Published December 30, 2003 - Lansing State Journal

Anderson will start tonight at point guard
Family death limits guard Cotton’s practice time

By Jordan Bastian
For the Lansing State Journal

EAST LANSING - The Spartans’ wheel o’ point guards is pointing at Alan Anderson once again.

Coach Tom Izzo is putting his trust in the 6-foot-6 junior guard who leads the team with 27 turnovers.

"Just to add more controversy," Izzo said wryly, "we’re going to put Alan Anderson back there."

After missing three weeks because of a stress fracture in his foot, freshman Brandon Cotton was expected to play significant minutes at the point in today’s game against Coppin State.

That was until he learned that his uncle, who was shot on Saturday, died Sunday night.

"Brandon is having a rough week," Izzo said. "This, too, sets him back a little bit, but I don’t know how mentally that will affect him."

Cotton will see "some" minutes in tonight’s game, Izzo said. But the 6-foot Cotton missed a couple practices this week and has fallen a step behind the rest of the team.

"While you are on the court, you think about it," Cotton said of his uncle’s death. "But you really don’t have much time to think about it because you have to worry about what is going on on the court."

Izzo needs as little distraction in the lineup as possible.

Anderson, who platooned with junior Chris Hill at point guard last season, hasn’t had more than three assists since a Nov. 25 game against Kansas. But Izzo knows the same move - putting Anderson at the point - last season provided more open shots during MSU’s NCAA Tournament run to the Elite Eight.

In the four tournament games, Anderson spread the ball around better - averaging one more assist per contest than his season average.

"It’s no demotion, promotion," Izzo said. "It’s looking at it and figuring Alan has done it.

"We have to get Chris Hill more than eight or nine shots a game."

Hill’s points per game have dropped to 12.6 this season from 13.7 last year, but his shooting percentage is slightly better this year.

Coppin State is not a basketball powerhouse compared with some of the teams the Spartans have faced this year, but it will be a good game to test this lineup, to see whether Hill can get more shots and prepare for high-scoring Syracuse on Saturday.

"We’ve got to find a lineup and a group that’s going to get this offense going," Hill said. "I don’t know what it is right now."

MSU is scoring about the same number of points as last year, but the team’s shooting percentage is 43.3 this season - down from 45.2 percent last year.

After struggling as a point guard so far this season, Anderson thinks he can provide a jump-start for the Spartans.

"It is nothing that I’m not capable of doing," Anderson said. "I know I can do it; he (Izzo) knows I can do it; my team needs me to do it; and I need myself to do it to be successful."