MSU welcomes rematch

EAST LANSING - Ohio State's full-court pressure Sunday against Michigan State looked like a pop quiz the Spartans hadn't prepared for.

MSU, however, says they'll be ready for Friday's exam in a rematch with Ohio State at 2:30 p.m. in the Big Ten Tournament in Indianapolis at Conseco Fieldhouse.

Midway through the second half Sunday, Ohio State switched to a 2-2-1 press that appeared to confuse MSU, as the Buckeyes erased a 10-point deficit, and then pulled away for the 63-54 win.

"I did not think we attacked the press, we pulled it out more," MSU coach Tom Izzo said at Monday's weekly press conference. "I've always wanted to attack a press, and so we didn't make them pay for pressing us and that's something we're gonna work on this week."

Turnover problems and losing leads has been a reoccurring theme for MSU this season - especially in the game's later stages. Ohio State scored 28 points off 21 Spartan turnovers.

"I think that is (a learning experience), because when you're at the end of a game and a team is in a moment of desperation and pressing you and pressuring, you can't really play tight," MSU junior Travis Walton said after Monday's practice.

"Sometimes I think you get to start playing tight. You're up by 10 points and maybe you want to start stalling clock - I don't think that was the case (Sunday) - but that's a reason," Walton said. "In the first 36 minutes, or first couple minutes, you might say, 'I can take this shot,' or 'I can drive this hole,' and at the end of the game, you start thinking about it when you should just be playing and just try to build on the lead. Maybe some of that happened in the second half."

In facing each other again, MSU and Ohio State are experiencing a turnaround similar to that from an NBA playoff series - something the Spartans are looking forward to.

"Yeah, playing back-to-back games, we're excited about it," MSU senior Drew Neitzel said. "After losing to them, we've got to play them again right away, so the first step in our goal of winning a championship is to beat them. So we've got to take care of business Friday and just take it one game at a time."

LOSING TREND: Izzo quoted a stat that in MSU's three upset loses this year - at Iowa, at Penn State and at Ohio State - the Spartans are averaging 11 free throw attempts while their opponent is averaging almost 33 attempts. In the rest of MSU's games the team is averaging 18.5 attempts while its opponents are averaging 17.

"Can I ask kind of a dumb question?" Izzo said. "How come we know all of the turnover stats in the three major loses, we have no idea what that stat is. Is that because it would be one in our favor?

"So for the year we've shot more free throws than our opponents. In those three games it was an astronomical difference."

TOURNEY TIME: MSU is 11-8 in the Big Ten Tournament with two titles (1999, 2000). They are 3-3 when the event is held in Indianapolis. MSU lost to Iowa in the semifinals 53-48 the last time it was in Indianapolis.