There are plenty of great, exciting things going on in the world of sports right now, and particularly with Michigan State athletics,especially on a day-to-day basis. The men's soccer team will host the first round of the NCAA Tournament today, the women's basketball (ranked 25th in the country) and men's hockey (currently 17th in the polls) teams have posted fine starts to their respective seasons, and the men's basketball squad improved to 2-0 on Tuesday night, among other things.
But, lookling ahead to the next few days, the Spartans' upcoming Senior Day football tilt with Purdue looms particularly large. As mentioned on Tuesday, the Boilermakers have lost four conference games in a row, but don't count them out. Although the team has struggled to accumulate wins, they do have some weapons, and in particular one defensive threat in Ryan Kerrigan. The 6'4", 263-pound defensive end was named a semi-finalist for the Lombardi, Bednarik and Lott awards this past week, and has the numbers to back those credentials up: 11.5 sacks and 23.5 tackles for loss, both Big Ten-leading marks.
It'll be particularly interesting to see how the Spartans attack him with their run-heavy offense. If MSU wants to reach the 10-win plateau for just the third time in school history, they must establish the run early, and avoid giving Purdue any hope for a victory by limiting turnovers and mistakes. I think they're up to that challenge.
Reviewing the Spartan basketball team's effort on Tuesday night, several things can be gleaned from their 82-73 primetime victory over South Carolina. Among the most notable occurrences: Korie Lucious' rather-sloppy return to the court, with five turnovers versus 3 assists, and no points in 18 minutes. However, these errors were eliminated thanks in part to 22 points from Durrell Summers, and 12 rebounds from Draymond Green, who stepped up and led the Spartans alongside Kalin Lucas. Despite suffering a second-half ankle injury, Lucas still made an impact with a team-leading 7 assists in 29 minutes. This shows that above all else, the Spartans have a good deal of balance at this point in the season. However, they are also unmistakeable issues that still need fixing. MSU shot a clanky 50% from the free-throw line over 34 attempts, and let South Carolina close to within six in the games' final minutes despite a large second-half lead.
But, Tom Izzo-coached teams have perenially bounced back from early season issues such as these, and I have no doubt that these will be corrected with more on-floor action.
For now though, both the football and basketball teams can only get back to work, and prepare for their forthcoming battles. I'd be surprised if they weren't ready for the great challenges that lie ahead. They are Spartans, after all.
--Beau
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