Nix the doomsday stuff (for now)
Well, Michigan State was outplayed again at home by a supposedly inferior foe, found a way to win again (just like against Wisconsin and Northwestern, not so much like Michigan), "saved the season" again, kept the NIT -- er, NCAA -- hopes alive, got another heroic game (26 points, 43 minutes) from Kalin Lucas and more clutch plays (especially those free throws) from Draymond Green, showed they have some fight left. But I come away from this game thinking Derrick Nix may be its biggest development.
"And you know what?" Izzo recalled. "I said, 'I do.'"
Anyone who has watched Nix knows he can score inside. That's what he does. But he did two things in this game that make me think he's now the No. 1 true center on this team moving forward, and a guy who could get 15-plus minutes every night.
One, he moved his feet and got the job done on defense (yes, Jordan Hulls got around him in overtime, but he walled off Hulls the next time down). Two, he ran up and down the floor and showed some stamina.
"It just proves to me I can play more than I think I can play," Nix said, "and do more than I think I can do."
With Nix, the conversation is never far from his weight. He said he's at 283 right now. In the fall, of course, he was down in the high 260s. He was asked again after the game what happened early in the season, when he missed Maui, missed no meals and appeared to be mulling a transfer.
"Basketball wasn't my No. 1 priority," Nix said. "I was being a college student, and we all know what being a college student consists of."
Nix has lost some weight since then. He won't get back around the 270 mark, not during the season. It's only in the summer, with full days devoted to body shaping, that massive weight/strength fluctuations can happen. In-season, it's about maintenance. But Nix looks like he can play at this weight.
"I think if anybody in the dorm feeds Nix, I’m gonna kill him," Izzo said, as his family stood in the back of the news conference holding a birthday sign on a 56th birthday that was almost a rough one. "Because if he ever gets down where should be ... he really, really has good feet, good hands. He really did a great job today, especially those big stops late."
And did you see that touch pass, that instant redirect to a corner shooter in the second half? Impressive stuff. Nix (who isn't the LSJ "Unsung Hero" for this game, that goes to Keith Appling because Appling made some huge defensive stops late and, well, because we're singing Nix here) can give this team another dimension, if he can keep that weight down, keep working hard on defense, and get over the dismissal of Korie Lucious. He admitted after the game that he's still struggling with that.
"Korie's my best friend, so I'm going through a lot right now," said Nix, who has written "34" on his shoes to honor Lucious. "Korie's not a bad person, but we can't get into all that. ... I'm about to go hang out with Korie right now."
Quick hits:
* MSU avoided its first four-game losing streak since 2007, and a loss would have marked the first season since 1988-89 that Michigan and Indiana both won on MSU's home floor (that was the last year of Jenison).
* Green and Durrell Summers banged heads hard with 51.3 seconds left in overtime. Summers got the worst of it, eight stitches near his right eye. Green had a little bump on his forehead after the game. Both will be fine.
* Tom Crean fell to 0-5 against Tom Izzo, but you have to be impressed with the way IU competed. The Hoosiers are not bad at all, and they're finding ways to get great shots even without Verdell Jones III. Christian Watford was terrific and Jordan Hulls is a tough cover. Crean was asked if he is able to enjoy matching wits with Izzo at all.
"Oh I hate it," he said. "I mean, I do. But when you compete like he's competing and like I think I am, it’s hard. There’s only, you guys know this, everybody should know this by now, I root for him every day of the year but the day we have to go against him. And I would think he’s the same way. It’s tough, but I mean, we really felt we (could) win the game. I mean I’m really proud of these guys.
“ This league is measured by what Michigan State does. I’m telling you, at Indiana it sure is. Because of the way I feel about them and way I feel they run their program. And way I feel about their toughness and their attitudes.”
* Izzo confirmed what the numbers tell us -- that Lucas is not going to rest much for the rest of the season. He played 43 gutty minutes, matching Green's big free throws and winning bucket with a key 3-pointer, driving layup and pair of free throws down the stretch. No question, Lucas made big advances in quickness this week.
"I can," Lucas said when asked if he can handle the increased floor time. "One thing I want to do is just win. If I've got to keep playing minutes like this for my team to win, I will."
