Spartans mired in free-throw woe

EAST LANSING - Michigan State in its current state, a winner of seven straight games and near full health, barely resembles the team that was taking the floor a month ago.

Remember the losses to Maryland and North Carolina by a combined 53 points? The porous defense? The fan panic? Goran Suton watching in Dockers?

Suton is in shorts again, the defense is improving and the No. 8 Spartans (11-2 overall, 2-0 Big Ten) look like contenders entering tonight's Big Ten home opener against Ohio State (10-2, 1-1).

One issue - which first presented itself in the 80-62 loss to Maryland - lingers, however. The foul line remains a puzzling weakness and one that threatens to cost MSU a tight game or two in what is shaping up as a wide-open league race.

"We'll miss a couple early in the game," MSU senior guard Travis Walton said, "and then it's like it trickles down."

The same can be said when MSU makes a couple early. In wins against Oakland on Dec. 27 and at Minnesota on Wednesday, the Spartans made a combined 19 of 20 free throws.

Perhaps the early-season struggles were an aberration. Perhaps not.

In Saturday's win at Northwestern, MSU was 10-of-18, including a combined 2-of-7 from normally accurate guards Chris Allen and Durrell Summers.

For the season, MSU is ninth in the Big Ten ay 65.7 percent. A year ago, MSU shot 73.7 percent and ranked second in the league.

That performance was in line with most of Tom Izzo's teams here. It has always been an emphasis at MSU, and if you don't think it matters much, look at the number of games Illinois lost a year ago because it failed late at the foul line.

Plus, MSU leads the Big Ten in free throw attempts with 303. This is a fast-paced, attacking team that is costing itself free points.

Izzo said Monday he isn't panicking. The Spartans have been shooting more in practice, but there's always the potential for too much emphasis leading to overthinking by the players.

And most of MSU's key players are shooting in line with their career averages. The Spartan who most needs to come around is forward Delvon Roe.

Roe has been to the line 42 times, trailing only Raymar Morgan and Kalin Lucas with 65 apiece. He has made 15 foul shots, a success rate of 35.7 percent.

As Roe continues to get healthier and stronger - he's expected back in the starting lineup tonight after two games off the bench because of an ankle sprain - he will get more touches and more trips to the foul line.

"Yep, that's the problem," Izzo said, "(but) he's one guy I'm not worried about, either, because he's working on it morning, noon and night."

Roe, who like Morgan and Walton is an Ohio native and extra motivated for tonight's game, said he shot around 65-70 percent from the line in high school.

"It's frustrating to me, but I've got to be patient," said freshman Roe, who has been shooting well from the line in practice.

"I think it's just his confidence," Morgan said of Roe. "I think he thinks about it too much."

Morgan, meanwhile, has hit 10 of his last 12 free throws to improve to 72.3 percent. So the news from the line isn't all bad, and there's potential for improvement.

If the free throws come along like everything else appears to be, the Spartans will be in good shape.

Their overall play in the past four games, all away from Breslin Center, has been impressive. And tonight is just MSU's fifth game at Breslin out of the first 14.

"We're starting to get that trust with each other, and guys are getting better each day," Morgan said. "We're just rolling."