Hoosiers spiral out of Big Ten conference title picture

EAST LANSING, Mich. – \nMissed dunks. “Air-ball” chants. Sloppy passes. “Hoo-sier coach?” chants.\nThose were the sights and sounds that likely knocked the No. 12 IU men’s basketball team out of the race for the Big Ten championship as the visiting Hoosiers (24-5, 13-3) lost 103-74 to No. 19 Michigan State (23-6, 11-5).\nThe 103 points were the most given up by the Hoosiers this season and the 29-point defeat was the largest margin since IU’s 79-45 loss at Wisconsin on Jan. 6, 2004.\nThe Spartans shot the Hoosiers out of the gym Sunday afternoon, connecting on 60.7 percent of their shots, including an astounding 77.8 percent in the first half. Thirteen of MSU’s field goals came from beyond the arc, but the Spartans did a good job of utilizing back cuts to get open layups as well.\nMichigan State coach Tom Izzo said after the game his team executed the fast-break offense against IU as well as he has seen in his 13 seasons in East Lansing.\n“The break, that was lethal,” Izzo said.\nIU interim coach Dan Dakich said the Hoosiers did a poor job defending the Spartans in transition, leading to open shots.\n“I don’t know if I’ve seen a team shoot that well, but I also think we gave them too many good looks,” Dakich said. “Again, I take the blame for that. I told (the players), ‘let’s guard.’”\nAfter two missed shots from IU to start the game, Michigan State hit its first shot, a 3-pointer from sophomore Raymar Morgan, to take a lead it never relinquished.\nThe Hoosiers kept the game within reach until freshman guard Jordan Crawford’s missed dunk at the 9:49 mark in the first half with IU trailing 30-19. The Spartans took the missed dunk down the court and connected on a 3-pointer to spark a 16-0 run.\n“Yeah,” freshman guard Eric Gordon said when asked if the run took its toll on the Hoosiers. “We kind of broke down early in the game when they were up by a lot.”\nThe Spartan run stretched the lead to 46-19 and took the wind out of IU’s sails as the players’ faces displayed looks of dejection. The Spartan fans, on the other hand, were excited to see their two seniors, Drew Naymick and Drew Neitzel, come away with a victory on senior day.\nMichigan State cooled off a bit in the second half as IU cut into the Spartan lead, but the final result was never in doubt during the final 20 minutes.\nGordon led the Hoosiers with 22 points while senior forward D.J. White recorded his 18th double-double of the season, scoring 14 points and grabbing 12 rebounds.\nThe loss drops the Hoosiers to 2-1 since Dakich took over for former coach Kelvin Sampson, who resigned on Feb. 22 after the University made public allegations of major rules infractions sent by the NCAA.\nIU faces Minnesota Wednesday as the Golden Gophers travel to Assembly Hall for IU’s senior night.