Hoosiers shut down Spartans early

Leading up to last night's game, Coach Mike Davis praised Tom Izzo as the best coach in the country, mainly because of the way Izzo can get his No.25 Spartans to be more aggressive than anybody on the boards and defensively.\nBut by the time there were a few minutes left in the game Tuesday night, Izzo could only run his hands through his hair, lean back in his chair and look up to the top of Assembly Hall. Another Michigan State turnover had led to another three-pointer, this one by Dane Fife to give the Hoosiers an 81-58 lead with just 2:33 left.\nA minute later Izzo was relegated to staring at the floor as the Hoosiers, using a terrific first half defensive performance that matched their offensive one, cruised to an 83-65 win.\nWhile Tom Coverdale hit all six of his three-pointers in the first half to lead the IU offense with 20 points in the first 20 minutes, the Hoosiers (10-5, 3-0) were holding the Spartans to 26 first half points, their second-lowest output of the season. \n"That was the best defense we've played all season. To come out and hold them to 26 points in the first half was big," Davis said.\nFreshman guard Chris Hill, who had poured in 25 points for Michigan State (9-6, 0-2) against Minnesota, was held to two points in the first half. While the Hoosiers finished the half shooting over 65 percent from the floor, the Spartans managed just 33 percent.\nSophomore forward Jared Jeffries set the tone early. He opened the game by blocking the first two shots of Spartan forward Aloysius Anagonye in the opening 90 seconds.\n"That was definitely big for us," Davis said. \nThe Hoosiers finished with six blocks and seven steals, forcing Michigan State into 17 turnovers while IU committed only eight.\nAfter Jeffries' blocks, the Hoosiers used a 12-0 run and held the Spartans without a field goal for almost five minutes as IU would build a commanding 28-13 lead the Hoosiers would never relinquish.\n"Tonight our defense was what we're capable of doing," Jeffries said. "We really got to get into teams. If we're going to be a good defensive team, we have to play like we did tonight."\nIzzo said IU's defense was a big reason why the Spartans could not get anything going offensively. Sophomore point guard Marcus Taylor fought through back spasms to play 35 minutes but shot only 6-of-17 from the field.\nIzzo, who called his team's performance the worst he had seen in his six-plus seasons as the Spartans' head coach, said the freshmen Hill and Kelvin Torbert were dominated by the Hoosiers' defense.\n"Our wing guys, Chris got educated and (Torbert) got educated," Izzo said. "(IU) did cause some of that. They took it to us."\nAs for his own defense, Izzo watched his team allow the Hoosiers to shoot over 57 percent from the floor. The Spartans did get the Hoosiers' lead down to 14 in the middle of the second half, but would get no closer.\n"(IU) played awfully hard," Izzo said. "We had our chances to cut it. I thought they were more aggressive in every phase."\nWhile Izzo was blaming his entire staff, he also praised Davis and the Hoosiers for doing what the Spartans have been doing to the Big Ten for the past six seasons.\n"They got exactly what they deserved and so did we," Izzo concluded. "They did it just the way you're supposed to do it."\nDavis and the Hoosiers are learning from the champs.