Michigan State basketball vs. Penn State, 'hottest team' in Big Ten: Scouting report, pick
Chris Solari
EAST LANSING — To win a third straight Big Ten regular-season championship, Tom Izzo insists Michigan State basketball will need to win at least a few of its upcoming road games – which hasn't been easy so far.
He also knows the importance of continuing the Spartans' dominance at home.
"I think it's still important to protect our home court," Izzo said Monday during his weekly news conference. "That's still a big mission."
[ Michigan State holds steady at No. 14 in USA TODAY coaches poll ]
No. 14 MSU hosts surging No. 20 Penn State on Tuesday, one of four remaining games at Breslin Center in the Spartans' final nine.
"We gotta do a better job of being the team that we are, because we are a really good team," senior Cassius Winston said Tuesday. "And we got to figure out a way to pull it in and put it together for longer."
Here is what to watch when the Spartans host the Nittany Lions (8 p.m., BTN).
Schedule ahead
The Spartans (16-6, 8-3) remained tied atop the Big Ten standings despite losing, 64-63, at Wisconsin on Saturday.
The Spartans are 6-0 in Big Ten play at Breslin entering Tuesday, outscoring opponents 76.7-58.8 and winning each by 12 or more points, which Izzo said "has been off the charts."
"I think you got to win five on the road if you can hold court at home," he said. "It could change. You could get beat at home and upset somebody on the road. But for the most part, I've said from Day 1 that 15-5 would probably win the league. I don't feel a lot different right now, except maybe it could be 14-6. I'm just starting to look at who's got the best schedule left, things like that, that normally is so easy to look at. It's so difficult to look at this year."
Meanwhile, MSU is just 2-3 on the road thanks to slow starts at Purdue, Indiana and Wisconsin. Against the Hoosiers and Badgers, the Spartans recovered and had chances to win before losing by a combined five points. The Boilermakers blew them out by 29.
Only two of MSU's remaining road games are against teams with losing Big Ten records — Sunday at Michigan and Feb. 20 at Nebraska. The Spartans still must visit the co-leading Illini on Feb. 11 and third-place Maryland on Feb. 29 as well as the return trip to face the Nittany Lions (16-5, 6-4) on March 3.
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"I feel like we we do play well on the road too, just not the entire game," said Winston, who scored 15 of his 23 points in the second half at Wisconsin. "Every time we've been on the road, we go down 18 points, and then next thing you know, it's a five-point game. So it's about putting that stretch to get it for longer in our own game.
"To win these games, you got to play 37 really good minutes on the road — I think we're only playing like 25, so it's hard to kind of fight that."
MSU's remaining home schedule is equally as tough. After Tuesday, the Spartans still have to host No. 9 Maryland on Feb. 15, No. 17 Iowa on Feb. 25 and struggling but dangerous Ohio State to close the regular-season March 8.
"As I said yesterday when I walked into practice, we're still top of the league," Izzo said. "We're not where I want to be. I still think you have to win some of those road games, if you can win all your home games."
Tillman waiting
Xavier Tillman is coming off one of his worst games of the season, missing his first seven shots and a number of in-close looks while finishing 3 of 15 for seven points. He did grab 14 rebounds and hand out five assists, but he suffered rare defensive lapses and also had issues catching entry passes despite his typically sure hands.
"We haven't seen Xavier do what Xavier did," Izzo said. "And I don't feel one ounce-bit different about Xavier before the game, during the game or after the game. Disappointed, and then felt bad because I don't question Xavier in any way shape or form."
But it is a tense time for the junior forward off the court. His wife, Tamia, is due to give birth to their second child on Feb. 23. Tillman last week said there is a plan in place to get him home if his wife goes into labor and the team is on the road. He does not plan to miss the birth. She could be induced at 39 weeks, he added.
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"I call every day when I'm on the road to make sure that she's all right and then go from there," Tillman said Thursday. "But yeah, she's getting ready. I feel like I got like a week and a half, two weeks maybe. … I think we have a gap after this Penn State game next week. So hopefully that is a good stretch when he wants to come out."
Izzo said Aaron Henry also was sick at Wisconsin along with fellow sophomore Gabe Brown. Illness has been going around the MSU locker room for nearly two weeks, with Tillman and Thomas Kithier also both having dealt with it. And senior Kyle Ahrens is playing through back and ankle issues that have limited him all season.
However, Izzo said the Spartans need better leadership from Winston and Tillman. Both of them, he understands, are dealing with some weighty things – Tillman's wait for his son's birth and Winston still coping with the death of his brother, Zachary. But the players also know their own importance.
"It's gotta come from either me or X. We just got to be more demanding, more demonstrative, and lead these guys," Winston said. "We got a lot of talent, we got a lot of guys who are capable of doing some special things. We gotta find it in ourselves to figure out a way to bring it out of them."
Penn State update
Izzo said the Nittany Lions "might be the hottest team in the league right now." They have won four in a row, including at Michigan on Jan. 22 and 76-64 at Nebraska on Saturday, after a three-game skid in early January.
Lamar Stevens, a 6-foot-8 senior forward, is averaging a team-high 16.5 points and is second at 7.0 rebounds. Myreon Jones, a 6-4 sophomore guard, is a 3-point threat averaging 13.8 points a game, while 6-9 senior forward Mike Watkins is a triple threat who averages 9.8 points, 8.2 rebounds and 2.9 blocks per game.
"They've got a little bit of everything," Izzo said. "They've got guards, they've got bigs, I think they're well-coached and and they're a hot team right now. So there's no question we got our work cut out for us."
However, none of the four teams Penn State has beaten during its win streak (Ohio State, Michigan, Indiana and Nebraska) has a winning Big Ten record. The Nittany Lions' three-game skid included losses to Rutgers, Wisconsin and Minnesota – three teams MSU already beat soundly at Breslin.
The Spartans won the lone meeting last year, 71-56, in State College, Pennsylvania. They lead the all-time series 39-8, winning 10 of the last 11 and losing only once in 25 meetings in East Lansing back in 2009.
MSU 72, Penn State 68: The Spartans' energy once again gets boosted by the Breslin crowd, Tillman gives a much steadier performance against the Nittany Lions' dangerous interior tandem, and Penn State does not have an answer for Winston.
Contact Chris Solari at csolari@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @chrissolari. Read more on the Michigan State Spartans and sign up for our Spartans newsletter.