Smack Talk

So, here I am sitting at home on a Tuesday night, wondering just what team I’ll see show up at the Breslin Center tomorrow night to take on Minnesota. I hope to see the fiery, talented, tough defending Izzo team that I saw play on a few occasions this year. But, alas, I am worried that I won’t.

 

Raymar Morgan is probably going to sit out again, and Goran Suton is going to be playing a recently injured knee-Suton suffered a hyperextension in practice on Monday. But, I still don’t think this is why I am worried. I think we still have plenty of talented players on this team to beat another good team. However, I find myself worried anyway. The reason: this Spartan team is not playing with fire lately.

 

Think about it: when was the last time you saw Travis Walton sprint down the court after a strong MSU offensive possession, turn around, and slap his hands hard on the floor to fire up his defense? The last time I can remember was the Illinois game at home. A game in which the Spartans worked themselves up, came back, and beat a good team after being down.  So what’s the big deal, right? Well, that display of emotion is much more than just a slap on the floor. That move represents the fact that the Spartans are in control, fired up, and ready to dominate for the rest of the game; normally, that’s what happens shortly after. But that’s been missing lately. And sure enough, they’ve lost some tough games at home.

 

It was probably around that same time that you saw Marquise Gray throw down a jam and pound his chest in emotion. Remember what that used to look like? That too, is a physical representation of the confidence of this team. We don’t often see too many players pounding their chest when they’re down by 20, and still sliding. I haven’t seen this in the two recent home losses.

 

So, my point is, it’s not the end of the world that we lost a few home games. Hell, we’re still in first place in the conference. But, in order to stay there, we need to see some fire; we need to see some passion. After the Northwestern game, I remarked that the passion was absent. I still haven’t seen it return. I didn’t even see it in the win at Iowa. If this team wants to continue its reign at the top of the Big Ten this year, it needs to find some passion; it needs to find its swagger, and it needs to start smacking the floor.