Mike Carter-USA TODAY Sports
It was quite the 24 hours for Michigan State Spartans Brenden Dawson and Adreian Payne. The two got in an altercation the morning of Wednesdays game versus Big 10 rival Penn State Nitany Lions in a hotel lobby which ended with a dent in the wall. Coach Tom Izzo did not take kindly to the antics and did not play either of them in the first half of Wednesday’s game as punishment.
Now, the players have since apologized and the incident is water under the bridge however, you have to wonder if this team has the chemistry to go back to the CBB Final Four in 2013.
The lack of playing time did not upset either as they claimed that ”[they] deserved it.” Playing only one half did not stop either player from turning in a stellar performance as the 6’10′ Payne poured in a career best 20 points.
Even with Payne’s outing the Nittany Lions hung around the entire game thanks to two great games from Jermaine Mitchell and D.J. Newbill. Both studs scored 29 and 27 in the contest respectively but, it was not enough against the 18th ranked Spartans. Similar to the Cincinnati Bearcats and the Xaiver spat last season this incident can either be a detriment to the team or bring them together.
Coach Izzo offered up that without Twitter this kind of incident would have been undoubtedly swept under the rug, in addition it was in a busy hallway with plenty of witnesses. However, in the “TMZ age” everything is made a news story and gets covered by someone. In my mind this was an incident that “just got out of hand” like Dawson stated post game.
