EAST LANSING – The Spartans shouldn’t bother looking under the tree for a ballhandler who can get past his defender at will, a sure-thing NBA big man or a wing who can effectively defend the other team’s best player while scoring 20 on him.

Tom Izzo’s team had all that last season and had to give it up. Now Izzo sits with an unranked, 9-4 team after Monday’s 82-56 win over The Citadel — following Saturday’s 71-64 overtime loss to Texas Southern — that probably needs to go 10-8 in the Big Ten to feel OK about an NCAA bid. - Read more at Freep.com