Michigan State continued their brutal opening month of the season last night when the lost to #6 Duke 74-69 from Madison Square Garden in New York City.
Despite the close game with an experienced Duke team, Spartan center Derrick Nix didn’t take the loss very well.
According to David Mayo of the Grand Rapids Press, when the Spartans entered the locker room at the end of the game, Nix spoke with his teammates before head coach Tom Izzo could get to them…
“Before coach even started talking, I just cut him off,” Nix said. “He always tries to take the hit for us, so I didn’t let him do that. I just said, ‘Coach, I know you’re going to say that we didn’t play good as a team.’ I just stopped him from doing all that.
“I just told them that I single-handedly lost this game for us. I went 1-for-7, and I never did that, not even in high school, or middle school, nothing. It wasn’t anything I did wrong. I just wasn’t making shots.”
After good games against North Carolina Friday night, Nix and Adreian Payne shot a combined 2-of-13 from the floor and both fouled out at the end of the game.
Izzo thought it was disappointing that Nix got down on himself so much…
“I wanted to go to Payne and Nix, and we did, and you know what? We just didn’t score,” Izzo said. “I thought he got down on himself, which is a little disappointing. But when he missed those three bunnies, I think he let that affect him a lot. That’s going to happen. That’s what happens when you don’t have a lot of experience.
“He took blame for it, in his own way, even though it’s not his fault.”
Nix though was confident that the Spartans are on the right track…
“We could’ve beaten both of these teams we just played,” he said. “But once again, we played some big teams, and now everybody will probably say we’re not that good. But I feel like we’re getting better every day. It ain’t like last year. We’re learning from these games.”
Despite Tom Izzo being disappointed on Nix getting down on himself, it’s a good sign from this perspective that unlike last season this team seems to be taking some accountability for themselves.
Ref: Grand Rapids Press, Zimbio (image)
