And Izzo had his team crashing the boards

The Spartans, on the other hand, looked lost in their offensive sets, turning the ball over a Tom Izzo-hair-tearing 20 times to accompany early foul trouble.From a Spartan standpoint the first half wasn't pretty, but amazingly, even though they were badly outplayed, the Spartans made a late run before intermission to cut the lead to five. Theirscrappydefense never let up, and even though they made their share of mistakes, it was enough to keep them in the game.The second half was a classic and somewhat of a role reversal.It was the Spartans who started out hot and the Zags whocommitted some early and pointless fouls. This ended up being a large factor in the game, as it kept Sacre on the bench, and his low-post game was the one thing that the Sparty D had no answer for.And Izzo had his team crashing the boards. State ended the game with a 43-30 rebounding advantage even though they were giving up significant height at all positions on the floor. Kalin Lucas turned up the heat and ended with 19 points, while Summers added 21 to complete his monster double-double.But all that said, the Zags never backed down.They played at a high level through the end, and given the number of young players on their team, I find it pretty impressive the way they walked into East Lansing and gave the Spartans all they could handle. They'll be a legitimatecontender by the end of the year, if they aren't already one now, and will have plenty of chances to prove it during their brutal preseason that includes the likes of Wake Forest, Duke, the Maui invitational, Washington State, Oklahoma, and Davidson among others.By the time they start West Coast Conference play, they should be rolling.I also can't help but be impressed with the Spartans, as they didn't play particularly well, still have major injuries to contend with, and still clawed out the win.And somehow it felt inevitable.We learned a lot about both teams tonight.We learned that the Zags are for real, and we learned that State can beat a team like that playing shorthanded and sloppy.Later in the year that will certainly catch up with them, and Iguarantee that if they meet Gonzaga come March on aneutral court, tonight's effort would not be enough.But State has lots of room to grow too, and I can't wait to see how the year unfolds, as this game already has provided a tourney-styleatmosphere that had me on the edge of my seat.College basketball is back!In the end it was a prelude to the Dance, as both these teams will beboogieing come March Madness time, and it just may be that they find themselves partnered again.Between then and now, I recommend that the Spartans learn a new step or two..

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About ZiiLABSZiiLABS is a leader in media-rich application processors, hardware platforms andadvanced middleware. Its products enable OEMs, ODMs, System Integrators andSoftware Developers to deliver industry-leading devices across a broad range ofconsumer electronics and embedded markets. Originally founded in 1994 as 3DLABS,the company re-branded and joined with the Personal Digital Entertainment groupof Creative Technology to form ZiiLABS in January 2009. ZiiLABs with over 800R&D engineers today has invested US$1billion and 10,000 man years in mediaprocessing solutions and has offices in the UK, China, USA and Singapore. All brand and product names mentioned herein are trademarks of their respectiveowners and are hereby recognised as such.