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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
EVANSTON, Ill. (AP) -- Morris Peterson and Michigan State followed coach Tom Izzo's orders -- smother Northwestern at the outset and never let the overmatched Wildcats in the game.
"Coach just talked about getting to them early," Peterson
said. "If we didn't get to them early and they hit some early
shots, we could be in trouble."
The Wildcats did make the first basket of the game and then
Michigan State's suffocating defense took over. Northwestern
managed only six field goals the rest of the night as the Spartans (No. 8 ESPN/USA Today, No. 9 AP) rolled to a 59-29 victory.
"I thought defensively we played as well as we can play," Izzo
said. "I don't feel sorry for anybody, just because Kevin
(O'Neill) is a good friend. I told him that when Mateen (Cleaves)
and those guys were freshmen, we got blown out ourselves. "
But not like this.
The Spartans used a 25-0 first-half run, holding Northwestern
without a field goal for one stretch of more than 17 minutes and
without a point for 14. By that time it was 27-5 and then 32-12 at
halftime.
"We just played on our heels," said Ben Johnson, one of four
freshman starters for the Wildcats and the team's leading scorer
who managed just three points.
"They switched and denied and they got in the passing lanes. We
had a 5-2 lead and some confidence and then we basically fell
apart. It's frustrating, but it's something you've got to deal
with."
Northwestern made just three field goals in the first half and
four in the second in its second lowest scoring game of the season.
The Wildcats managed just 26 points in a November loss to
Evansville.
"They totally demolished us," O'Neill said after his second
one-sided loss to the Spartans in five days. "They played like a
team that was at the Final Four last year. ... We played like
freshmen."
Northwestern's Winston Blake made the game's first basket, a
jumper with 19:11 to go in the first half, and then the Wildcats
didn't manage another field goal until Tavaras Hardy got inside for
a basket and converted a three-point play with 1:44 left -- a span
of 17:27.
Peterson, who finished as the game's only double figure scorer
with 19 points, had a layup, two alley-oop baskets from lob passes
and a 3-pointer in the big run for Michigan State (14-5, 5-1 Big
Ten).
Last Saturday, the Spartans opened the game with a 14-0 run en
route to a 69-45 victory.
Northwestern (4-14, 0-6) finished the first half 3-for-16 from
the field and was 7-for-39 for the game.
"You shoot 7-for-39 and you can't beat anybody," O'Neill said.
"They're better than us at every position. They're older and
they're deeper."
The NCAA record for the fewest points since the shot clock was
adopted in 1985-86 was 21 by Georgia Southern against Coastal
Carolina on Jan. 2, 1997.
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ALSO SEE
Mens College Basketball Scoreboard
Michigan State Clubhouse
Northwestern Clubhouse
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