vs Illinois

[MSUMatt28]

Another solid road effort. Harris finding his shooting stroke. 8 points and 6 blocks from Costello. If he can perform like that as a complement to Payne when he comes back, look out.

 

[johnny2x2x]

Costello was great, 8 pts, 5 boards and 6 blocks doesn't tell the whole story, he was great at defending the pick and roll all game, he bodied up the Illinois big men. Just a fantastic game for him. Harris played a complete game on both ends and he rebounded too. Valentine also had a great game with 15 to go with 11 boards and 4 assists. Dawson brought a lot of energy too.

Keith Appling didn;t have a huge night stats wise, 15-5-5, but he completely controlled that whole game. Knew exactly when to push it, when to slow it up, when to reset the offense. He's becoming a great point guard. POTY in the B1G so far.

4-0 on the road is big. Illinois, PSU, IU, and NW will all upset some good teams at home this season.

We'll be #3 on Monday, matching our Football team. Also, we're 30-2 in football and basketball this academic year. Good times.

 

[MSUMatt28]

All 4 road wins have been by double digits too, then throw in the win at Texas along with those. This team seems to play better in road/neutral environments than at home.

 

[johnny2x2x]

All the pieces are there. Getting Payne back and back into the flow of things is obviously huge. Other than a healthy Payne, a more rested Appling is a key. The team is starting to get it, they have the look of a National Title contender.

 

[Sbee]

Payne might stary shooting today, he's getting better and closer to returning.

The big benefit is that we know how to win without him. Earlier this year I thought this team was like 2005-2006 who couldn't win if davis was in foul trouble. Hed get two early fouls and wed be down 6 at half regardless. This is good in the long run for msu. These minutes will help us this year and next

 

[MSUMatt28]

Payne might stary shooting today, he's getting better and closer to returning.

The big benefit is that we know how to win without him. Earlier this year I thought this team was like 2005-2006 who couldn't win if davis was in foul trouble. Hed get two early fouls and wed be down 6 at half regardless. This is good in the long run for msu. These minutes will help us this year and next

I agree. Also the team has stepped it up defensively and on the boards to make up for the fact that one of their Big 3 scorers isn't in there. Valentine's work rebounding the past several weeks has been really valuable.

Some teams like Kansas are starting to look scary and Arizona will be there, maybe Kentucky will still get to that point, but we have as good a chance as anyone to cut down the nets I would say. I'm not sold on Syracuse. Not sure how in addition to their usual chickensh*t non-conference scheduling they will go all the way to mid February before playing a tough road game. That zone always falters eventually in the NCAAs. It's usually just a question of when, not if, they run into a team that will get hot and make some shots.