GREEN & WHITE BASKETBALL

MSU has 'a ton to play for' with NCAAs at stake

Chris Solari
Detroit Free Press

EAST LANSING – There’s an elephant in Michigan State’s locker room. In Tom Izzo’s vernacular, it’s big and white.

Feb 18, 2017; West Lafayette, IN, USA; Michigan State Spartans guard Alvin Ellis III (3) shoots against Purdue Boilermakers guard Dakota Mathias (31) and forward Vincent Edwards (12) at Mackey Arena. Purdue defeats Michigan State 80-63. Mandatory Credit: Brian Spurlock-USA TODAY Sports

In other words, exceptionally rare and extremely weighty. The Spartans’ 19-year NCAA Tournament streak is in serious jeopardy with four games left in the regular season.

“We only have two weeks left in the regular season,” Izzo said Monday, “and a ton to play for.”

That critical final push to keep the streak alive begins Thursday at home against Nebraska (7 p.m./ESPNU). It continues when No. 15 Wisconsin visits Breslin Center on Sunday, then wraps up on the road at Illinois and No. 24 Maryland.

There is little margin for error from here out, and the Spartans know that.

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How to replace Eron Harris? Izzo counts the ways

“These games are gonna be tough coming down the stretch (and) we really need these games,” senior guard Alvin Ellis said. “We’re gonna have to really focus in and lock in and be all in these last couple weeks before the tournament starts. We’re gonna have to stay focused in and learn from our mistakes.”

MSU sits at 16-11 and 8-6 in Big Ten play. As of Monday, both Jerry Palm of CBSSports.com and ESPN’s Joe Lunardi project the Spartans as a 10-seed in the NCAA Tournament. They are not listed among the final four teams into the 68-team field by either analyst.

Palm said Monday on WVFN 730-AM in Lansing he believes MSU needs to win three out of its next four games to close the regular season. He also said no teams in the past six years have received an at-large berth with 14 losses and only seven in the 23 years he has projected brackets have.

“Once you get to 14 losses, things get pretty sketchy,” Palm said. “And especially if they are 18-14. If they split those two games and lose their first conference tournament game, now you’re 18-14 and almost certainly planning for the (National Invitation Tournament.”

Izzo and MSU haven’t been in the NIT since his first two seasons, 1996 and 1997. He also has coached a few other teams which have escaped the bubble deep into February to make the NCAAs – including a 14-loss team in 2011.

Related:

Couch: MSU will miss Eron Harris, more than realized

That year, after back-to-back Final Four appearances, the Spartans were 19-14 with wins in three of their last five and two more in the Big Ten Tournament but received a 10-seed. In 2002, they won five straight to close the regular season and received a 10-seed. In 2004, they captured five of last six in regular-season play and got a 7-seed. Each time, MSU was one-and-done in the NCAAs.

The difference with those three teams, however, is that Izzo had more size and experience than this year’s team. The Spartans have lost three seniors to knee injuries, the latest being guard Eron Harris during Saturday’s 80-63 loss at Purdue. Big men Gavin Schilling and Ben Carter were lost during preseason practice and did not play.

“I don’t feel good about where we are, but everybody is going in the same direction. We still have a lot of things to play for,” Izzo said. “There’s a lot of teams around the country that are in the same boat or worse off than us except for our injuries. But as they say you work on things you can control, not things you can’t control. We can’t control those anymore so we’ll move forward.”

Contact Chris Solari:csolari@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter@chrissolari. Download our Spartans Xtra app for free onAppleandAndroiddevices!