East Lansing — They don’t have to go far into the memory bank to find all the reasons to be where their feet are.
Just a couple days is all, really, and that disappointing loss to UCLA on Friday that sent Michigan State home early from the Big Ten tournament in Chicago. The Spartans lost that game largely because they failed to match their opponent’s level of desperation, as head coach Tom Izzo described it.
And as they turned their attention to the next test Sunday, after earning a No. 3 seed in the NCAA Tournament’s East Region and a first-round date with North Dakota State on Thursday in Buffalo, that lesson was still fresh in their minds.
“You can’t look past anybody,” senior center Carson Cooper said. “In the Big Ten Tournament, I think one of the things that we might have done is look too far ahead. Losing to Michigan (in the regular-season finale), right away we’re thinking, ‘We want to meet these guys again.’ And we weren’t putting all our eggs in one basket about the game that we had in front of us.”
That’s a mistake they know they can’t make twice. The next time they do, Michigan State’s season likely will be over. For seniors like Cooper and Jaxon Kohler, so will their college careers.
As it is, they’ve already cost themselves. The tournament selection committee highlighted that Sunday, leapfrogging Purdue over Michigan State onto the 2-seed line by virtue of their Big Ten tourney showing in Chicago. Never mind that the Boilermakers had lost four of their final six in the regular season, including at home to the Spartans.
So as easy as it would be to look ahead to the rest of that East bracket — and a Final Four path that likely would run through some blue-blood programs they’ve already faced this season in UConn (exhibition) and Duke — they insist they’ll do just the opposite this week.
“Heading into the tournament, that’s going to be to the nth degree now,” Cooper said.
They’ll prep for all three of the other teams in their Buffalo pod this week, just like Izzo’s teams always do. Not just 14-seed North Dakota State (27-7), the Summit League champ that knocks down 3s, forces plenty of turnovers and rebounds well for its size. But also a guard-dominant Louisville squad that carries a darkhorse statistical profile and a red-hot South Florida team that can really defend and crash the offensive boards.
But mostly they’ll prepare to play Thursday like it’s the biggest game of the season. Because it is. And because they know their opponent will.
“If we underestimate that in any way, they can get the jump on us,” said Kohler. “So we have to make sure that when we enter the building, the other team can sense that we want it more than them.”
And if they need any reminders, you can bet Izzo and his staff will provide them. No one on this roster was here five years ago when the Spartans lost their First Four opener to UCLA in overtime, thanks in part to a critical missed cutout on a free throw. Same goes for that disastrous upset a decade ago when No. 2 seed Michigan State lost to Giddy Potts and 15th-seeded Middle Tennessee State in St. Louis.
“How do I do that? I tell them what I went through,” Izzo said. “I hired some guys on my staff, and I got some guys as (graduate assistants) that went through it. That’s the advantage of having players around that played for you.
“And then I’ll make some phone calls (to former players), and by tomorrow, these guys will be getting phone calls from some of the guys that didn’t do it. And that’s kind of the way I try to approach it.”
The extra rest from an early exit in Chicago won’t hurt, of course. Especially with a Thursday afternoon tipoff for their NCAA opener in Buffalo. And for a Michigan State team that really is limited to a seven-man rotation.
But while the staff spent Sunday night taking a crash course in scouting North Dakota State, the players know a lot of it’ll come down to the fundamentals.
“The little things is why you win and lose games,” Izzo said. “And chances are, in the NCAA tournament, most games are going to be very tight. So free throws are going to matter. Situations are going to matter. Out-of-bounds plays are going to matter. The little things matter.
“You’ve heard coaches say that for 100 years. But until you lose a game on a free-throw cutout when you’ve got a five-point lead, it doesn’t hit home. The problem is, it hit me right (between) the eyes.”
So that’s why the focus will stay where it needs to for the Spartans. On this week, not next week. On the task at hand, not the chores that might follow.
Sure, there’s some symmetry the fans might find magical about this March Madness draw for the Spartans. The last time the East Regional final was held in Washington, D.C., second-seeded Michigan State knocked off No. 1 Duke to reach the Final Four.
But the future can disappear in a hurry if you lose sight of where you’re at, and if the Spartans didn’t already understand that before, they’ll have no excuse now.
jniyo@detroitnews.com
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Niyo: Michigan State can’t let history repeat itself as March Madness awaits
Reporting by John Niyo, The Detroit News / The Detroit News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
