NEW YORK — A dejected Kalin Lucas dressed somberly in the Michigan State locker room early Wednesday morning.
His No. 7 Spartans team had just been dominated by No. 8 Syracuse, 72-58, in the Jimmy V Classic at Madison Square Garden.
“I’m just very disappointed,” Lucas said. “You’re playing in the Garden, you’re supposed to play hard physically. You’re supposed to give it your all and tonight we didn’t. We didn’t play tough at all. They just manhandled us the whole game pretty much.”
Syracuse big man Rick Jackson dominated the Spartans inside, putting up 17 points and 16 rebounds.
“As far as our team, we gotta get tougher,” said Lucas, whose club has lost two of three, including a five-point loss at No. 1 Duke, and dropped to 6-3 overall. “Right now we’re not playing tough and right now we’re losing games because of this.”
Lucas, the 2010-11 Big Ten Preseason Player of the Year, is still recovering from a ruptured Achilles’ tendon suffered in last year’s NCAA tournament and is limited physically. He said he practices for two or three days in a row but then needs a day off.
Against Syracuse, he scored eight points on 3 of 9 shooting to go with two assists and six turnovers.
“It’s starting to get back but it’s still going to take some time,” he said. “The doctors told me when the Big Ten season starts, I should be feeling pretty good, but as far as my speed and me trying to explode to the basket, it’s still not there yet. It’s still going to take some time.
“That’s about it.”
