No style points

EAST LANSING - Goran Suton returned to Michigan State on Wednesday night at Breslin Center.

So did some of the sloppiness that the Spartans have been trying to make go away.

No. 19 MSU, seeking another strong performance to propel itself into Saturday's showdown with No. 5 Texas, instead had to slug through a 79-65 win over The Citadel in front of a sleepy holiday crowd.

"I'm at a loss for words to tell you how I felt about tonight's game," MSU coach Tom Izzo said. "We did not respect the opponent and I don't think we respected the game of basketball, the way we played."

Suton's early return - after six missed games and arthroscopic knee surgery on Dec. 4 - and Raymar Morgan's 26-point, 10-rebound effort were the best news for MSU (7-2) in its final warmup before the schedule gets rough again.

Suton played 17 active minutes, finished with four points and five rebounds and said he "felt great" afterward.

His left knee, hurt in a Nov. 19 win at Indiana-Purdue Fort Wayne, appeared sturdy. His original targeted return date was Dec. 27 against Oakland.

Morgan made 11 of 12 shots, 4 of 5 free throws and might have scored more if not for foul trouble that limited him to 27 minutes.

"Raymar really showed some not only good things (on the court) but good things in the huddle and in the locker room," Izzo said. "I thought he stepped up a lot."

Izzo also lauded the play of freshman forward Delvon Roe, who had 10 points, seven rebounds and four steals, but that was about it. Chris Allen and Durrell Summers had 12 points apiece off the bench.

The Spartans shot 52.9 percent from the floor, but they also had 14 turnovers, including five from senior guard Travis Walton. Many of the giveaways were unforced and led to easy baskets for the Bulldogs.

The play and leadership of MSU's guards were Izzo's primary complaints.

"We just didn't come to play," Walton said, "that's the main thing."

Defensively, MSU held The Citadel to 39 percent shooting but gave up 10 3-pointers and finished with an unimpressive 38-31 rebounding edge. The Bulldogs had 15 offensive boards.

The Citadel (5-6) was definitely better than Saturday's woeful victim, Alcorn State, which lost 118-60 and watched the Spartans set a school record with 35 assists.

But the Bulldogs probably shouldn't have been able to hang as close as they did. MSU couldn't put together enough positive plays for a knockout run.

An easy blowout appeared imminent with 3:22 left in the first half, with MSU up 37-19 after consecutive layups by Allen and Morgan, and Citadel coach Ed Conroy calling a timeout to halt the Spartans' momentum.

The timeout worked. The Bulldogs closed the half on a 14-4 run to close within 41-33, beating MSU down the floor for a pair of easy baskets in the process.

The lead stayed around 10 points for most of the second half.

"The last three minutes of the half, we were messing up on easy stuff, especially defense," said MSU sophomore guard Kalin Lucas, who had seven points and eight assists. "They were outscrapping us and that carried over into the second half."

Austin Dahn led the Bulldogs with 17 points, making 5 of 10 shots from long range.

Idong Ibok started again at center for MSU but played just seven minutes. Freshman forward Draymond Green was ill and played just three second-half minutes.

The Spartans have won three straight since losing 98-63 to No. 1 North Carolina, working out some issues in the process. Wednesday was a forgettable performance and another struggle at the foul line - 23 of 35 for 65.7 percent.

On Saturday in Houston, MSU will get a progress check against the 9-1 Longhorns.

"This (game) was disappointing, but it's in the past now and we've just got to get ready for Texas," Morgan said.

"I'm glad we're playing a good team Saturday," Izzo said, "because if we play like this we will get beat by 30 (again)."