Post-Game Notes
3/15/2008 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
March 15, 2008
TEAM NOTES
- Michigan State is 2-4 in the Big Ten Tournament semifinals...MSU is 2-2 against Wisconsin in the tournament semifinals...Michigan State beat Wisconsin in the 1999 and 2000 semifinals en route to winning the Big Ten Tournament...the Spartans also lost to Wisconsin in the 2004 semifinals.
- Michigan State falls to 12-9 all-time in the Big Ten Tournament...MSU is now 2-3 against Wisconsin in the tournament and 4-4 in Big Ten Tournament games held in Indianapolis.
- Wisconsin shot 18 more free throws than Michigan State and went 26-for-37 from the line...the 26 free throws and 37 free-throw attempts are the second most vs. MSU this season (Penn State was 34-for-51 on Feb. 2)...MSU was 14-for-19 from the free-throw line
- MSU lost the battle of the boards for just the fourth time this season...Wisconsin held a 36-31 advantage on the boards, including 12 offensive rebounds.
- MSU shot 47 percent from 3-point range (7-for-15)...over the last five games, MSU is shooting 46 percent (37-for-80) from behind the arc...the seven 3-pointers tie for second most by MSU in a Big Ten Tournament game.
- MSU is 4-2 when playing on a neutral court this season.
- Four players fouled out for Michigan State (Raymar Morgan, Drew Naymick, Goran Suton and Idong Ibok). . - MSU held Wisconsin to 37 percent shooting from the field, the fifth worst mark for the Badgers this season...the 17 Wisconsin field goals tied a season low.
- Michigan State held its largest lead of the game, 53-41, with 8:15 remaining in the second half...Wisconsin closed the game on a 24-10 run, including a 13-2 spurt from the 7:53 mark to the 4:34 mark that cut MSU's lead to 55-54.
- MSU only trailed once in the first half (23-22 at 4:01 mark) and led for nearly the entire second half...Wisconsin's only lead of the second half came on Michael Flowers' game-winning layup that put the Badgers up 65-63 with 27 seconds left.
PLAYER NOTES
- Senior guard Drew Neitzel led the Spartans in scoring for the second straight game with 26 points on 8-of-18 shooting and four 3-pointers...in the two tournament games, Neitzel scored 54 points (27.0 avg.), shot 49 percent from the field (17-for-35), shot 100 percent from the free-throw line (10-for-10), and hit 10 3-pointers (10-for-22, 45 percent)...Neitzel is the first Spartan to score 20 points in back-to-back games at the Big Ten Tournament and just the second to post two 20-point outings in the same tournament (Maurice Ager scored 20 and 21 in 2006 on March 9 and 11, respectively)...after scoring the most points of any Spartan in a Big Ten Tournament game with 28 in yesterday's win over Ohio State, his 26 points today is the second most by a Spartan in a Big Ten Tournnament game...Neitzel has now scored 20-plus this season six times...this marks the first time this season he has scored 20 points in back-to-back games.
- This marks Neitzel's third career 20-point game against Wisconsin (scored 28 and 22 vs. Wisconsin in 2007)...it ties the most an individual has scored on Wisconsin this season (Manny Harris of Michigan on Jan. 22).
- Neitzel reached another scoring milestone by scoring his 1,500th career point in the game...Neitzel is 14th all-time at Michigan State with 1,502 points.
- Freshman guard Kailin Lucas scored 18 points, tying his second-best scoring game of the season...his season high is 20 against Purdue on Feb. 12...he has scored 18 points in three other games...he was 7-for-13 from the field, including 2-for-2 from behind the arc.
- In his Big Ten Tournament debut, Tom Herzog blocked one shot in six minutes of action...Herzog has seen playing time in 13 games this season.
- Junior center Idong Ibok played 10 minutes, his third-longest outing of the season...he played 11 minutes against North Carolina State (11/28) and Minnesota (1/5)...he tied his season high with three rebounds.
