Izzo's Young Spartans Play Host to Sooners
11/14/2001 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Nov 14, 2001
Having led Michigan State to the Final Four in each of the previous three seasons, one would think Spartans coach Tom Izzo would be less than thrilled with losing seven players from last year's talented squad.
Think again.
Izzo is looking forward to continuing what he describes as a great challenge when the 15th-ranked Spartans play host to No. 25 Oklahoma in the quarterfinals of the Preseason NIT.
Aloysius Anagonye, Marcus Taylor and Adam Wolfe - each of whom played lesser roles on last year's team - scored 14 points each as Izzo's new-look Spartans (1-0) cruised past Detroit 80-70 on Monday in the first round of the tournament.
The victory was Michigan State's 45th in a row at the Breslin Center, extending the nation's longest home winning streak.
However, Izzo was much more interested in discussing the joys of molding a team which features eight recruited scholarship players, including three freshmen and no seniors.
"There's some personal challenges and excitement to have an opportunity to coach such a young team," Izzo said. "I don't want to make excuses for a young team, but we've lost a ton (of talent) and we know it.
"This is a golden opportunity because I'm going to have freshmen playing 25 minutes a game and I'm going to have veterans that haven't done much here that are going to have an opportunity to step up."
While Anagonye, a junior, and Taylor and Wolfe, both sophomores, took advantage of the opportunity, a trio of freshmen also lived up to expectations in their first game under Izzo.
Chris Hill, Kelvin Torbert and Alan Anderson combined for 27 points, helping Michigan State remain unbeaten at home since a 99-96 overtime loss to Purdue on March 1, 1998.
"I couldn't ask for a better opportunity," Hill said. "As a freshman, I'm being asked to contribute to a big-time program. I know I'm going to have some ups and downs, but I hope I can have a lot of nights like (Monday)."
The Sooners will be hoping that junior Hollis Price can continue his hot shooting from Monday night's opening round.
Price shot 6-of-10 from 3-point range and began the game's decisive run with a shot from behind the arc as Oklahoma overcame a sluggish start to post a 66-44 victory over Central Connecticut State.
Price finished with 20 points for Oklahoma (1-0), which has won just one of four all-time meetings with Michigan State.
The Spartans won the last encounter between the schools 54-46 in the Midwest regional semifinal of the 1999 NCAA tournament en route to the first of Izzo's three straight trips to the Final Four.
