Tom Izzo wasn’t thrilled after Michigan State basketball’s win over Penn State on Saturday afternoon, but he’ll take a win on the road in the Big Ten any way he can get it.
The Hall of Fame head coach wasn’t happy with how many missed layups the Spartans had, as one reporter in the post-game presser pointed out, Michigan State was just 6-of-18 on layups — Izzo even said that number was probably generous.
Missing layups has been a common theme for the Spartans this year, but that’s something you know he’s going to work on at practice all week.
Michigan State was still able to hold on in Happy Valley, beating a young, scrappy Penn State team that was fresh off a 40-point loss at Indiana and hungry for a rebound. They gave Michigan State all it could handle at the half-empty Bryce Jordan Center, but the Spartans were able to hang on thanks to Divine Ugochukwu’s breakout performance. The sophomore transfer from Miami was 5-for-5 from deep and finished with a career-high 23 points.
It’s clear that Izzo sees something in Ugochukwu to play him at the two instead of backing up Jeremy Fears Jr. as the team’s second point guard option.
We’ll see how long that lasts before Izzo realizes that Denham Wojcik can’t play 10-plus minutes per game in Big Ten play — I’m not sure that he’s quite ready for that yet.
Still, a win is a win, and Michigan State is now 2-0 in Big Ten play.
Where will Michigan State be ranked on Monday afternoon?
Every week, I like to predict where Michigan State will be ranked the following Monday after seven days worth of games. Last week, I was off by 1-2 spots. I didn’t think the Spartans would remain in the top 10 after losing to Duke at home, but they only dropped two spots from No. 7.
This week, there’s a legitimate chance that Michigan State could slip in the rankings after barely beating a young Penn State team that was a double-digit underdog at home.
I think I have to go with Michigan State sliding down one more spot while BYU jumps the Spartans after taking down Clemson in impressive come-from-behind fashion. That win was far more impressive than Michigan State’s close road victory over Penn State.
I’ll go with Michigan State coming in at No. 10 on Monday afternoon. Still a top-10 team, and likely will remain one until conference play returns in January with an epic showdown at Nebraska.