The Hoop Feed: Bubble Resistant?

EAST LANSING - If Tom Izzo is feeling pressure, he has a strange way of showing it.

The 22nd-year head coach at Michigan State is trying to lead Michigan State off the NCAA Tournament bubble and into the school’s 20th straight appearance in The Big Dance. Yet he charmed the live audience at his weekly Tom Izzo Show radio broadcast at Reno’s East in East Lansing with a bright smile and giddy predictions.

“The greatest thing to me,” he said, “is we don’t need anybody’s help.”

Michigan State (16-11 and 8-6 in the Big Ten) will play host to Nebraska at 7 p.m. on Thursday at Breslin Center (ESPNU).

Heading into tonight’s action, ESPN has Michigan State as a No. 10 seed, facing South Carolina in Sacramento, one win away from potentially facing No. 2 seed Oregon.

USA Today has MSU as a No. 10 seed, facing South Carolina in Orlando, one win away from potentially facing No. 2 Florida State.

Michigan State’s RPI (No. 43) is favorable as is the Spartans’ No. 14 strength of schedule.

More than anything, the Spartans need wins. A pair of victories this week in the final two games at Breslin Center, against the Huskers on Thursday and Wisconsin on Sunday, would go a long way toward cinching another March Madness appearance for Izzo.

With four games remaining, the Spartans likely need two wins to remain on solid ground, with the possibility of needing one more win in the Big Ten Tournament in order to sleep well the night before Selection Sunday.

MSU’s 16-11 record might look dingy, but a malaise of parity and mediocrity has left a nation full of bubble-bound teams. For instance, USA Today characterizes Clemson, with a 14-12 record (4-10 in the ACC) as “in for now” along with Tennessee at 14-12 and 7-7 in the SEC.

Izzo was asked during Monday’s press conference if he is putting pressure on his team to live up to the standard of the last 18 Spartan teams.

“No I’m not,” Izzo said. “I’m putting pressure on my team to play their best basketball. Any pressure on the streak should go on me, not them. They have enough to worry about.”

Izzo was smiling, charged up and confident in addressing the radio audience.

“I’m telling you, for the next two weeks, it’s lock-down time,” Izzo said. “We’re getting after it a little bit here and we’re going to be ready to go.

“We have had to fight our way into it (the NCAA Tournament) once or twice over the years in this 19-year span. It isn’t something I want to get used to.”

And then Izzo went into soothsaying mode.

“We’re going to get in that thing,” Izzo said, drawing applause. “I’m going to say it now: We’re going to get in that thing. We got our work cut out and I’m kind of enjoying the challenge a little bit. The sick side of me is kind of enjoying the challenge.

“There’s no question that these next two games have a lot riding,” Izzo said. “The neat thing about having an us-against-the-world mentality, or a lot of people doubting what can be accomplished, is that this is a time when everyone can rally. It’s kind of a powerful deal. We haven’t had to go through this often. It’s okay. It really is okay and I’m looking forward to it and I hope you (the radio audience) are too.”

Izzo has a good feeling about the way his players have responded to a loss at Purdue over the weekend, and the loss of senior Eron Harris to a season-ending knee injury.

Players, and coaches, have been moved to tears in watching Harris lose the final weeks of his college career. But Izzo says the remaining players have drawn some inspiration from him.

Harris is the third Spartan senior to be lost to a season-ending injury, joining big men Gavin Schilling and graduate transfer Alex Carter, who were lost to knee injuries in October.

“I don’t need anybody feeling sorry for us,” Izzo said. “I like the us-against-the-world mentality. Once in a while, it brings humility back into you and I’ve been humilitied to death this year and still standing, still got a chance.

“We’re going miss Eron. And Eron told the guys during an unbelievable meeting on Sunday, ‘We’re going to watch film and you need to see what you need to get better at, because time is short.’

“And that’s what I said to each player: You have to look in the mirror each night when you go to bed and say, ‘What can I do to make a difference?’

“I told them the coaches will do the same thing. And if the fans do the same thing, and if collectively we take care of our business, and we get into the tournament, then that’s a whole other day.”

Izzo appealed again to the fans, for Thursday night and what will be an emotional scene on Sunday against the Badgers.

“Get ready for a big week,” Izzo said. “And I hope you are and trust me when I say this: You can make a difference.

"If we all get it done, what an accomplishment and what a great event that’s going to be.”

WHAT’S NEXT

Harris was MSU’s third-leading scorer at 10.7 points per game. He led the Spartans in 3-point shot attempts at 111 and made productive 38 percent of them.

Now, senior Alvin Ellis and freshman Joshua Langford will be asked to continue to shoot a fine percent from 3-point range while likely increasing their 3-point attempts.

Ellis and Langford are each shooting 42 percent from 3-point range on the year, ranking No. 10 and 12 in the Big Ten respectively in that category.

Ellis has attempted 87 3-pointers on the year, and Langford 64.

Ellis has been hunting for his shot much more aggressively in the last few games, and Langford’s offensive aggressiveness has grown substantially from failing to attempt a shot in a loss at Michigan two weeks go.

Now, the question is whether Ellis’ productivity will increase as his role changes a bit. He hasn’t started a game this year, and Izzo had grown reliant on his instant offense off the bench, as well as his defensive versatility.

Izzo said earlier this week he wasn’t sure whether he would retain Ellis in a substitution role and start sophomore Matt McQuaid, or elevate Ellis to the starting lineup. Ellis said he didn’t care.

“It doesn’t matter,” Ellis said. “I just have to do what I can do and help the team win games.

“I’m just going to keep doing what I’m doing, starting on the defensive end and let that turn into my offense and try to get going like that.”

Ellis said he has been comfortable coming off the bench.

“I do feel like I’ve got a good rhythm, just watching the guys on the floor and see how people are doing and picking up on the mental mistakes,” Ellis said.

Harris, Ellis, Langford and McQuaid have been streaky this season - sometimes painfully so. With Harris no longer a heat-check option, the Spartans will need less inconsistency from Ellis, Langford and McQuaid and will call on them to harness some dependability.

Meanwhile, 6-foot-5 sophomore Kyle Ahrens practiced at wing guard on Monday for the first time in months. Ahrens came to MSU as a guard but had to move to the four this year after Schilling and Carter went down with injuries. He has had to guard post defenders in an emergency stop-gap role this season, sometimes with unsuccessful results.

Ahrens is regarded as a quality shooter, however he is only 10-of-35 from 3-point range on the year (28 percent). But he did connect on a huge, shot-clock-beating 3-pointer in the final minutes of MSU’s victory over Iowa last week, providing a back-breaking moment for the Hawkeyes.

Izzo could use more help from Ahrens in the remaining games as a wing, but the need for emergency help along the baseline remains the same. Ahrens will still need to play against big men, especially on occasions when Nick Ward and/or Kenny Goins get into foul trouble - as was the case last weekend against Purdue.

“We got beat by a better team,” Izzo said. “But I had a problem with some of those calls on Ward.”

MORE MILEAGE

Izzo said he is also going to challenge his best player - freshman Miles Bridges - to raise his level of play.

“Just getting him to be more aggressive is something we will need,” Izzo said.

Bridges is averaging 16.1 points and 8.5 rebounds per game. He is shooting 40 percent from 3-point range.

Izzo left Bridges in the Purdue game for the final two minutes despite trailing by more than 15 points. Izzo said he wanted Bridges to rebuild his scorer’s mentality, and attack off the dribble - something Bridges didn’t do earlier in the game when guarded by bigger and slower people.

“As strong and tough and good as he is, he’s almost not doing enough, not doing as much as I think he can do,” Izzo said. “He’s done a lot of things and he is playing amongst a lot of other new guys, so it’s not easy to do. But if we’re going to accomplish what we want to accomplish, then we’re going to push him to step it up even more.”

THE NUMBERS …

* MSU ranks No. 2 in the Big Ten in 3-point shooting percentage at .384, well being Purdue’s whopping .413.

* On the negative side, MSU ranks No. 13 in the Big Ten in turnover margin at -3.3.

* MSU is a middling fifth in the Big Ten in rebounding margin at +2.9.

CATCHING UP WITH FORBES

Former Spartan great Bryn Forbes stopped by the gym on Monday. Izzo stopped practice when he saw Forbes, and brought him to center court, where he exchanged hugs with every player on the team - including freshmen that he never had a chance to play with.

Later, former Spartan great and fellow Lansing native Denzel Valentine also stopped by the auxiliary gym at Breslin and worked out on the Spartan rims.