Yikes! that was a close one. Michigan State squeaked a road win out at the “Barn” of Minnesota today, 65-64. It was a good road test for the Spartans, who, up until this point, have only had two pedestrian road-conference wins–Northwestern and Iowa. Did that Spartans deserve to win? Debatable. They trailed throughout the entire game until under two minutes to go when Kalin Lucas hit a contested three to give the Spartans their first lead of the game at 65-62. But at the end of the day, only two categories matter–W’s and L’s–and those numbers are 7 and 0 for Michigan State in the Big Ten.
Michigan State had a hard time getting any offense going in the first 30-minutes of the game. Their interior game was virtually non-existent–on offense and defense–and they had a tough time finding a good offensive rhythm, but the Spartans hit some timely threes to keep them within striking distance. Kalin Lucas had a monster game and took the over the second-half, scoring 22 points and hitting the eventual game-winning three. Although Lucas played a superb game, the biggest story of the game was Raymar Morgan FINALLY stepping up in a big game. After getting his fourth foul early in the second-half, Morgan continued to play tough defense and gave the Spartans a much-needed second scoring option, dropping 10 of his 14 point in the second-half.
I have personally called Morgan’s leadership into question in the past, who seems to disappear in big games, but he showed a lot of grit and poise today. Now the question is, can he sustain it and play like this consistently for the rest of the season? Fingers crossed, because the Spartans national championship hopes are depending on it…
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