Spartans Pound Penn State, 67-42

Feb 28, 2004

By DAN LEWERENZ
Associated Press Writer

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. - Michigan State coach Tom Izzo was worried about his team's confidence after they lost seven of their first 12 games. But after the shooting display the Spartans put on Saturday, he's not worried anymore.

Paul Davis hit eight of nine from the field, and as a team the Spartans made more than half their shots in a 67-42 rout of Penn State on Saturday.

"I think the confidence has been the No. 1 ticket that has changed for us," Izzo said. "It's been a long year, but you like to be playing your best basketball at the end of the year."

Michigan State (17-9, 12-3 Big Ten) has won five in a row and eight of its last nine, a streak Davis attributes to a change in attitude.

"It's like night and day from right now, after this game, to after the Syracuse game when we were below .500," Davis said. "We kind of just made a pact with each other that we were going to start out playing defense and start this thing again, wipe the slate clean with the Big Ten season."

Penn State (9-16, 3-11 Big Ten) couldn't recover after falling behind by 15 points in the first half. The Nittany Lions closed to within 10 late in the first, and Ben Luber's pull-up jumper got them within 42-30 with 11:50 left in the game.

"I think you can always overcome a sluggish start," Penn State coach Ed DeChellis said. "We had it to 10, but we just couldn't score a basket. And then we go down to the other end, and they really score easily and make open shots."

Chris Hill answered Penn State's run with back-to-back 3-pointers for the Spartans, starting a 12-0 run -- Davis' dunk made it 54-30 -- that put the game out of reach.

"We knew they were going to play a lot of zone, and the way you hurt a zone is to shoot from inside and out," Davis said. "Our shooters were knocking down shots early, and that helped us all through the game."

Kelvin Torbert scored 15 points for Michigan State, Hill scored 14 and Maurice Ager had 11. For the first time in recent memory, the Spartans didn't attempt a single free throw, but they made up for it by hitting 11 of 27 3-point tries and getting 23 assists on their 28 field goals.

"We moved the ball very well, we defended very well, we did all the things we wanted to do," Izzo said. "Any time you have 23 assists on 28 field goals, that means you have an unselfish team, you have a team that shared the ball, and that's the thing I'm most proud of."

Penn State has lost eight in a row and 11 of its last 12 after starting 2-0 in Big Ten play. Marlon Smith led the Nittany Lions with 16 points.

Tim Bograkos outhustles Penn State's Aaron Johnson for a loose ball in the first half Saturday.

The Spartans were hot early in the game, hitting eight of their first 10 shots on the way to a 20-5 lead. Hill had back-to-back 3-pointers on that run, but had to sit late in the first half after picking up his third foul.

Michigan State led 34-22 at halftime.