at all. It’s because in my heart we competed well enough to win the game. Give them credit, they made enough plays at the end to win it and we didn’t. 

“There ain’t nobody we backed down from. That game at Illinois was right down to the wire. In the last couple of minutes when Malik went down, we just weren’t ready to play without him. Today we were a little more ready to play without him.”

But not enough to finish it. And now, more finishing is required.

“I have to get Pierre (Brooks) and one of those other bigs ready to roll,” Izzo said. “So I have to do a better job. We’ll try to do that.”

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