Michigan State 80, Indiana 65: Spartans hand IU first loss in roller-coaster of a game.

but if IU can pull off the home win against OSU on Saturday it’ll be a huge confidence booster for the rest of the season. The team will know that they have the ability to beat anyone at home and can focus on beating the teams they should beat on the road. I just think if they drop one at Assembly Hall, even against one of the best teams in the country like Ohio State they’ll lose some of that swagger which would be bad news bears.

Is it just me or are Refs getting a little loose with ‘continuation’?

While MSU outplayed IU for 80% of that game… that Tripping Call at the 3 point line on the fast break AND 1 was garbage. How can a player be “in the act” on a fast break lay in when the only contact was 25 ft from the basket? Just sayin’.

Seems like they’re letting the play go on after the foul a little more this year more than usual.

Outside of the couple IU streaks, MSU did a solid job pressuring the ball and keeping IU from getting offensive rhythm. Hulls needed to have a great game and keep up the tempo and he just looked out of sync. Zeller couldn’t get the looks he needed either.

This makes the NYEve matchup vs. Ohio State that much bigger.

Will Sheehey definitely makes a difference in this game. Does it mean if he’s around the Hoosiers win? No. But it would have gone down to the last few possessions. During the stretch that the Hoosiers went off they realized that the drive was a possibility and were able to be disruptive to the perimeter defense of Michigan State. Add in Sheehey, who along with Vic and Jones is a much more capable slasher than Hulls and Roth and you likely have a different look to the game.

Watford was a monster last night. Looked good facing the basket, back to the basket and rebounding. Also have a pretty good game on the defensive end of the floor. If we can get that out of him every game then a conference championship is still a possibility. I have zero complaints with him last night. He took some of his normal questionable shots but I’m more than happy for him to take those if he does what he did the rest of the game as well.

VJIII looked really good as well. Found his role and did a good job in it last night. Even did a decent job of keeping his man in front of him defensively. Have no issues with Jones’ play last night.

Vic disappeared at points in the game. He has to take that next step and learn to take over a game now. We all have seen it and know he’s capable we need him to have that killer instinct now to go for the throat.

Hulls was just plain bad last night. It hurts to say that about a fan favorite but IU probably would have been better off with him on the bench. He shot poorly, made poor decisions, held the ball too deep into the shot clock and did nothing to try and drive by his man. MSU’s stifling defense shut down the perimeter but Hulls did little to remedy the situation. Luckily, this just means that Aaron Craft is going to get lit up from behind the line on Saturday. I have confidence in Hulls more than anyone that he’ll bounce back with a good game in Bloomington.

Cody Zeller played 23 minutes last night. Only 6 more than Tom Pritchard. We all should find Tom in Bloomington and give him a hug. He played his heart out in a losing situation. With just him and Watford, they were forced to try and hold off what felt like MSU’s 17 post players. State finished with something like 36 points in the paint. That can be attributed to Pritchard getting picked up in a situation where he was outgunned and out numbered and Zeller’s timidness due to foul trouble. Play this game again and I would not expect the same discrepancy in paint scoring.

As a whole, I’m disappointed that we lost but impressed with the fashion that it was a ball game at all. Anyone who watched the game last night knows there isn’t a 15 point difference in those basketball teams. IU pulled a complete anti-Hoosier game where they shot poorly from distance, didn’t get to the free throw line, shot 54% when they did and had zero ball movement on offense. Last year this game is 30 points at half. They showed a lot of grit with their 40-16 run and I take comfort in knowing that the offense is good enough they’ll never be out of games. On a more “Hoosier-like” night, Indiana loses this game by 3.

IU goes down by 18 “Crean can’t coach”. They go on a 13-2 run to finish the half, “players are doing it themselves”. They go on a 10-0 run to start the second half, “thank god the players are super talented”. MSU goes on a 20-0 run, “Crean can’t coach”.

It is funny how the good that this team does has absolutely nothing to do with Tom Crean, but anything bad that happens is all on Tom Crean.

I think IU is poised to emerge as an annual NCAA tourney & B1G championship contender, starting with this season.

That Victor Oladipo kid is a freak athlete, and Watford for some reason just owns MSU (someone from The Only Colors tweeted his historical stat line vs. the Spartans, and it’s just scary). As for Zeller, he’s smart & talented enough to learn to adapt to physical B1G play, and excel.

As for the “Crean can’t coach” line, I think that’s total BS – he proved he can coach at Marquette, and has clearly proven he can recruit at IU.

I think this is the season that IU returns to the national college hoops picture, and I feel that’s for the benefit of everybody, especially our conference. I’m glad that my alma mater got the win & held home court, and I’ll be pulling hard for your squad, especially in it’s next two games. If you guys can take out tOSU & U-M over the next week, I think 12 + B1G wins and a top 4 seed are in store for IU hoops this season.

It’s great to have you guys back!! F tOSU & Michigan (Purdue & ND, too)!!!!!

Lots of intensity and effort, swings and excitement. I’ll echo the sentiments of other Sparties commenting here this morning, that now that you’ve cleared the Sampson crap out, I pull hard for the Hoosiers. I went nuts when Watford killed UK with his last-second three.

As a basketball fan, I can’t wait until the rematch in late February, when both teams have had the full season to even themselves out and learn their strengths.

As an MSU fan, however, I’m scurred.

I only hoped to win. I think the last time we won there was 91. That’s what 4 coaches ago? We’ve got to learn how to get the ball inside to Zeller for sure. I think if we can run the offense through him, we will be dangerous. Get him the ball!!! If he doesn’t score, he’ll find someone open.