No. 9 IU falls to Michigan State

EAST LANSING, Mich. -- Despite being the higher-ranked team, both history and injury stood firmly against IU in its 87-73 loss Wednesday night.\nThe No. 9 Hoosiers came into the contest against No. 15 Michigan State having not won a game in Breslin Center since 1991. IU (10-3, 2-1) was also without senior guard Lewis Monroe and sophomore forward D.J. White -- two key contributors who could have helped ward off a hungry Spartan team that was winless in conference play.\nMichigan State (13-4, 1-2) capitalized on their absence. \n"(White) breaking (his foot) on Saturday was just devastating to him and some of his teammates," IU coach Mike Davis said. "Because our guys kept saying when he came back, we're a top-five team."\nMonroe was sidelined because of an injury he sustained in Monday's practice, and White -- the reigning Big Ten Freshman of the Year -- was injured during Saturday's game against Ohio State.\nMSU forward Paul Davis took advantage of the undersized and inexperienced IU frontcourt, scoring 23 points and grabbing 10 rebounds. Guard Maurice Ager scored 28 points against an IU backcourt that was missing its best perimeter \ndefender -- Monroe.\nIU's top-scoring duo almost matched the effort. Sophomore forward Robert Vaden scored 20 points and senior forward Marco Killingsworth posted a near-average 27 point effort. But the Hoosier big man pulled down only one rebound and committed five turnovers.\n"I thought we guarded pretty good other than Killingsworth," MSU coach Tom Izzo said.\nDespite the losing effort, IU again put on another impressive shooting display, posting averages of 54 percent from the field and 44 percent from behind the arc. It had been 30 games since IU shot better than 50 percent from the floor in a loss.\nIn the first start of his IU career, junior guard Earl Calloway scored eight points and dished out five assists while committing only one turnover.\n"You have to be ready in case your number is called," Calloway said.\nIU led at one point in the first half by seven, but the Spartans fought back into contention, forcing seven first half lead changes. MSU came out leading 41-39 to start the second half and exploded on a 12-4 run. The Hoosiers would never get the deficit below six from that point.\n"I thought we fought hard first half," Mike Davis said. "I thought the second half, they made it too hard for us"