Encapsulating a streak

So, as we may or may not already know, the Hoosiers haven’t won inside Michigan State’s Breslin Center since 1991– Feb. 28, 1991 to be exact. And if we want to get even more exact, we could break it down further. That’s 192 months. It’s also 5,838 days. It’s, well, it’s a long time.\nI bring this up not to tear down the Hoosiers, opponents certainly have similar streaks inside Assembly Hall. \nI do bring it up, however, for some perspective. Remember IU’s 73-51 trouncing of the Spartans at home back on Jan. 7?\nYou should have heard Tom Izzo after that game. He heaved negative comment after negative comment about his team as each new question was asked of him by the group of reporters seated inside Assembly Hall’s press room.\nI thought Michigan State was kaput, done, finished. But it was early in the Big Ten season. Injured players Maurice Joseph and Raymar Morgan had just begun to start playing again right around that time. They’ve gone 7-4 since that match up in early January.\nIt’s not the most impressive record, but for a team that seemed so down and out early on, it’s impressive. It is the Big Ten, after all. We all know road losses don’t come easy. And, in that same stretch, IU’s gone an almost equivalent 8-4. \nSo, where IU once seemed like the far superior squad on the hardwood, a team poised to knock out that losing streak at the Breslin Center this season, we’ve now moved to a point of the year where Michigan State appears to be every bit as good as the Hoosiers and similar on many fronts.\nBoth teams have knocked off now-No. 1 Wisconsin on their home courts. Both teams have been rather impressive in some of their home Big Ten wins, winning by double-digits on more than a few occasions. IU and Michigan State also rule at home. Michigan State is 17-1, while IU is 14-0.\nEarly in the Big Ten season, there were a good number of equally talented squads all scratching at that third place spot behind Ohio State and Wisconsin in the conference standings. But with each win, IU seemed to firmly entrench itself in that spot, gaining a sizeable advantage in the loss column against the likes of Iowa, Michigan State, Illinois, Michigan and Purdue. But the Hoosiers have fallen back to that pack.\nWith an IU loss Saturday and an Illinois win against Penn State on the road, the Illini will be tied for third with IU. \nOn Tuesday, IU coach Kelvin Sampson had this to say: “This team has to learn how to compete when on the road. We compete, but you either win or lose the game. We have to continue to work at it. We have two more road games this season, and we have to put our heart and soul into winning those games.” \nHeart and soul will help, sure. But when you’re going after breaking a 16-year long streak, a little luck could help too.