Spartan Hoopla: Michigan State 9-0 in Big Ten With Win Over Northwestern

Michigan State (9-0) sits firmly in the Big Ten's driver seat with Saturday night's 79-70 win over the Northwestern Wildcats.

After a first half that moved like molasses in the winter time, Tom Izzo's offense simply stepped on the gas pedal to roar past the Wildcats in the second stanza.

Durrell Summers (24 points, 10 rebounds) was automatic from nearly everywhere on the floor. He had the Breslin Center jumping immediately with his alley-oop flush courtesy of Chris Allen's half-court dish. Summers' 40 minutes of hustle is an encouraging sign that one of Izzo's stars is on his way to peaking.

The Allen-Summers hook-up was a sign of things to come from the nation's fifth-ranked club—fans just had to wait 20 minutes.  

Izzo's clan went on a 20-4 scoring-binge to begin the second frame, scoring 30 points in the first 13 minutes.

However, with a 16 point lead, the Spartans were unable to slam the door on Northwestern. Bill Carmody's crew was able to claw their way back into it, making Izzo that much more "colorful."

Northwestern should have been content with its showing in the first 20 minutes. The 'Cats were down by two (30-28) and were dictating the tempo.

When pushed out of the paint, Northwestern's perimeter game went on display.

John Shurna, the Wildcats' 6'8" sophomore, simply could not miss from 3-point-range.

Shurna shot 6-for-11 from beyond the arc and scored a career-high 31 points (sound familiar?).

Kevin Coble had nearly an identical game just over a year ago against the then seventh-ranked Spartans.

Northwestern was raining 3's from every angle—long-distance shooting kept it in the game right until the waning minutes.

Kalin Lucas (23 points) sliced the Wildcat defense like a Ginsu-knife through paper on every given opportunity. Lucas continues to show the league that he's the definitive leader in the Big Ten Player of the Year race.

Chris Allen's dunk (link below).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cRR3To5j8ZA

Game Notes:

Tom Izzo surpasses Bobby Knight in all-time Big Ten win percentage (70.1 percent).

Michigan State is 13-0 at home and is 79-8 in its last 87 conference games.

Chris Allen's shooting slump is alive and well. It's a good thing for the Spartans that Delvon Roe and Draymond Green came to play.

Kalin Lucas scored a season-high 23 points.

Michigan State shot 75 percent from the floor, 81 percent of its "2's" went in.

Just when it looked like Raymar Morgan was "back," he fouled out and did not score a point.