After the first half, I wasn’t feeling too bad. Izzo read my mind with his comments to Erin Andrews on the way to the locker room. Offensively, State looked decent but they just weren’t making layups. Not that that’s an acceptable problem, but it’s one with a relatively easy fix and one that will even out with time. Turnovers were high, but we were fortunate to be down only three.

Then the second half started and I crapped all over my couch as this team fell apart HARD. Turnovers were breeding like rabbits and Purdue just got tougher. Schulman captured the entire game with a comment to the effect of “Purdue’s got a guy with a broken nose, a guy who’s throwing up on the sideline, and a guy with a broken back and they’re STILL up on a top-five team by a dozen points.” Good lord. Why can’t our guys play like Kramer or Jackson when they’re not 100%?

Agree on Allen. He was completely useless last night, and the comment regarding his shooting when he should drive and his driving when he should shoot was dead on. Just terrible, terrible decisions all evening long in the backcourt.

Very disappointing all around. We had a week to prepare. We held our own destiny (still do, for now) and choked away an opportunity to take on our main competitor and help put the conference championship to bed. Sure it was on the road – but that’s been a great place for us this year, inexplicably. We’ve laid fat stinkers in Mackey the last couple years and this was a chance to put those memories away. There was so much going for us in this game, so many reasons to be ready to come out flying, but the Spartans took a huge, 40-minute crap right at center court. HUGE disappointment.

All I can say about Allen is if his name were Gray, he’d be getting about 3 minutes a game.

Hopefully these guys will regroup for Sunday. Wisconsin is a critical game, and almost a must win.

I’m also glad that most have dismissed the officiating as the reason for the loss. When a game ends, one of the first things I check is the fouls called and the free throws shot. MSU committed 2 more fouls and shot two more free throws. Neither is out of hand IMO as both teams are known for their physical defense. You want unreasonable, check the Purdue-Oklahoma box score (28-15 on fouls and 46-5 on free throw attempts…both in favor of Oklahoma).

Even though I know that a loss by MSU to the Illini would likely enhance our chances of a Big Ten title, I’d rather you thump them in Champaign. I’d much rather have a shot at sharing the title with you than have to share it with Illinois. That said, feel free to lose to Wisky this weekend!!

A couple of pet peeves that have recurred all season: the charges have to stop. Whenever Allen or Summers drive the lane they absolutely telegraph their intention to get to the rim no matter who is in their way or how good their position is. I can see the charge coming from 10 feet away. That has to stop – if you can’t get to the rim without bowling someone over pull up for a short jumper or bring it back out and re-set. Those charges are as bad as turnovers and they have been happening all year long. Second – we better get better against pressure because that is exactly the type of D that ACC teams like to play, and we’re sure to see it in the tourney.

All in all I think we came out sluggish and out of sync due to the week off, and got rattled when we couldn’t hit those chip shots in the first half. Part of it was the pressure D but we really missed a bunch of gimmes that we should have had. We really need the outside shooting to come around again – this is the third game in a row where we have barely been able to buy a bucket from outside with the exception of Summers. I know Purdue plays excellent D, but it isn’t good enough to hold us to less than 40 percent shooting on an average night.

Not sure what to do about Allen – he is completely out of sync. I’m tempted to give his minutes to anyone else we have on the roster (Thornton?) who can play decent perimeter D and hit some outside shots until he gets his head straight. I’m really worried about our outside shooting – this is the third game in a row where our 3 point shooting percentage was below 30 percent. I’m reasonably satisfied with our post players but they are not going to carry the offense on their own. We really need to rediscover our balance on offense.

two things that did not get remarked upon: first, this was the first game where I thought Roe was intimidated, and he played one of his poorer games.

And second, what was with the 6 offensive fouls? My own sense is that 2,3 of those were great acting on the part of the defender. I also note that the Spartans never do the same show of “falling backward exaggeratedly” to draw the foul. It’s as if they were trained not to; and as a result, it seems like they hardly ever get those calls.

I agree with KJ that this defeat makes you wonder about the Spartans and their resilience and focus.