8. Charlie Bell, not Charlie Villanueva, was the player of the game for the Bucks. Bell continued his hot/cold play with a hot day on both ends of the court. Statistically, he was the biggest reason the Bucks won. Oh, he actually rebounded, too!! Mark your calendars.
So it appears that there's still some life left for the chase for the conference title. Michigan State still has the inside track, of course, but Purdue also controls their own destiny. Win out - including the season finale against the Spartans in East Lansing - and they will secure at least a tie for the Big Ten title. Now that Robbie Hummel appears to be healthy, they have a reasonable shot.
I definitely agree he has a few good years left. But, the past five years makes me wonder if [Izzo] has any "great" years left. Of course, let's be honest - at Alabama, most people would settle for ONE great year.
and
Tom Izzo is an outrageous concept -- but that's partly because our expectations have been kept so low that it feels borderline delusional to think a coach of his level might look our way.
It was a reminder the big-brother, little-brother syndrome is alive and well and still kicking in this rivalry. Michigan State has owned college basketball in this state for more than decade.
Phil Caputo and I are going to be very good friends if he keeps saying things like this.
"Delvon Roe came to Michigan State with the credentials to be a freshman phenom.
When a knee injury in high school and another during the offseason stunted his progress, Roe could have become one frustrated freshman.
To his misfortune, he didn't become the first.
To his credit, he didn't become the latter.
On Tuesday night at Crisler Arena, he finally was vindicated.
Roe scored 11 of his career-high 14 points in the first half to keep Michigan at bay. He also added 10 rebounds to help ninth-ranked MSU come away with a critical 54-42 victory.
"In the first half, the difference was Delvon Roe," Spartans coach Tom Izzo said. "This is getting exciting for me because that kid worked so hard and has been through so much in the last year-and-a-half.
"He never complains and just keeps working. I'm proud of him and happy for him. I said it would probably be the beginning of February before we started seeing the real Delvon. I don't think we've seen it yet, but we're starting to see stages of it.
"He had 10 rebounds and a couple big ones late."
Roe, who played a career-high 29 minutes, credited his work on the offensive boards for getting him going.
"I think I showed what I can do for 40 minutes, or however minutes I'm out there playing, and that I can be an impact-type player," Roe said. "But I've got a lot of work to do.
"It's always about the offensive rebounds, crashing the boards and running the lanes.""
ANN ABOR, Mich. -- Freshman Delvon Roe scored 11 of his season-high 14 points in the first half and Kalin Lucas had 13 of his 15 points after halftime, leading No. 9 Michigan State to a 54-42 win over Michigan on Tuesday night.
The Spartans (20-4, 10-2 Big Ten) have won three straight to open a 2½-game lead over Illinois and Ohio State, moving closer to their first conference championship since 2001.The Wolverines (15-10, 5-7) will have to finish the season strong, after beating Duke and UCLA, to play in the NCAA tournament for the first time since 1998.Michigan, which trailed by eight at halftime and 12 early in the second half, pulled within four with 4:48 left but couldn't get closer.
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