Michigan State has avoided the fate of much of their brethren in the Big 10. Ignoring their exhibition loss to Grand Valley State, as the NCAA does, the Spartans have avoided a loss to a mid-major this season. They remained unblemished by the skin of their teeth in Peoria last night thanks to a late rally past Bradley 66-61. Drew Neitzel shot terribly for the entire game, 4-of-16, but buried a three with just under five minutes to play to spur a 7-0 run that put an end to the Braves' upset bid. The Spartans trailed by as many as nine but were able to keep Bradley in range because of a 47-28 rebounding edge and a strong defensive effort. Bradley's senior backcourt of Daniel Ruffin and Jeremy Crouch combined for 30 points but hit only 6-of-17 from three and couldn't get a shot to fall down the stretch to stop the bleeding and the Spartans.
Still, the Braves showed enough to keep them among the contenders in the Missouri Valley. Their defense wasn't any worse than MSU's, they had nine steals, and that backcourt is very good. Ruffin is the active NCAA assist leader while Crouch is normally a sharpshooter from deep. He hit 50% of his tries last season. They've won at Iowa and Iowa State this season and if they find a player or two to supplement the guards will be in good shape for a third-straight 20-win season.
