I hope Sparty picked up some herpes at The Deuce last night after the game

well that went about as we expected. the most surprising stat is that NU was only out-rebounded 19-11. probably because michigan state made about two-thirds of their shots. although watching the cats try to rebound did provide some comic relief during the beating. in the first half, NU shot an airball which hit craig moore in the face and knocked him out of bounds. later, about midway through the second half, Big Red (more on him later) somehow got an offensive rebound while surrounded by 4 guys in white and kicked it out to Neitzel for a dagger three.

the defense last night was atrocious. it seemed at times that they got a little "charge happy," falling down upon any contact hoping for a call instead of just putting a hand in the shooters face. on offense there were a few backdoor layups, but there were equal amounts of shot clock violations and Jeff Ryan falling down attempting a spin move in the lane.

aside from that 13-0 run when they cut the lead to 7 right before the half (which has to be their best four minutes of basketball in at least three seasons), NU looked like they didn't belong on the same court. segments of that game reminded me of OSU's beat down of us on the football field last season.

now, back to Big Red - this guy. it seems that michigan state always has a big goofy red-haired center. not sure if it is just coincidence or if Izzo knows something the rest of us don't. before Naymick they had this guy, a key contributor off the bench for their national championship team. not much on the web from before 1998, but i bet this guy was in the club too.