Michigan State Spartans becoming road weary

Michigan State has the same overall record of 9-5 as the Hoosiers. But while Coach Mike Davis and IU have toured the country playing 11 of their first 14 games away from Assembly Hall, the No. 25 Spartans have had nine of their 14 games at home in the Breslin Center.\nNot surprisingly, Michigan State is undefeated at home. The Spartans have won 53 straight games in East Lansing, the longest such streak in the nation. \nBut they have yet to win on the road. And after a 75-64 loss at No.14 Stanford and a 70-67 loss at Minnesota Saturday, Tom Izzo is ready for his team to improve on the road.\nThe Spartans have their sixth chance at a road win tonight against the Hoosiers at Assembly Hall. Izzo thinks his team is ready to get it right after tough road losses at Stanford and No. 3 Florida.\n"It was a disappointing couple of games, and yet I thought in a way we played pretty well in both games, and I think we're better prepared for the Big Ten," Izzo said. \nThe Spartans can take some solace in their loss to the Gophers. They were playing without starters Adam Ballinger and Marcus Taylor. The fact that they were without the more than 26 points and 10 rebounds those two average impressed Coach Davis.\n"They go to Minnesota and lose by (three points) and they had two starters out," Davis said. "They're not going to lay down. They're a good basketball team."\nBallinger has missed Michigan State's last three games with a severely sprained right ankle. He isn't expected to play tonight, but Taylor might be able to play through the back spasms that held him out of the loss to the Gophers.\n"He wasn't great (Sunday). I do expect him to play some," Izzo said. "How much, I don't know."\nTaylor is one of the more experienced Spartans. Indiana native and freshman guard Chris Hill helped make up for Taylor's absence Saturday with 25 points and is averaging more than 12 points and 3.4 rebounds per game. \nDavis said he didn't recruit Hill particularly hard out of Lawrence North High School in Indianapolis but thinks Hill could end up as the conference's freshman of the year.\n Besides Hill, Davis and is also concerned about Spartan sophomore forward Adam Wolfe, who Davis coached on the Big Ten Tour team this summer. "I thought he was probably the best player on the Big Ten team," Davis said. "He'll be a hard match-up for us because he can shoot." Wolfe is averaging 10.8 points and 5.7 rebounds this season and might get his seventh start of the season tonight.\n The last two times Michigan State has traveled to Assembly Hall, the Spartans have lost in the final seconds. Two years ago Lynn Washington tipped in an A.J. Guyton airball to give the Hoosiers an 81-79 win. Last season it was Kirk Haston who hit a three-pointer at the buzzer to give IU a 59-58 win against then-No.1 Michigan State.\nThose three Hoosiers are gone now, but Izzo still faces Michigan-native Dane Fife, who won Michigan's Mr. Basketball in 1997. Fife is the last player to win the award in Michigan who didn't go to Michigan State to play for Izzo.\n"I'm still mad at him," Izzo joked. "He's become a phenomenal defensive player, one of the best in our league. I think he's improved each year. He's probably one of the best competitors in the league."\nThe game will be big for the Hoosiers, because their next three games will be at Iowa, at Ohio State and at Penn State. But IU knows it can win on the road. The Spartans haven't found a way to do that yet, but they know they have to.\n"It's difficult to win on the road, and we got to do it," Izzo said.