this is getting old.

drew neitzel dropped 15 in the second half to overcome the hoosiers 10 point half time lead and to lead the michigan state spartans to a 66-58 victory tonight at the jack breslin student center. the hoosiers, who had 0 turnovers in the first half, gave it away 16 times in the second half en route to losing their fifth straight road game.

"Give Drew Neitzel credit, those shots were tough," said IU head coach Kelvin Sampson.

The Hoosiers played very efficiently in the first half, creating 16 turnovers which turned in to 15 points. However, the home crowd at the Breslin center brought the Spartans back in the game after falling behind by 13 with 19:02 to go after three free throws by Armon Bassett. Bassett added a season-high 25 points.

"There's no way we win that game without our fans because I had three guys walking on their tongues at the end," said Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo. "I never thought I'd have a game when my point guards had 13 turnovers and we still won."

The Hoosiers now head into the final two games of the regular season with one more home game against Penn State and the season finale on the road at Northwestern during the first week of March.
The loss dropped IU to 18-9 (8-6).

Notes:
-IU shot 35.4% from the field while Michigan State shot 54.5%.
-The Hoosiers went deep in the bench tonight with 7 players in double-figure minutes.
- Michigan State did not score a field goal after the 3:47 mark, relying on free throws to seal the game.

Analysis:
Coach Sampson seemed to take this loss with a grain of salt in the post-game conference and I couldn't really tell if it was sarcastic. He really felt that the team played hard tonight but Michigan State's played tougher. Turnovers really killed the Hoosiers in the second half, but most of them were forced. I still like this team despite their ridiculously frustrating nature on the road. Wih Calloway coming back, I feel like this team can compete very well in the neutral big ten tourney and at the ncaa's. Should be fun, but for now, we're gonna hit the hay and then trudge back through yet another ice storm tomorrow. should be fun.

(visual credit: gm)